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The Mismeasure of Woman
Abstract
Psychology, like society at large, continues to be baffled by the persistent belief that men and women differ in important psychological ways, in spite of countless studies that fail to demonstrate such differences or that capture them for only a brief moment. New approaches avoid the polarization of `male' and female' traits, emphasizing how and why these qualities change over the life span, across cultures and throughout history. To understand where the differences are, we must look to narrative, power, and the conditions of our lives.
... For instance, pioneering feminist psychologist Naomi Weisstein was one of the first to document the systemic biases and stereotypes about women that dominated the discipline of psychology, ultimately classifying women as: inconsistent, emotionally unstable, lacking in a strong conscience or superego, weaker, 'nurturant' rather than productive, 'intuitive' rather than intelligent, and, if they are at all 'normal', suited to the home and the family. (1993 [1968], p. 207) Feminist scholars exposed how such sexist conclusions were derived from psychology's deep androcentric bias, where men are regarded as the 'norm', and women, by default, are regarded as either irrelevant for understanding the human experience, or deficient -a 'problem' (Crawford & Marecek, 1989;Hare-Mustin & Marecek, 1990;Magnusson & Marecek, 2017;Tavris, 1993). One of the ways in which this androcentrism was reflected was in the standard practice of developing psychological theory from research conducted by men with men as the sole participants -most often, young, educated, middle-class, heterosexual, ablebodied, white men (Fine & Gordon, 1989;Tavris, 1993). ...
... (1993 [1968], p. 207) Feminist scholars exposed how such sexist conclusions were derived from psychology's deep androcentric bias, where men are regarded as the 'norm', and women, by default, are regarded as either irrelevant for understanding the human experience, or deficient -a 'problem' (Crawford & Marecek, 1989;Hare-Mustin & Marecek, 1990;Magnusson & Marecek, 2017;Tavris, 1993). One of the ways in which this androcentrism was reflected was in the standard practice of developing psychological theory from research conducted by men with men as the sole participants -most often, young, educated, middle-class, heterosexual, ablebodied, white men (Fine & Gordon, 1989;Tavris, 1993). A classic example of this practice is Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development, which was developed from research on boys and young men and which is still described in an unqualified way in most introductory psychology textbooks. ...
... In relation to Kohlberg's work, feminist scholars argued that the 'problem' was not women's underdeveloped morality, but the inadequate theory against which they were measured (Gilligan, 1982). Further, these scholars drew important attention to the consequences of presumably 'objective' knowledge produced in the academy for women's everyday lives (Hare-Mustin & Marecek, 1988Oakley, 1998;Smith, 1987Smith, , 1991Tavris, 1993). In particular, they demonstrated how the results of psychological 'science' had the effect of supporting gender inequalities (which are compounded by intersecting racial ethnic inequalities) and ultimately justifying women's exclusion from positions of power in society (Fine & Gordon, 1989;Wilkinson, 1997). ...
This article serves as a welcoming introduction to feminist epistemologies and methodologies, written to accompany (and intended to be read prior to) the Virtual Special Issue on ‘Doing Critical Feminist Research’. In recalling our own respective journeys into the exciting field of feminist research, we invite new readers in appreciating the steep learning curve out of conventional science. This article begins by sketching out the emergence of feminist scholarship – focusing particularly on the discipline of psychology – to show readers how and why feminist scholars sought to depart from conventional science. In doing so, we explain the emergence of three main ways of doing and thinking about research (i.e. epistemologies): feminist empiricism, standpoint theory, and the various ‘turn to language’ movements (social constructionism, constructivism, postmodernism, poststructuralism). We then connect the dots between feminist epistemologies, methodologies and methods. We close by offering suggestions to guide the readers in using the Virtual Special Issue on their respective research journeys.
... В ряде исследований эта закономерность уточняется: например, женщины лучше распознают только слабовыраженные эмоции [Hoffmann et al., 2010]. Согласно К.Таврис [Tavris, 1992], большая точность женщин -это адаптивная реакция на зависимое и подчиненное положение. По результатам экспериментов с разнополыми парами, подчиненный человек в паре, независимо от пола, является более чувствительным к невербальным сигналам по сравнению с лидером [Берн, 2004]. ...
... В свою очередь, в Азербайджане женщины имеют более высокие показатели по пониманию эмоций других людей по сравнению с мужчинами, чего не наблюдается в России. Чувствительность к эмоциональным состояниям других людей рассматривается как адаптивная реакция на подчиненное и зависимое положение в семье [Tavris, 1992], которое, видимо, у азербайджанских женщин становится меньше в зрелом возрасте (36-58 лет). ...
Проверяется психометрическая эквивалентность русскоязычной версии опросника ЭмИн (Д.В.Люсин) на выборках респондентов из России (n = 275) и Азербайжана (n = 275). С помощью эксплораторного факторного анализа на объединенной выборке была установлена четырехфакторная структура опросника: понимание своих эмоций, управление своими эмоциями, понимание эмоций других людей, управление эмоциями других людей. Конфирматорный факторный анализ показал, что выполняется требование сильной эквивалентности (равенство факторных нагрузок и остаточных средних), позволяющее сопоставлять средние баллы по шкалам. Для россиян по сравнению с азербайджанцами характерны более высокие показатели по пониманию своих эмоций и управлению ими. Российские мужчины в отличие от российских женщин считают, что они лучше управляют своими эмоциями независимо от возраста. Азербайджанские женщины в отличие азербайджанских мужчин считают, что они лучше понимают эмоции других людей (за исключением старшей возрастной группы). Полученные результаты обсуждаются в контексте различий российской и азербайджанской культур по таким ценностям, как индивидуализм и маскулинность.
... Based on the idea of psychology as a bourgeois discipline, Marxist psychology questioned the (emancipatory) relevance of psychology for working people (e.g., Bruder, 1973). Feminist psychology addressed the issue of psychology as a male science, the mismeasure of woman (Tavris, 1992), and the neglect of women's concerns and experiences (Gilligan, 1982). Postcolonial psychology addressed the issue of neglect of ethnic minorities within American-European culture and the exclusion of non-Western cultures' conceptualizations of psychological matters (or the inferiorizing of minorities and other cultures), while at the same time mainstream psychology is seen as a white Western discipline (Teo & Febbraro, 2003). ...
... Another example of feminist critique was expressed by Mill (1869Mill ( /1985 who was one of the first male philosophers to understand the injustice and oppression against women, and who, based on a psychology of gender, advocated women's right to vote, equal opportunity in training and education, equality in marriage, and so on. Beauvoir's (1949Beauvoir's ( /1961 thesis that women had been defined as being "not men," meaning that they were understood in opposition to men, with men being the norm, could be easily applied to the history of psychological research on gender (see Tavris, 1992). Beauvoir herself found confirmation of the thesis in literature, mythology, and philosophy, whereby in most contexts women and the world were represented through a male perspective. ...
... In this study, we turn our gaze away from the targets of public opinion and move toward the survey items themselves; combining historical analysis and close reading methods, we assess how abortion attitude measures have been written, the imagery used in items, and the ideologies that frame how survey participants think about abortion. This research builds on questions of knowledge production, methods, and measurement, including, for example, critical analyses of racism and sexism embedded in the practice of social science methods (Benjamin, 2015;Bridges, Keel, & Obasogie, 2017;McClelland & Fine, 2008;Tavris, 1993). Given the role of public opinion research in national conversations about abortion, researchers must not ignore the part we play in forming, and perhaps reproducing, inequalities in the name of measuring them. ...
... Across disciplines, and for decades, scholars have demonstrated the roles racism and sexism play in knowledge production (Benjamin, 2015;Bridges et al., 2017;Tavris, 1993). One of the most influential pieces to pathologize Black women and their reproductive bodies was The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, commonly known as the Moynihan Report (Moynihan, 1965). ...
