Negin Ghavami

An Intersectional Analysis of Gender and Ethnic Stereotypes Testing Three Hypotheses

We compared perceived cultural stereotypes of diverse groups varying by gender and ethnicity. Using a free-response procedure, we asked 627 U.S. undergraduates to generate 10 attributes for 1 of 17 groups: Asian Americans, Blacks, Latinos, Middle Eastern Americans, or Whites; men or women; or 10 gender-by-ethnic groups (e.g., Black men or Latina women). Based on intersectionality theory and social dominance theory, we developed and tested three hypotheses. First, consistent with the intersectionality hypothesis, gender-by-ethnic stereotypes contained unique elements that were not the result of adding gender stereotypes to ethnic stereotypes. Second, in support of an ethnicity hypothesis, stereotypes of ethnic groups were generally more similar to stereotypes of the men than of the women in each group. Third, a gender hypothesis postulated that stereotypes of men and women will be most similar to stereotypes of White men and White women, less similar to ethnic minority men and ethnic minority women, and least similar to Black men and Black women. This hypothesis was confirmed for target women, but results for target men were mixed. Collectively, our results contribute to research, theory, and practice by demonstrating that ethnic and gender stereotypes are complex and that the intersections of these social categories produce meaningful differences in the way groups are perceived.

Testing a Model of Minority Identity Achievement, Identity Affirmation, and Psychological Well-Being Among Ethnic Minority and Sexual Minority Individuals

How is social identity related to psychological well-being among minority individuals? Drawing on developmental models of identity formation (e.g., Erikson, 1968) and on Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), we tested a conceptual model examining links between two key aspects of social identity and psychological well-being. We proposed that the association between identity achievement (exploring and understanding the meaning of ones identity) and psychological well-being is mediated by identity affirmation (developing positive feelings and a sense of belonging to ones social group). Across three studies, including ethnic minority high school students (Study 1), ethnic minority college students (Study 2) and lesbian and gay male adults (Study 3), we found strong support for the model. Results suggest that the process of exploring and understanding ones minority identity can serve as an important basis for developing positive feelings toward and an enhanced sense of attachment to the group, which can in turn confer psychological benefits for minority individuals. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

At the crossroads of conspicuous and concealable: what race categories communicate about sexual orientation.

We found that judgments of a perceptually ambiguous social category, sexual orientation, varied as a function of a perceptually obvious social category, race. Sexual orientation judgments tend to exploit a heuristic of gender inversion that often promotes accuracy. We predicted that an orthogonal social category that is itself gendered, race, would impact both sexual orientation categorizations and their accuracy. Importantly, overlaps in both the phenotypes and stereotypes associated with specific race and sex categories (e.g., the categories Black and Men and the categories Asian and Women) lead race categories to be decidedly gendered. Therefore, we reasoned that race categories would bias judgments of sexual orientation and their accuracy because of the inherent gendered nature. Indeed, both gay and straight perceivers in the United States were more likely to judge targets to be gay when target race was associated with gender-atypical stereotypes or phenotypes (e.g., Asian Men). Perceivers were also most accurate when judging the sexual orientation of the most strongly gender-stereotyped groups (i.e., Asian Women and Black Men), but least accurate when judging the sexual orientation of counter-stereotypical groups (i.e., Asian men and Black Women). Signal detection analyses confirmed that this pattern of accuracy was achieved because of heightened sensitivity to cues in groups who more naturally conform to gendered stereotypes (Asian Women and Black Men). Implications for social perception are discussed.

Understanding Gender Differences in Early Adolescents’ Sexual Prejudice

Drawing on social dominance theory and the contact hypothesis, we developed and tested a two-mediator model for explaining gender differences in early adolescents’ attitudes toward gay males and lesbians. Data from more than 400 ninth graders were analyzed. As predicted, gender differences in attitudes toward gay males were partially explained by social dominance orientation (SDO) and knowing a gay male. Gender differences in attitudes toward lesbians were partially mediated by SDO, while knowing a lesbian was not a mediating variable. Beyond their mediating roles, both SDO and knowing a member of the target group each significantly added to the prediction of attitudes toward each target group. Implications for policies to reduce victimization of sexual minorities in schools are discussed.

Toward an Intersectional Approach in Developmental Science: The Role of Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Immigrant Status

Developmental theory and research have often focused on a single social identity category, for example, race or sexual orientation, and examined the consequences of that category on life outcomes. Yet intersectional models of social disadvantage (eg, Cole, 2009; Crenshaw, 1995; King, 1988) suggest that social categories combine to shape the experiences and life outcomes of individuals across life domains. In this chapter, we review empirical research that offers insight into the intersectionality of social identities across three critical developmental periods, namely, middle childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. We also consider the consequences of intersecting identities across several life domains, including intergroup relations and political and civic engagement. Recognizing that the body of work on social identities is expansive, we focus our review on race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and immigrant status. In each developmental stage, we discuss what we know, drawing from the limited empirical literature, and offer suggestions on where we need to go moving forward. We conclude that research that focuses on as a single category and ignores the specific domain of development provides an incomplete and inaccurate picture that will hinder efforts to develop culturally appropriate and clinically effective prevention and intervention programs to meet the needs of our diverse children and youth living in the United States.