Tomi-Ann Roberts

Objectification Theory: Toward Understanding Women's Lived Experiences and Mental Health Risks

This article offers objectification theory as a framework for understanding the experiential consequences of being female in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body. Objectification theory posits that girls and women are typically acculturated to internalize an observers perspective as a primary view of their physical selves. This perspective on self can lead to habitual body monitoring, which, in turn, can increase womens opportunities for shame and anxiety, reduce opportunities for peak motivational states, and diminish awareness of internal bodily states. Accumulations of such experiences may help account for an array of mental health risks that disproportionately affect women: unipolar depression, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders. Objectification theory also illuminates why changes in these mental health risks appear to occur in step with life-course changes in the female body.

“Feminine Protection”: The Effects of Menstruation on Attitudes Towards Women

An experiment tested the hypothesis that reminders of a womans menstrual status lead to more negative reactions to her and increased objectification of women in general. Participants interacted with a female confederate who ostensibly accidentally dropped either a tampon or hair clip out of her handbag. Dropping the tampon led to lower evaluations of the confederates competence, decreased liking for her, and a marginal tendency to avoid sitting close to her. Furthermore, gender schematic participants responded to the reminder of menstruation with increased objectification of women in general, an effect we view as an effort to “protect” culturally sanitized views of the feminine. These findings are discussed from the perspective of feminist theory and a terror management perspective on the role of ambivalence about the human body in the objectification of women.

Registered Replication Report Strack, Martin, & Stepper (1988)

According to the facial feedback hypothesis, people’s affective responses can be influenced by their own facial expression (e.g., smiling, pouting), even when their expression did not result from their emotional experiences. For example, Strack, Martin, and Stepper (1988) instructed participants to rate the funniness of cartoons using a pen that they held in their mouth. In line with the facial feedback hypothesis, when participants held the pen with their teeth (inducing a “smile”), they rated the cartoons as funnier than when they held the pen with their lips (inducing a “pout”). This seminal study of the facial feedback hypothesis has not been replicated directly. This Registered Replication Report describes the results of 17 independent direct replications of Study 1 from Strack et al. (1988), all of which followed the same vetted protocol. A meta-analysis of these studies examined the difference in funniness ratings between the “smile” and “pout” conditions. The original Strack et al. (1988) study reported a rating difference of 0.82 units on a 10-point Likert scale. Our meta-analysis revealed a rating difference of 0.03 units with a 95% confidence interval ranging from −0.11 to 0.16.

The Morphology of Supragranular Pyramidal Neurons in the Human Insular Cortex: A Quantitative Golgi Study

Although the primate insular cortex has been studied extensively, a comprehensive investigation of its neuronal morphology has yet to be completed. To that end, neurons from 20 human subjects (10 males and 10 females; N = 600) were selected from the secondary gyrus brevis, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus of the left insula. The secondary gyrus brevis was generally more complex in terms of dendritic/spine extent than either the precentral or postcentral insular gyri, which is consistent with the posterior-anterior gradient of dendritic complexity observed in other cortical regions. The male insula had longer, spinier dendrites than the female insula, potentially reflecting sex differences in interoception. In comparing the current insular data with regional dendritic data quantified from other Brodmanns areas (BAs), insular total dendritic length (TDL) was less than the TDL of high integration cortices (BA6beta, 10, 11, 39), but greater than the TDL of low integration cortices (BA3-1-2, 4, 22, 44). Insular dendritic spine number was significantly greater than both low and high integration regions. Overall, the insula had spinier, but shorter neurons than did high integration cortices, and thus may represent a specialized type of heteromodal cortex, one that integrates crude multisensory information crucial to interoceptive processes.

Not all who stand tall are proud: Gender differences in the proprioceptive effects of upright posture

Research shows that individuals feel and later perform better when given positive feedback in the context of an upright posture, as opposed to a slumped one, even if unaware that their bodily position is meant to express emotion. We sought to determine whether proprioceptive feedback from body postures operate differently for women and men. Participants received success feedback when in either an upright or slumped posture, which was covertly manipulated. Results showed that for men the effects of posture were intuitive and appropriate: receiving success feedback while upright enhanced performance self-ratings. In contrast, after adopting an upright posture, women went on after success feedback to perform more poorly and make more negative self-ratings, than after adopting a slumped posture. A number of theories are offered as potential explanations for this gender effect.