We investigated the content of survey items to assess whether and how racist and sexist stereotypes are woven into the fabric of research on attitudes about abortion in the United States. We collected and analyzed a comprehensive set of survey items (456 items from 80 studies) used in peer-reviewed research published from 2008 to 2018 in representative and non-representative studies of U.S. respondents. Our analysis was guided by historical narratives that have been influential in shaping representations of women and reproduction in the United States (e.g., the Moynihan Report). With this background, we developed three themes pertaining to how individuals' attitudes about abortion are measured: we found that items rely on (1) moral, (2) sexual, and (3) financial evaluations of women seeking abortion care. These themes highlighted implicit and explicit judgments of women, including representations of them as unwilling to partner with men and as fiscally and sexually irresponsible. We argue that survey items meant to objectively assess abortion attitudes draw on negative racial and gender stereotypes and that these stereotypes then travel widely under the veneer of scientific objectivity. Critical methods, such as the item bank analysis described in this study, are crucial to discern how inequality, prejudice, and discrimination can be reproduced in the fabric of research methods. In our discussion, we offer suggestions for researchers to reduce these and related forms of bias in survey-based abortion research.
... Moreover, women usually spend more time considering decisions than men and this might help to reduce negative consequences for multiple stakeholders (Hillman, 2015). Here, the main assumption is that women use both sides of their brain when making decisions, suggesting that decisions made by women entail a broader consideration of implications for multiple stakeholders (Eagly, Wood, & Diekman, 2000;Tavris, 1993). Men use only one side, and this is the reason why the decision making by men may be quicker, but it may be also more singularly focussed (Tavris, 1993). ...
... Here, the main assumption is that women use both sides of their brain when making decisions, suggesting that decisions made by women entail a broader consideration of implications for multiple stakeholders (Eagly, Wood, & Diekman, 2000;Tavris, 1993). Men use only one side, and this is the reason why the decision making by men may be quicker, but it may be also more singularly focussed (Tavris, 1993). In addition, several papers argue that the presence of women offers diversity of opinion that changes the boardroom dynamics (Adams & Ferreira, 2009;Carter et al., 2003). ...
Manuscript type
Empirical
Research question/issue
We examine whether the presence of women on the remuneration committee has an influence on say‐on‐pay voting.
Research findings/insights
Based on panel data from the UK's FTSE 350 firms from 2003 to 2015, we find that firms with women on the remuneration committee reduce shareholders’ dissent via say‐on‐pay. However, only firms with a critical mass of more than 30% women on this committee are more likely to have less shareholders’ dissent via say‐on‐pay (i.e. the presence of 30% women or less on this committee is not sufficient).
Theoretical/academic implications
Our results provide empirical evidence that the gender diversity of directors on the remuneration committee plays a significant role in shaping shareholders’ dissent via say‐on‐pay in the UK. Our results also provide empirical support for some of the previous studies that draw on critical mass theory that imply that women are more effective monitors when they make up a critical mass of more than 30%.
Practitioner/policy implications
Our results could provide regulators with evidence in favour of improving women's representation on UK remuneration committees. In addition, our results could help shareholders and nomination committee members understand the importance of having women on UK remuneration committees, as they are more likely to avoid suboptimal pay and align directors’ remuneration packages more closely with shareholders’ expectations. Finally, our results could also attract the attention of main stakeholders and the media, especially given their increasing attention both to gender diversity and say on pay.
... The scientific study of sexual orientation has historically focused less on female sexuality than the sexuality of males Chivers, 2017;Diamond, 2013), a reality that is common to many other areas of the social sciences (e.g., Fine, 2017;Saini, 2017;Tavris, 1993). This bias must be corrected, with careful attention paid to building these efforts into robust theoretical frameworks (Muthukrishna & Henrich, 2019) and appropriately contextualizing the extant evidence. ...
The interface of sexual behavior and evolutionary psychology is a rapidly growing domain, rich in psychological theories and data as well as controversies and applications. With nearly eighty chapters by leading researchers from around the world, and combining theoretical and empirical perspectives, The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology is the most comprehensive and up-to-date reference work in the field. Providing a broad yet in-depth overview of the various evolutionary principles that influence all types of sexual behaviors, the handbook takes an inclusive approach that draws on a number of disciplines and covers nonhuman and human psychology. It is an essential resource for both established researchers and students in psychology, biology, anthropology, medicine, and criminology, among other fields. Volume 4: Controversies, Applications, and Nonhuman Primate Extensions addresses controversies and unresolved issues; applications to health, law, and pornography; and non-human primate evolved sexual psychology.
... Meanwhile in 2010, the state enacted another prohibition on religious attire. 16 Carol Tavris (1992) In specific, it has banned face veils or the niqab in public spaces such as government buildings, restaurants, movie theatres and public transportation. Pursuant to this measure, commonly but erroneously referred to as the "Burqa Ban," law enforcement officials may request the removal of the niqab to verify a woman's identity. ...
The issue of hijab has become a controversial and ongoing topic discussed mainly in European countries and has been perceived differently by the media. The discourse of hijab and its controversy, particularly in France, Netherland, Germany, as well as in the United Kingdom, has not been interpreted by the media according to the Islamic perspective, thereby implicitly creating tension between Muslims and the local society. Hence, the objective of this study is to examine the controversial issue of hijab that arose in the European countries by focusing on France, Netherland, Germany and the United Kingdom and how the issues have been reported and perceived by the media. This study employs a qualitative approach that applies library research focusing on data collection via secondary sources. Furthermore, the data are analysed according to thematic analysis in identifying and interpreting patterns and themes within the data obtained. The finding of this study shows the issue of hijab within European countries is regarding more on veil and purdah or niqab rather than headscarves as wearing of headscarves is commonly recognised by the European communities. As a conclusion, it is suggested for Muslims to be more visible in society and media in countering negative views and perceptions towards Muslim as well as in depicting constructive image of Islam.
... This can be seen as contrary to objectivity in research; yet research methods that fail to incorporate examinations of power and positionality may not be 'objective' so much as failing to transparently examine the social, geographical and historical contexts within which any research activity takes place. Drawing on the work of Stacey and Thorne (1985), Tavris (1993), and others, Beth Wigginton and Michelle N. Lafrance (2019) write, 'Although purporting to be 'objective' and value-neutral, science has often functioned in the disservice of marginalised groups, and feminists have been among the most vociferous critics'. The use of field notes, described above, can be applied to any research methodology to reinforce structures for self-reflection and make more visible linkages with what conclusions are drawn, how and by whom. ...
An expansive view of 'rigorous' research is needed, particularly when studying complex health and human rights issues in settings where the imbalance of power between research participants, users and producers is heightened. This article examines how applying participatory, feminist and anthropological methods in gender-based violence research can hold researchers accountable to both acknowledging and explicitly addressing these power disparities. Applying these approaches throughout the research process takes time - to build trust and share stories rather than 'extract' data, to engage in collective meaning-making with those whose lived experiences are a form of expertise, and to consider how knowledge is represented and with whom it is shared. We provide examples and reflections from Empowered Aid, participatory action research that examines sexual exploitation and abuse in relation to humanitarian aid distributions, and tests ways for making aid safer. The study is grounded in ethnographic research by Syrian and South Sudanese women and girls living as refugees in Lebanon and Uganda, to safely take an active role in asking and answering questions about their own lives.
... Thus, it will be proved that these opinions lack rationality and scientific argumentation. Opinions that place such distinctions on biological, or brain-structure-related factors are now scientifically unfounded [13] except for some body-structure-related factors (e.g., muscle mass) that could reasonably cause some differentiation between men and women tasks. The use of research and documentation through examples could play a key role in contributing to this direction. ...
In the era of Industry 4.0, gender discrimination still exists especially in be male-dominated workplaces, such as the stone sector. Combating gender discrimination in the stone sector is a demanding task that calls for integrated planning and targeted interventions. This paper presents the results of the “WinSTONE” Erasmus+ project, aiming at the development of suitable training tools for the integration of women in the stone industry. Based on the main challenges, as well as on the emerging opportunities for women in the sector, a training methodology is being developed to deal with the actual needs.
... Using biology alone to explain health disparities is an example of biological determinism [126], used historically to justify assertions of the mental inferiority of women [127,128], the intellectual inferiority of immigrants [129], and the genetic inferiority of non-Whites [130] and economically impoverished people [131]. When public health researchers and practitioners reduce disparate health outcomes between White and BIPOC populations to biology without interpreting why or how the social construction of race drives these differences, the implication is that BIPOC are biologically inferior. ...
Background
Epistemological biases in environmental epidemiology prevent the full understanding of how racism’s societal impacts directly influence health outcomes. With the ability to focus on “place” and the totality of environmental exposures, environmental epidemiologists have an important opportunity to advance the field by proactively investigating the structural racist forces that drive disparities in health.
Objective
This commentary illustrates how environmental epidemiology has ignored racism for too long. Some examples from environmental health and male infertility are used to illustrate how failing to address racism neglects the health of entire populations.
Discussion
While research on environmental justice has attended to the structural sources of environmental racism, this work has not been fully integrated into the mainstream of environmental epidemiology. Epidemiology’s dominant paradigm that reduces race to a mere data point avoids the social dimensions of health and thus fails to improve population health for all. Failing to include populations who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in health research means researchers actually know very little about the effect of environmental contaminants on a range of population health outcomes. This commentary offers different practical solutions, such as naming racism in research, including BIPOC in leadership positions, mandating requirements for discussing “race”, conducting far more holistic analyses, increasing community participation in research, and improving racism training, to address the myriad of ways in which structural racism permeates environmental epidemiology questions, methods, results and impacts.
... Feminist scholars have long posited that women live in a patriarchal, androcentric context in which they are viewed either as inferior or irrelevant to the understanding of human experience (hooks, 1990;Lips, 2016;Tavris, 1993). Within that context, a woman's body is both gendered 1 and medicalized (Rosser, 1989;Young et al., 2019), and discourses about how women's bodies "should" look and function persist in Western society (e.g., thin, hairless, fertile; Chrisler, 2011;Fahs, 2012). ...
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects 8 to 13% of reproductive-aged women, is a highly gendered disorder whose symptoms disrupt Western conceptions of femininity. This may be especially debilitating for young women, who are targeted by societal discourses governing how they “should” be. We interviewed 10 young Canadian women, aged 18 to 22, about how PCOS has influenced and/or conflated their conceptions of identity and (ab)normality within the current socio-cultural context. Using reflexive thematic analysis through a critical feminist lens, we present three themes: justifying abnormality, pathologizing the abnormal, and fear of failure in pregnancy. Young women described feeling “weird” and “not normal” as a result of their symptoms and expressed worries about their ability to adhere to gendered expectations. We argue that the blanketing of these desirable states as “normal” has pervasive implications for women’s lives and leaves them feeling defective and/or inadequate, which was further reinforced by implicit, gender-based power dynamics in medical institutions when women sought care. We suggest the need for engagement with discomfort and leveraging PCOS as a unique entryway into an analysis of intersectional issues to capture complexities in lived experience.
... Benché sessismo, razzismo, classismo, eterosessismo ripugnino chi di noi ha un minimo di senno, occorre domandarsi se gli esseri umani condividono le medesime capacità cognitive, senza dare scioccamente la risposta per scontata, o credere erroneamente di poter dirimere la questione a tavolino: il responso spetta alle scienze empiriche e, in particolare, alle scienze cognitive. Non possiamo nasconderci che diversi studi scientifici avanzano la pretesa di avere definitivamente dimostrato l'esistenza di differenze decisive tra le capacità cognitive maschili e quelle femminili (per uno studio classico, si veda Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger e Tarule, 1986); sappiamo però che, se sottoponiamo questi studi a un vaglio critico, finiamo con il dubitare di qualsiasi elemento scientifico-empirico che attesti in modo significativo l'esistenza di uno stile cognitivo tipicamente femminile contrapposto a quello maschile (si vedano, per esempio, Brabeck e Larned, 1997;Fausto-Sterling, 1985;Tavris, 1992). Del resto, nel caso in cui trovassimo prove valide e sufficienti a favore di due stili cognitivi antitetici (l'uno femminile e l'altro maschile), sarebbe errato far finta di nulla, per insistere caparbiamente sull'esigenza di eguaglianza tra donne e uomini, come se non fossimo coscienti -tra le tante altre cose -che proprio quest'esigenza non è riuscita a impedire note tesi acritiche, che hanno portato a identificare tutta la cognizione con la cognizione maschile. ...
... In Anderson's example of feminist research on divorce, the feminist values at issue involve fairly particular claims such as the feminist evaluative claim that "women, just like men, cannot be adequately defined by exclusive attention to their relationships to their spouses and children" and that "both women and men can have needs, desires and concerns that focus on aspects of their lives other than their families and homes" (Clough 2008, p. 277). These feminist political claims about the desires and concerns of women as apart from their role as mothers and spouses are claims that have empirical content that can be objectively assessed, and indeed they have been the subject of such testing throughout the literature on the social psychology of gender roles, and have been found to be wellsupported (for an early and classic review of this literature see Tavris 1992). Now you might be thinking that these claims about women's needs and concerns are basic descriptive truisms rather than feminist political values, but if so, that is likely an effect of these claims being so well-supported by evidence from so many different domains, and not an effect of their being free of evaluative content. ...
I have argued that political values are beliefs informed, more or less well, by the evidence of experience and that, where relevant and well-supported by evidence, the inclusion of political values in scientific theorizing can increase the objectivity of research (e.g., Clough 2003, 2004, 2011). The position I endorse has been called the “values-as-evidence” approach (Goldenberg 2013). In this essay I respond to three kinds of resistance to this approach, using examples of feminist political values. Solomon (2012) questions whether values are beliefs that can be tested, Alcoff (2006) argues that even if our values are beliefs that can be tested, testing them might not be desirable because doing so assigns these important values a contingency that weakens their normative force, and Yap (2016) argues that the approach is too idealistic in its articulation of the role of evidence in our political deliberations. In response, I discuss the ways that values can be tested, I analyze the evidential strength of feminist values in science, and I argue that the evidence-based nature of these values is neither a weakness nor an idealization. Problems with political values affecting science properly concern the dogmatic ways that evaluative beliefs are sometimes held—a problem that arises with dogmatism toward descriptive beliefs as well. I conclude that scientists, as with the rest of us, ought to adopt a pragmatically-inclined appreciation of the fallible, inductive process by which we gather evidence in support of any of our beliefs, whether they are described as evaluative or descriptive.
... παρερμήνευσαν την εμπειρία των γυναικών, συγκρίνοντάς τη με την αντίστοιχη των ανδρών, (β) τις κυρίαρχες θεωρίες, οι οποίες αναπαρήγαν σεξιστικές προκαταλήψεις εναντίον των γυναικών, (γ) τη διαδικασία της ψυχοδιαγνωστικής αξιολόγησης, η οποία δεν έλαβε υπόψη της τον παράγοντα φύλο και (δ) την παραδοσιακή θεραπεία ή συμβουλευτική η οποία προσωποποίησε τα γυναικεία προβλήματα, υποτιμώντας με αυτό τον τρόπο την κοινωνική και πολιτική θέση των γυναικών και τους περιορισμούς που αυτή συνεπάγεται (Tavris, 1993. Wilkinson, 1997. ...
The papers of this special issue fall into the general area of the feminist critical psychology, since they reveal the special and often marginalized experience of different groups of women, place and interpret the issues discussed within the context of the existing social-cultural ideology regarding to gender and/or ethnic identity and connect the scientific research with practice, the empowerment of the participants and the social-political action. This commentary underlies three important issues that have been brought into the front by this feminist critique on psychology and which are also discussed among all the papers. These are (a) the adaptation of qualitative methodology in psychological research, (b) the recognition of the interaction between the identity of gender and other identities, as well as (c) the notions of social justice and social action
... The mean differences among men and women are bigger than the difference between men and women (Kimmel, 2007). Contrary to binary thinking, the 'law of the excluded middle' highlights that most men and women fall in the middle of all distributions of whatever is being measured and are actually more similar to one another (Tavris, 1993). ...
What does it mean to be a leader in different places and times? How are leaders’ styles, characteristics and practices evaluated? How does history and culture affect perceptions of leadership? For a long time, leadership studies have addressed these questions by focusing on the properties and characteristics of individual leaders, viewing leadership as a particular set of traits or behaviours. But leaders cannot pursue real change without influencing people, or persuading them to change their ideas or behaviours. Leadership is always, everywhere, an interaction between leaders and followers. To understand how developmental leadership works, we need to better understand one vital but often overlooked ingredient: Followers. This paper develops a basis for thinking about how followers form perceptions of leaders, the affect this can have on leadership practices, and why this matters for development.