She Stoops to Conquer? How Posture Interacts With Self-Objectification and Status to Impact Women’s Affect and Performance

Research suggests that posture exerts powerful affective and cognitive influences, although recent studies have indicated that these embodiment effects are moderated by gender. We examined two sociocultural factors that may contribute to the effects of postural feedback in women: self-objectification and power. Across a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design, 80 female undergraduates completed various cognitive tasks and self-report measures after having been in an upright or slouched posture, seated in either a (powerful) throne or child’s chair, and wearing either a formfitting (objectifying) tank top or loose sweatshirt. The results showed that posture had the predicted influence on mood, with those seated upright reporting more positive mood than those seated in a slouched position. For the cognitive tasks, our findings were more complex and, due to low power, are best considered preliminary. Participants who were seated upright in a child’s chair while wearing a sweatshirt attempted the highest number of math items compared to those in the other conditions, supporting our prediction that postural benefits would be greatest in a context where power cues were gender-appropriate and self-objectification effects were attenuated. On a measure of satisfaction with performance, our findings suggest that self-objectification outweighed the power manipulation, leading to poorer outcomes when a seated position emphasized sexualized features of the body. Taken together, our results suggest that embodiment effects appear to be impacted by contextual cues, perhaps particularly for women.

The paradox of happiness: Why are we not doing what we know makes us happy?

Abstract Achieving and maintaining happiness can be difficult, especially when people are not engaging in the activities they know facilitate it. ‘Flow’ activities require clear rules, challenge, a high investment of energy, and have been shown to promote long-term happiness better than low investment, passive activities. Do people know this? In two studies, we found that, despite recognizing that flow activities are more likely to facilitate happiness, people nevertheless participated in passive leisure significantly more often in a typical week. Participants rated passive activities as being significantly more enjoyable, requiring less effort, and being less daunting to get started than flow activities. Participants’ engagement in flow activities was significantly predicted by how enjoyable the activities were perceived to be, whereas how daunting those activities were rated predicted non-engagement. Passive activity engagement was only significantly predicted by enjoyment. Suggestions for enabling people to rise above the barriers to flow activities are offered.

Journeys Through Feminist Psychological Science: Lessons Learned and a Look to What Lies Ahead

This volume sought to highlight not only the ways in which feminist psychological science can move us beyond a simple focus on gender differences, but also the best practices currently in use by feminist scholars. In our conclusion, we consider some important lessons learned from this volume and from a survey of the landscape of feminist psychological science today. We will also offer some thoughts about ways in which feminist psychology can move forward—as it is already doing—and continue to shape how we investigate, understand, and work to address pressing social issues, both within the academy and beyond its borders.

Building a Better Psychological Science of Gender: Reflections on Theory, Research, and Action

In this volume, we bring together a number of prominent and emerging feminist scholars to consider the ways in which psychology addresses gender, especially as it moves beyond a simple consideration of gender differences. Springing from work done by a Society for the Psychology of Women (SPW, APA Division 35) Task Force appointed by Stephanie Shields, these chapters represent our best thinking about empirical and theoretical approaches in feminist psychological research, the state of our subdisciplines with regard to gender, and reflections on the challenges and joys of doing feminist research and action in the real world. Throughout these chapters, authors consider the role of power, the intersectionality of identities, and offer recommendations for best practices for people wanting to do feminist psychological research and for finding avenues and audiences both within psychology and more broadly to give that research away in the service of a more equitable society.

Mind the Thigh Gap? Bringing Feminist Psychological Science to the Masses

In this chapter, I describe some of the perils and pleasures of translating scholarly work in the realms of objectification, self-objectification, and sexualization to advocacy. Using examples of my own advocacy work in the media, as well as in collaboration with educational, corporate, and legal entities working for the betterment of girls’ and women’s embodied lives, I illustrate some of the dilemmas and challenges of moving outside the closed room of academia and into the public arena as an advocate. In addition, I provide concrete suggestions for feminist psychological scientists interested in becoming active advocates. Despite the many challenges, or perhaps because of them, I have found that advocacy work has the potential to be among the most rewarding features of a feminist psychologist’s career.