... Social role theory is a false compromise, and while I suspect that it will remain popular for some time, it cannot provide the needed common ground (see also Geary, 2021). Like a hundred years ago, sexual selection is the main target of feminist critiques, not just in psychology (e.g., Fine, 2017;Tavris, 1992) but also in anthropology and biology (e.g., Dunsworth, 2020;Fausto-Sterling, 1992;Roughgarden, 2013;see Hankinson Nelson, 2017). Since the basic logic of sexual selection seems to be essentially correct, but most feminists cannot bring themselves to accept it (Vandermassen, 2004), the debate does not advance, and it's déjà vu all over again. ...
This chapter discusses the influence of ideological bias in the psychological study of sex and gender, with a focus on academic psychology. After introducing the essence of the problem, the chapter examines the conceptual distinction between “sex” and “gender,” the binary nature of biological sex, and the challenges to the idea of a sex binary. The following sections provide a survey of recent introductory textbooks and generalist journals, as well as a historical overview of sex and gender in psychology from the late nineteenth century to the present day. The chapter ends with a consideration of the current state of the field, its future prospects, and suggestions to limit the growing influence of ideological bias in relation to sex and gender.
... Feminist psychology: The place of social class in women's lives Feminist psychologists were among the first wave of critics to draw attention to the shortcomings of mainstream psychology (voicing all the concerns discussed above) but in particular they argued that the discipline did nothing to serve the interests of women. As Wiggington and Lafrance (2019) argue, Naomi Weisstein (1968 cited in Wiggington & Lafrance, 2019) was one of the first feminist psychologists to draw attention to the androcentric nature of the discipline, resulting in the portrayal of women as either irrelevant and therefore unworthy of study (Crawford & Maracek, 1989) or as deficient, abnormal, and generally as a problem (Tavris, 1993). It was noted how in psychological research and theory, men were treated as the norm to which women (when considered at all) were unfavourably compared, serving to bolster the notion of male superiority (Hare-Mustin & Maracek, 1988). ...
The aim of the first chapter is to establish a rationale for the book and ‘set the scene’ for the chapters that follow. The chapter demonstrates that social class is a complex, situated and multifaceted phenomenon. The chapter addresses a number of key questions such as how do we determine someone’s social class? How has the nature of and understandings of social class changed over time? And what relevance does social class have to psychology as a discipline? Addressing the latter is important, especially since social class has often been regarded as the province of other disciplines such as sociology, politics and history. The chapter demonstrates the relevance of social class for psychology by examining a number of psychological ‘dimensions’ to this.
... Feminist psychology: The place of social class in women's lives Feminist psychologists were among the first wave of critics to draw attention to the shortcomings of mainstream psychology (voicing all the concerns discussed above) but in particular they argued that the discipline did nothing to serve the interests of women. As Wiggington and Lafrance (2019) argue, Naomi Weisstein (1968 cited in Wiggington & Lafrance, 2019) was one of the first feminist psychologists to draw attention to the androcentric nature of the discipline, resulting in the portrayal of women as either irrelevant and therefore unworthy of study (Crawford & Maracek, 1989) or as deficient, abnormal, and generally as a problem (Tavris, 1993). It was noted how in psychological research and theory, men were treated as the norm to which women (when considered at all) were unfavourably compared, serving to bolster the notion of male superiority (Hare-Mustin & Maracek, 1988). ...
This book argues for the importance of considering social class in critical psychological enquiry. It provides a historical overview of psychological research and theorising on social class and socio-economic status; before examining the ways in which psychology has contributed to the surveillance, regulation and pathologisation of the working-class ‘Other’. The authors highlight the cost of recent austerity policies on mental health and warn against the implementation of further austerity measures in the current climate
The book pulls together perspectives from critical social psychology, feminist psychology, sociology and other critical research which examines the discursive production of social class, classism and classed identities. The authors explore social class in educational and occupational settings, and analyse the intersections between class and other social categories such as gender, race, ethnicity and sexuality. Finally, they consider key issues in debates around social class in the broader social sciences, such as the limitations of approaches informed by poststructuralist theory. This book will be a useful resource for both academics and students studying class from a critical perspective.
Katy Day is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Beckett University, UK. She is a feminist and critical social psychologist who has authored numerous publications examining discourses around social class and related issues such as austerity and worklessness, classed identities and intersections between gender and class.
Bridgette Rickett is Head of Psychology at Leeds Beckett University, UK, and Past Chair of the British Psychological Society’s POWES Committee. She is a feminist social/organisational psychologist whose research focusses on critical social psychological explanations of social class, health in the workplace, embodied consumption and mothering and families.
Maxine Woolhouse is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Beckett University, UK, with interests in feminist and critical perspectives in social psychology. Her research focuses on the gendered and classed dimensions of consumption and body management practices. She is a member of the British Psychological Society’s POWES Committee.
... Feminist psychology: The place of social class in women's lives Feminist psychologists were among the first wave of critics to draw attention to the shortcomings of mainstream psychology (voicing all the concerns discussed above) but in particular they argued that the discipline did nothing to serve the interests of women. As Wiggington and Lafrance (2019) argue, Naomi Weisstein (1968 cited in Wiggington & Lafrance, 2019) was one of the first feminist psychologists to draw attention to the androcentric nature of the discipline, resulting in the portrayal of women as either irrelevant and therefore unworthy of study (Crawford & Maracek, 1989) or as deficient, abnormal, and generally as a problem (Tavris, 1993). It was noted how in psychological research and theory, men were treated as the norm to which women (when considered at all) were unfavourably compared, serving to bolster the notion of male superiority (Hare-Mustin & Maracek, 1988). ...
This chapter examines scholarship on a powerful institution which is a site for the reproduction of problematic discourses around class and classed subjects: the mass media. Focussing in particular upon the contemporary genres of ‘reality’ and ‘lifestyle’ programmes on television, we demonstrate how such popular programming reproduces meritocracy discourse and ‘psychologises’ issues such as worklessness as being the result of individual deficits and failures. The chapter also discusses work on more explicitly hostile depictions of poor and working-class people which invite judgement, ridicule and revulsion. It is argued that such media depictions, far from being innocuous or mere entertainment, inform people’s understandings of class differences and social and economic policies in ways that obscure exploitation and injustice, bolster class discrimination and discourage positive social transformation.
... Brown (2001) believes that gender is one of significant pragmatic variables which influence the acquisition of communicative competence in every language. In past years a number of studies were carried out on brain function in two genders (Shaywitz, Pugh, Constable, Skudlarski, Fulbright, Bronen, Fletcher, Shankweller, Katz, & Gore, 1995;Shield, 1975;Tavris, 1993) gender identity (Aries,1996;Cutler & Scott, 1990;Duran & Carveth, 1990), gender role in discourse (Hawes &Thomas, 1995;Lees, 1997;Weedon, 1987), and gender bias in verbal ability (Halpern, 1986;Hyde, 1990;Hyde & Linn, 1988;Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974). ...
... More specifically, the contribution here illustrates the complexity of gendered entrepreneurial leadership in the sport business in the Middle East, demonstrating that it is contextually embedded. Indeed, entrepreneurship and organisational leadership literature has advanced the critical need for scholars to engage in further work investigating social construction theory, focussing on individual differences that assumes that there are issues other than gender differences (Malach Pines et al., 2010;Tavris, 1993) such as the gap between wealth and poverty, a secular or/and religious mentality, partisanship and marital status. The notion of a predominantly masculine model of entrepreneurship is not limited to the environment of sport business. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of gender in the sport business by investigating gender differences in entrepreneurial leadership and cultural values using quantitative methods.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 241 surveys were completed by sport business owners in 4 countries in the Middle East.
Findings
The results revealed that gender differences and similarities are not only widely affected by national cultural values but also the effects of national cultural values vary between countries in the Middle East, despite these countries being similar in terms of habits, traditions, history, language and institutional systems. Additionally, it was found that entrepreneurial leadership is a role, task or responsibility that is related to both men and women in the sport business in the Middle East.
Research limitations/implications
Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed, together with limitations and suggestions for future research.
Originality/value
This is the only study in the field of entrepreneurial leadership that examined the concept of entrepreneurial leadership in Middle East sport businesses.
... There is evidence that women experience guardianship uniquely (Grover, 2002;Rosenberg, 2009; Victoria Office of the Public Advocate, 2017). There is also evidence that women may be disproportionately placed under guardianshippotentially, due to the lasting impacts of historical notions of women as less rational and in more need of protection than men (Prokhovnik, 2012;Rosenberg, 2009;Tavris, 1993; Victoria Office of the Public Advocate, 2017). For example, until recently, it was widely accepted that women with intellectual disability living under guardianship in institutional settings would almost automatically be given either medication to end their menstrual cycle or would undergo surgery for sterilisation or some form of management of their menstrual cycle. ...
This article explores the vulnerability that is created when legal capacity is denied to women and disabled women. It argues that vulnerability is largely contingent on social constructs - as opposed to being an inherent quality of disability or gender. It discusses barriers to the exercise of legal capacity that women and disabled women experience - such as limitations on reproductive choice, higher rates of substituted decision-making, and unique experiences with forced mental health treatment. It then explores evidence that such barriers are disempowering and can leave women and disabled women vulnerable to abuse and marginalisation. It explores financial, physical and sexual abuse that can occur as a result of this vulnerability. Finally, it concludes that autonomy and power are inextricably linked and can be essential for minimising vulnerability.
... Gender inequity in the U.S. is common in the field of education and in the role of the superintendent (Young, 2005;Kowalski, McCord, Petersen, Young, & Ellerson, 2011). The U.S. society has formulated norms for female behavior, considered female the weaker gender, and these norms impact women in the superintendency (Tavris, 1992;Skrla, 2000). Feminist theory is connected to social problems, trends, and issues neglected by the dominant male viewpoint within social theory. ...
In the United States (U.S.), women are drastically underrepresented in the role of school superintendent. Women who seek the job face overwhelming barriers and exhibit characteristics different from men causing challenges in obtaining the superintendency. In this study, a content analysis was conducted of the 43 U.S. dissertations relating to women superintendents located in the ProQuest database for the years of 2014 – 2016. Nine major themes mentioned in a range of 20 to 36 dissertations or (47% to 84%) were discovered: low numbers of women superintendents, gender inequity, history of women superintendents, support systems, career pathways, characteristics of women superintendents, leadership styles, barriers, and school board discrimination. Common themes voiced in 10 to 19 dissertations (23% to 40%) were clustered into the categories of cultural and societal expectations, the glass ceiling, racial discrimination, age, and search procedures. Thirty-five themes were included one to nine times in dissertations (2% to 21%) and considered by the researchers as minor. Displaying issues related to women superintendents highlights concerns and encourages solutions.
... Broverman (1974), Chesler (1972), Miles (1988), Russel (1995), Showalter (1985, Tavris (1992) and Wenegrat (1995) for example, have suggested that the diagnoses women are most likely to receive (anxiety disorders, depression, multiple, histrionic, and dependent personality disorders) do not articulate mental disorders but express reactions to the fundamental powerlessness they experience in patriarchal society. On this basis, it would then seem appropriate to discuss my psychosocial strategies by also exploring how gender enables or inhibits their development. ...
... The public sphere is defined here as 'in the company of strangers' rather than 'outside the home', although often these two situations correspond. Consequently, the definitions of 'public space' and 'private space' in Islam differ from those in a Western paradigm (El Guindi 1999;Tavris 1993). There exist several requirements and prohibitions concerning clothing in Islamic teachings. ...
This paper focuses on the relationship between clothing and identity—specifically, on Islamic dress as shaping the identity of Dutch Muslim women. How do these Dutch Muslim women shape their identity in a way that it is both Dutch and Muslim? Do they mix Dutch parameters in their Muslim identity, while at the same time intersplicing Islamic principles in their Dutch sense of self? This study is based on two ethnographies conducted in the city of Amsterdam, the first occurring from September to October 2009, and the second took place in August 2018, which combines insights taken from in-depth interviews with Dutch Muslim women and observations in gatherings from Quranic and Religious studies, social gatherings and one-time events, as well as observations in stores for Islamic fashion and museums in Amsterdam. This study takes as its theme clothing and identity, and how Islamic clothing can be mobilized by Dutch Muslim women in service of identity formation. The study takes place in a context, the Netherlands, where Islam is largely considered by the populous as a religion that is oppressive and discriminatory to women. This paper argues that in the context of being Dutch and Muslim, through choice of clothing, these women express their agency: their ability to choose and act in social action, thus pushing the limits of archetypal Dutch identity while simultaneously stretching the meaning of Islam to craft their own identity, one that is influenced by themes of immigration, belongingness, ethnicity, religious knowledge and gender.
... Second wave feminists have spent more than thirty years debunking the idea that women and men are different in essential ways and demonstrating that sex similarities are more important than sex differences (see Hyde, 2005;Eagly & Diekman, 2006;and Barnett & Rivers, 2004 for important recent work in the area). However, even when the work was engagingly written by a well-known social psychologist/journalist with good media contacts (Tavris, 1992), her book entitled -The Mismeasure of Women‖ never achieved the bestselling status that anecdotal accounts arguing that the sexes are from different planets routinely receive. ...
The purpose of this paper is to examine epistemological connections between
the words used by psychologists, the way words influence what methodology we use, and
how methods influence our beliefs about causality and construct phenomena regarded as
psychological "facts." These processes are considered in terms of a personal and
historical perspective gained from nearly forty years of studying the psychology of women
and gender. This paper focuses the history of the distinction between "sex" and "gender"
and the continued attention of researchers to the question of whether sex/gender
differences exist. It argues that the issue continues to be researched because of the
relative absence of socio-structural variables such as status and power from most
psychological discourse and the current empirical focus of many feminist psychologists in
the United States. I also argue that lack of attention to epistemology and to the
connection between politics and scholarship has led to a definition of the psychology of
women and/or gender that no longer attends to feminist theory and to a decline in
socially activist scholarship. Women and men cannot be studied in isolation from other
social constructions such as race/ethnicity, social class, sexual diversity, and cultural
difference. Such synthesis will be difficult without a return to concerns about
epistemology and question generation that are rarely addressed in U. S. feminist
psychology today.
With women's growing desire to wear the hijab and the growth of Islam over the world, hijab fashion has emerged during the twentieth century, and there are now more hijab fashion magazines than ever before. In addition to the media's function and the advancement of technology, one may easily purchase clothing from online stores. This study has two goals, first: the discourse cohesiveness of the hijab fashion advertisements in Fustany magazine, as well as the grammatical and semantic relationships within the texts, as one of the designers' persuasive strategies for attracting clients. The researcher adopts the analytical framework proposed by Halliday and Hasan in 1976. The second part of this study looks at certain fashion bloggers' pragmatic speech actions. Based on data analysis, the study has demonstrated that repetition and other linguistic devices are frequently employed by advertisers to draw customers' attention to their offerings and improve brand recognition. As a technique for promoting advertisements, commissives are often utilized, along with other sorts of assertives and directives.
This chapter focuses on the evolution, structure, and function of the brain, as well as emotion and sexuality as related to the brain. We argue that literary scholars should know what the brain is and how it works, at least in general outline, to begin to understand how it processes language in both oral and written forms.
Investigations of sex differences in the human brain take place on politically sensitive terrain. While some scholars express concern that gendered biases and stereotypes remain embedded in scientific research, others are alarmed about the politicization of science. To help better understand these debates, this review sets out three kinds of conflicts that can arise in the neuroscience of sex differences: academic freedom versus gender equality; frameworks, background assumptions, and dominant methodologies; and inductive risk and social values. The boundaries between fair criticism and politicization are explored for each kind of conflict, pointing to ways in which the academic community can facilitate fair criticism while protecting against politicization.
Right-wing populism emboldens its members to publicly challenge those they find threatening to white conservative frameworks, e.g. progressive female politicians of color. I critically analyze how Republican Ted Yoho uses discursive agency to deliver infelicitous statements in response to the diatribe he directed at Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in July 2020. Guided by the principles of citationality (Derrida 1988), I utilize image repair theory (Benoit 1997) to reveal how Yoho minimizes the alleged offenses he committed by redirecting his rant at policy, not person. This allows Yoho to issue non-apologies and—in line with right-wing populism—villainize Ocasio-Cortez and elevate himself and his party. Both Democrats and Republicans deemed Yoho’s apology ‘appropriate’, resulting in unfavorable perlocutionary effects for racialized female politicians. The dismissal of Yoho’s offenses highlights the normalization of violent language directed at women of color, revealing how white supremacy and toxic masculinity are normalized aspects of US media ecology.
From innovations such as virtual fit through 3D body scanning, smart clothes, wearable technology and virtual styling assistants to more mundane capabilities such as digital photography and social media, deciding what to wear and how to wear an item is now accompanied by a range of new information and perspectives. This article examines the sociotechnical systems that support everyday decisions about what to wear, and how this decision-making process is being re-imagined in response to technology. Drawing upon closet ethnographies with women in the USA and Australia, we focus upon the ways in which women make decisions about what will help them to ‘look professional’. Specifically, we attend to two key dimensions of the decision-making process – visions and validations – to understand the ways in which women weigh the opinion of other people, media and technologies, and the real and imagined role of how new technologies such as the Amazon Echo Look may be integrated into this process. Through fine-grained analysis of the ways that women receive, reject or ignore information about their performance of looking professional, we reflect upon the relative importance of different technologies in the process of decision-making.
Social media, a popular ICT tool has great potential to be used for knowledge sharing and social networking among farmers. Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube are now being used to share diverse farm based information across different parts of India. Since the introduction of social media, communication is becoming more and more dynamic every day. More and more people – young and old alike – are fascinated by the social media and it is a trend that is not going down very soon. For a long period in the future, social media is going to shape the way people interact, share information, form opinions and also lead individual and collective actions. Especially for agricultural extension, which primary element is communication, social media can be a potential goldmine.
Critics have suggested that psychological research is characterized by a pervasive liberal bias, and this problem may be particularly acute in research on issues related to public policy. In this article, I consider the sources of bias in basic and applied research in the evaluation, conduct, and communication of research. Techniques are suggested for counteracting bias at each of these stages.
The aim of this chapter is to explore the role of gender in historical and modern legal capacity denials. It discusses law, policy and practice that lead to these denials. It adopts the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Committee definition of the right to legal capacity as described in their General Comment and as outlined in Chap. 1 of this book (Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2014; Arstein-Kerslake and Flynn 2016b). It uses this definition to examine the history of gendered denials of legal capacity and explore where existing systems continue to deny legal capacity in unique ways to women, disabled women, and gender minorities. Chapter 5 then explores how this may be creating vulnerability in various contexts. The recommendations for reform in Chap. 6 are then based on the denials identified in this chapter.
This final chapter will use case studies to highlight reform processes around the world that can be drawn on to learn how to better protect the right to legal capacity of women, disabled women, and gender minorities. It will discuss the abolition of guardianship in Peru in 2018; the reform of capacity to consent to sex laws in Ireland in 2017; and Malta’s 2015 Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act. To conclude, it will present reform recommendations. These recommendations include a four-part process for bringing law, policy and practice into compliance with the right to legal capacity on an equal basis for women, disabled women, and gender minorities.
This article explores the place of women in the specialization of group psychotherapy, particularly their representation in journal publications, both in topical coverage related to women as well as in editorial participation and leadership. We first present a brief history of group psychotherapy to provide overall context. Next, we present major cross-cutting themes related to women and group work that emerged from our review of nine peer-reviewed journals deemed most relevant to our investigation. We end with observations and a call for greater inclusion of women in the group psychotherapy literature.
This chapter provides a case for a critical social psychology of class. By way of doing so, it first traces some of the antecedents to critical social psychology through a discussion of the ‘crisis’ in psychology some several decades ago. We then provide an overview of the central arguments of Marxism, feminism and poststructuralist-informed discursive approaches (key influences on critical psychology) and present a selection of class-focussed research informed by these respective approaches. Finally, we point to what a critical social psychology of class might look like, drawing attention to the need for historical-discursive approaches to classification, the importance of intersectional analyses, and attention to the ‘everyday’ of class-making across a range of cultural sites.
El artículo comienza analizando la situación de las mujeres en la psicología (como sujetos y objetos de conocimiento); para posteriormente abordar cómo el feminismo, como teoría crítica y movimiento social, ha transformado la psicología. En primer lugar, describe cómo las pioneras psicólogas utilizaron sus conocimientos científicos para desmontar mitos sobre la inferioridad de las mujeres y los efectos de la educación en su salud. En segundo lugar, analiza cómo los feminismos de los 70 denunciaron el androcentrismo en salud mental y crearon los grupos de auto-conciencia como formas colectivas de politizar los malestares con efectos terapéuticos. Por último, cómo las psicólogas feministas han criticado la esencialización de las diferencias y los dualismos de sexo/género y la patologización de la diversidad. El artículo termina con una reflexión sobre las relaciones entre el feminismo y la psicología hoy.
This research examines the contemporary worship of an Irish folkloric figure, the Morrigan, as expressed on the new media platform of YouTube, and within the context of the wider concept of the Dark Goddess. While narratives of a “dark”’ Goddess existed in earlier Pagan and Goddess-focused texts, material describing a Dark Goddess archetype who enables women’s healing and empowerment developed from the 1990s alongside third-wave feminism. As the Morrigan is portrayed in the online Pagan community as a “dark goddess,” this folkloric figure is transformed or re-imagined through Dark Goddess discourse. Morrigan devotees reinterpret the Morrigan through self-narration in new media, a therapeutic process through which they recontextualise and give new meaning to autobiographical experiences. The Morrigan is reconfigured by devotees as a force which has brought about, assisted them through, and healed them from personal struggles. This discourse allows practitioners—predominantly women—to reconfigure personal narratives of struggle as transformational rites of passage.
This article, part of an evolving and large project, examines the relationship between clothing, freedom and choice, and specifically Islamic dress in shaping the identity of Dutch Muslim women after the Burka Ban that was voted into law on 1 August 2019 in the Netherlands. It discusses the debates before and after this date, as well as the background to the ban. A veil covering the face is a garment worn by some Muslim women to adhere to an interpretation of hijab (modest dress). It can be referred to as a burqa or niqab. In the aftermath of the Burka Ban that prompted considerable public alarm on the part of Muslim men and women, niqab-wearing women, as well as women who do not wear a veil, but are in solidarity with their niqabi sisters, raised a number of questions that form the basis for the analysis presented here: how do Dutch Muslim women shape their identity in a way that it is both Dutch and Muslim? Do they incorporate Dutch parameters into their Muslim identity, while at the same time weaving Islamic principles into their Dutch sense of self? The findings show how Islamic clothing can be mobilized by Dutch Muslim women to serve identity formation and personal (religious) choice in the Netherlands, where Islam is largely considered by the non-Muslim population to be a religion that is oppressive and discriminatory towards women. It is argued that in the context of being Dutch and Muslim, these women express their freedom of choice through clothing, thus pushing the limits of the archetypal Dutch identity and criticizing Dutch society while simultaneously stretching the meaning of Islam to craft their own identity.
We conclude this work with some modern uses of the incest motif in a variety of genres, including films, novels, memoirs, and popular and sensational media accounts. As a narrative motif and metaphor used to discuss social changes, class conflict, and culture wars, the incest theme has a place in modern reflections on broad social problems. Additionally, advanced reproductive technologies of the twenty-first century have renewed anxiety about inadvertent incest.
As we approach Feminism & Psychology’s 30th anniversary, we reflect on and explore what makes the journal distinctive – its emphasis on critical feminist psychology. In this article and the accompanying Virtual Special Issue, we outline five methodological considerations that we believe are at the heart of critical feminist scholarship: 1) the politics of asking questions; 2) attention to language/discourse; 3) reflexivity; 4) representation and intersectionality; and 5) mobilizing research for social change. We then draw across a set of 15 articles published in the archives of Feminism & Psychology that showcase one or more of these key features and demonstrate the ‘doing’ of critical feminist psychology. These articles are housed on the journal’s website, as is an additional paper developed for students or those in a position of learning, which explores central ideas and debates that have culminated in critical feminist psychology.
In the United States, self-promotion during a job interview is not just common, it is expected (Paulhus, Westlake, Calvez, & Harms, 2013). Job applicants are encouraged to inform potential employers about the qualifications, strengths, and professional accomplishments that make them the best fit for the job, which requires applicants to engage in self-promotion during the job interview. Literature has begun to suggest that sociocultural factors such as gender or culture may influence an individual’s propensity to engage in modesty as opposed to self-promotion in career-related contexts like the job interview. However, few studies have explored how these sociocultural factors interact to influence career-related self-presentation. The present qualitative study explored the experiences of a sample of undergraduate Latina college students during job interview self-presentation. The findings suggest that participants demonstrate a propensity to engage in modest self-presentation during job interviews and that sociocultural factors (culture, gender, family) and specific experiences (career development and learning experiences, experiences of discrimination, experiences of positive and negative affect) may influence their self-presentation tendencies and experiences. It is the researcher’s hope that the findings of this study will highlight the need for further research exploring how race, ethnicity, and culture intersect with other sociocultural factors to impact career-related self-presentation. Advisor: Neeta Kantamneni
With increasing participation in Eastern contemplative activities by Western-born practitioners, psychological research is needed on how meditation influences conceptualizations of the self. Descriptive thematic analyses of one-on-one interviews with seven women and men residing in USA focused on how their perceptions of the self were affected by dedication to practicing meditation (from between 10 - 45 years). Through their practice, participants came to perceive the Eastern conceptualization as distinguishing ego (as encumbering, mundane, and impermanent) from self (as transcendent, idealized, and interconnected). They saw Eastern conceptualizations of self as advantageous (promoting non-attachment, balance, compassion, interdependence, and spiritual bliss) and disadvantageous (risking dis-identification with personal identity and emotion). They reported meditation practice had more favorable effects on the self (promoting resilience, self-awareness, better relationships, and stronger mind/body connection), than unfavorable effects (risking emotional dysregulation). Themes are discussed with regard to personality theory, clinical practice, and promotion of individual well-being through meditation. © 2019
This Chapter poses the question of whether sulphate geoengineering research meets the criteria of novelty as articulated by Helen Longino’s feminist contextual empiricism. It includes identifying the main attributes of novelty in science, the kinds of novelty that do exist in geoengineering research, and, by articulating what genuinely novel research should look like and why it matters, and concludes that, in the context of climate engineering science, it is wanting.
This article reviews the broad spectrum of women’s major health problems from a public health paradigm, which balances the need for individual freedoms and overall equity. The article begins with a brief analysis of the recroachment of women’s issues and lack of reform consensus on the abundance of health issues. Specific issues discussed include social ones such as poverty and violence against women, the competition of preventive and treatment resources, specific access to care through insurance mechanisms, treatment and pharmaceutical disparities, personnel gender gaps, and iatrogenic disease pertinent to women. A lengthy agenda is presented from professional literature, research findings, and women’s interest group statements. This agenda is forthright and not politically timid, presenting serious challenges to the Clinton team.
Discusses the social constructionist movement in modern psychology, noting that social constructionism views discourse about the world not as a reflection or map of the world but as an artifact of communal interchange. Both as an orientation to knowledge and to the character of psychological constructs, constructionism presents a significant challenge to conventional understanding. Although the roots of constructionist thought may be traced to long-standing debates between empiricist and rationalist schools of thought, constructionism moves beyond the dualism of these traditions and places knowledge within the process of social interchange. Although the role of psychological explanation is problematic, a fully developed constructionism could furnish a means for understanding the process of science and invites the development of alternative criteria for the evaluation of psychological inquiry. (100 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Recent work on the psychology of gender is pluralistic, stemming from varied specialty areas within psychology, grounded in several intellectual frameworks, and reflecting a spectrum of feminist perspectives. This article is a critical appraisal of diverse approaches to the study of women and gender. It first describes prefeminist or “womanless” psychology, then analyzes four co-existing frameworks that have generated recent research. The four frameworks are: Exceptional Women, in which empirical research focuses on the correlates of high achievement for women, and women's history in the discipline is re-evaluated; Women as Problem (or Anomaly), in which research emphasizes explanations for female “deficiencies” (e.g., fear of success); the Psychology of Gender, in which the focus of inquiry shifts from women to gender, conceived as a principle of social organization that structures relations between women and men; and a (currently relatively undeveloped) Transformation framework that reflexively challenges the values, assumptions, and normative practices of the discipline. Examples of research programs within each approach are described, and the strengths and limitations of each approach are critically examined.
Reviews the literature on sex differences in empathy (defined as vicarious affective responding to the emotional state of another) and related capacities (affective role taking and decoding of nonverbal cues). The literature is discussed according to method used to assess empathy and affective role taking. Where appropriate, meta-analyses were also computed. In general, sex differences in empathy were found to be a function of the methods used to assess empathy. There was a large sex difference favoring women when the measure of empathy was self-report scales; moderate differences (favoring females) were found for reflexive crying and self-report measures in laboratory situations; and no sex differences were evident when the measure of empathy was either physiological or unobtrusive observations of nonverbal reactions to another's emotional state. Moreover, few sex differences were found for children's affective role taking and decoding abilities. (156 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Located 165 studies that reported data on gender differences in verbal ability. The weighted mean effect size was +0.11, indicating a slight female superiority in performance. The difference is so small that we argue that gender differences in verbal ability no longer exist. Analysis of tests requiring different cognitive processes involved in verbal ability yielded no evidence of substantial gender differences in any aspect of processing. Similarly, an analysis of age indicated no striking changes in the magnitude of gender differences at different ages, countering Maccoby and Jacklin's (1974) conclusion that gender differences in verbal ability emerge around age 11 yrs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examines the psychology of women as it was studied from the middle of the 19th century to the 1st 3rd of the 20th century. During that period 3 topics received the most attention: sex differences in brain size and complexity and their implications for cognitive and affective behavior; the hypothesis of greater male variability (a corollary of evolutionary theory) and its social implications; and the expression of maternal instinct. Each topic is examined in relation to evolutionary theory and its influence on the conduct of 19th century science. The antecedents of each topic are traced as is the subsequent redefinition of each within the paradigm of behaviorism. It is proposed that each of these topics functioned as "scientific myth" which justified and explained contemporary cultural values. (71 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article advances a longitudinal, resource development model of power in organizations and uses it to organize a review of empirical research and related theory concerning differences between the genders in power. The review incorporates four levels of analysis—social-systems, organizational, interpersonal, and individual—and emphasizes the accumulation of resources for power at critical career transitions. Research reveals a consistent difference favoring men in accessibility to, and utility of, resources for power. It suggests that the processes involved in the development of power differ for men and women and that the path to power for women resembles an obstacle course. Implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Mixed- and same-sex dyads were observed to examine effects of gender composition on language and of language on gender differences in influence. Ss discussed a topic on which they disagreed. Women were more tentative than men, but only in mixed sex dyads. Women who spoke tentatively were more influential with men and less influential with women. Language had no effect on how influential men were. In a 2nd study, 120 Ss listened to an audiotape of identical persuasive messages presented either by a man or a woman, half of whom spoke tentatively. Female speakers who spoke tentatively were more influential with male Ss and less influential with female Ss than those who spoke assertively. Male speakers were equally influential in each condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A model that describes conditions influencing the display of gender-related behavior is presented as a supplement to existent models of sex differences. Whereas many previous models stress the importance of distal factors, our model emphasizes the degree to which gender-related behavior is variable, proximally caused, and context dependent. More specifically, we propose that gender-related behaviors are influenced by the expectations of perceivers, self-systems of the target, and situational cues. This model of gender-related behavior builds on theory and data in the areas of (a) expectancy confirmation processes and (b) self-verification and self-presentation strategies. Support for the model is presented, and suggestions are offered for its future development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
We report an experimental study designed to test the following hypothesis derived from clinical observations: There is an elevated frequency in left-handed individuals and in their families of immune disease, migraine, and developmental learning disorders. In two separate investigations the frequency of these conditions was compared in strongly left-handed subjects and in strongly right-handed controls. In each of the investigations we found markedly higher frequencies of immune disease in the left-handers than in the right-handers. The rate of learning disabilities was also much higher in the left-handers than in the right-handers in both investigations. In a second study the frequency of left-handedness was compared in patients with migraine or immune disease and in general population control subjects free of these disorders. There was a higher frequency of left-handedness in patients with migraine and myasthenia gravis than in controls. We present a brief outline of a hypothesis that may account for an increased frequency of immune disease in left-handers and in their families.
Preliminary observations suggest a sex difference in the shape and surface area of the human corpus callosum. The sexual dimorphism is striking in the splenium, the caudal or posterior portion of the corpus callosum. The female splenium is both more bulbous and larger than the male counterpart. Since peristriate, parietal, and superior temporal fibers course through the splenium, this finding could be related to possible gender differences in the degree of lateralization for visuospatial functions.
This topic was included in the Conference because, as the list of participants reflects, the phenomenon of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and scientific knowledge about it bear on a wide range of clinical, social, and legal issues. Media coverage is one means by which the science-based knowledge about PMS is conveyed to the general public and to those non-scientific professionals for whom it is relevant. Research on the mass communication and the media has traditionally been conducted by sociologists, none of whom as yet has focused on contemporary media treatments of PMS or of women’s reproductive functions more generally (e.g., Curran, Gurevitch, & Wollacott, 1979; Dexter & White, 1964). Because of the importance of the topic for PMS researchers, however, this paper attempts to bridge the gap between relatively technical scholarly treatments of the media by sociologists (see, for example, works cited in Gans, 1979) and the practical concerns of the working scientists dealing with the media. It draws, in part, on the author’s experience as a full-time writer and editor for a monthly magazine covering social science, as chair of the Public Information Committee of the American Psychological Association during the time the Association was developing and testing strategies for promoting responsible media coverage of psychological research, and as a researcher who has often interacted with media representatives covering PMS and/or menstrual cycle research. As Dr. Halbreich suggested in discussion at the Conference, media coverage of PMS may represent a useful model for analysis of the complex issues arising in media treatment of medical subjects more generally (Dick, 1954). Systematic research of this sort is needed to bridge solidly the gap to which this paper is addressed in a necessarily preliminary way.
Two hypotheses have been offered to explain the relation between testosterone and antisocial behavior in delinquent and criminal populations. One is that testosterone leads directly to antisocial behavior. The other is that a constellation of dominance, competitiveness, and sensation seeking associated with testosterone leads to either antisocial or prosocial behavior, depending upon an individual's resources and background. Analysis of archival data from 4,462 U.S. military veterans supported the first hypothesis: Testosterone was correlated with a variety of antisocial behaviors among all individuals. However, socioeconomic status (SES) proved to be a moderating variable, with weaker testosterone-behavior relationships among high SES subjects.
The purpose of this article is to advance a new understanding of gender as a routine accomplishment embedded in everyday interaction. To do so entails a critical assessment of existing perspectives on sex and gender and the introduction of important distinctions among sex, sex category, and gender. We argue that recognition of the analytical independence of these concepts is essential for understanding the interactional work involved in being a gendered person in society. The thrust of our remarks is toward theoretical reconceptualization, but we consider fruitful directions for empirical research that are indicated by our formulation.
Feminist theorists have critiqued both legal equality doctrine and society's power structure as "phallocentric"-that is, reflecting solely the perspective of men. These critiques have fostered two conflicting visions of sexual equality: the "equal treatment" or "symmetrical" model, and the "special treatment" or "asymmetrical" model. After surveying the spectrum of current equality theory, Professor Littleton proposes her own model of sexual equality, called "equality as acceptance," which she identifies as essentially asymmetrical. She then demonstrates how her "acceptance" model responds to the feminist critiques of equality and power. Professor Littleton argues that women's biological and cultural differences from men, regardless of whether they are "natural" or constructed, are real and significant. Women's inequality, she contends, results when society devalues women because they differ from the male norm. "Acceptance" would reduce inequality not by eliminating women's differences, but by reassessing the value society accords to traditionally "female" occupations and lifestyles, and revaluing so as to render such value no less than that accorded to equivalent "male" activities.
This article argues that individuals paradigms have predominated social scientific explanations for gendered behavior in intimate relationships but that a microstructural paradigm adds necessary additional information. The results of a study designed to test the relative strengths of individualist and microstructural explanations for “mothering behavior” are presented. The microstructural hypothesis is that single fathers will adopt parental behavior that more closely resembles that of women who mother than that of married fathers. Parenting behaviors of single fathers, single mothers, married parents with mothers at home, and married two-paycheck couples are compared. Overall, the hypothesis is supported. The article ends with a discussion of the implications of the microstructural perspective for social change in a feminist direction.
The early months of motherhood represent an acute transitional period in which mothers are thrown back upon their intimate relationships with their spouse or sexual partner. The research reported here looks at the experience of mothering for a group of mothers from both stable and disrupted backgrounds using a time-use diary and in-depth interviews. It examines the relationship between the structural and environmental factors in these women's lives, and their experience of support and stress in the early months of first-time motherhood. The focus is upon gender-based inequality in the division of labour in early parenting and the way in which mothers come to terms with this. Mothers' accounts of the relative allocation of power and distribution of resources within the household are indicative of their struggle to come to terms with structural gender imbalances within the context of a close, and notionally reciprocal, relationship. Gender relationships are seen as a competition for scarce resources in which mothers are hampered by current sex-role ideology which characterizes motherhood as intrinsically rewarding and the fathers' contribution as an optional extra.
Mood fluctuations in women and men were studied both prospectively and retrospectively to determine whether cyclic changes occur over phases of the menstrual cycle, lunar cycle, and/or days of the week. The participants (15 women using oral contraceptives, 12 normally cycling women, and 15 men), who did not know the purpose of the study, recorded the pleasantness, arousal, and stability of their moods daily for 70 days (concurrent data). Later they recalled (retrospective data) their average mood for each day of the week and phase of the menstrual cycle (women only). The only evidence of mood fluctuation over the menstrual cycle in the concurrent reports was that normally cycling women reported more pleasant moods in the follicular and menstrual phase than did men and women on oral contraceptives. Women's moods fluctuated less over the menstrual cycle than over days of the week. Recollections of menstrual mood changes differed from actual changes: Women recalled more pleasant moods in the follicular phase and more unpleasant moods in the premenstrual and menstrual phases than they had reported concurrently. Bias also was evident in recollections of weekday mood fluctuations: Weekend highs were exaggerated and Monday blues were reported even though they were not reported concurrently. There was no evidence of mood fluctuations over the lunar cycle and the groups did not differ in mood stability. The retrospective reporting bias for both the menstrual cycle and days of week suggests the influence of stereotypes about moods. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Studies relating language and institutions have emerged independently in several disciplines, including social psychology, social anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and others, as researchers have questioned conventional boundaries of concern. Language and law is examined as an indicative case for language-institu tion studies. The field shows vitality in research relating language to education, medicine, commerce, etc., but very little agreement upon priorities in topic, method, or theory. Rather, research tends to be informed by questions and approaches that reflect disciplinary concerns. It is suggested that researchers investigating language-institution relations do share many issues arising out of the hybrid origins and the non-conventionality of issues considered. The particular experiences of the author are discussed to show how his own interests in language in institutional contexts developed and to provide a specific opportunity to analyse the general issues facing researchers in language-instruction contexts. In conclu sion, it is argued that language-institution studies must go beyond merely noticing language in institutional contexts by attempting to speak to important and signifi cant questions about language, institutions, or both.
This study was designed to test Gilligan's (1982) claim that men and women differ in moral judgments. One hundred and one college students read four traditional moral dilemmas and rated the importance of 12 considerations for deciding how the protagonist should respond. Six of the statements were derived from the description by Kohlberg et al. (1978) of post-conventional moral reasoning, and six were derived from Gilligan's description of women's style of moral reasoning. Subjects also rated themselves on a measure of sex-typed personality attributes. There were no reliable sex differences on either of the types of moral reasoning, and confidence intervals allowed the rejection of all but negligible differences in the directions predicted by Gilligan's model. Furthermore, men and women showed highly similar rank orders of the items for each dilemma. The personality measures also failed to predict individual differences in moral judgments.
As an antidote to some of the institutionalized sexism in the mental health system the category of Delusional Dominating Personality Disorder (DDPD) is presented as a set of personality characteristics that result from rigid masculine socialization and constitute a serious psychological problem. Literature and research relevant to this phenomenon are also presented. 14 criteria of DDPD are discussed, including the inability to establish and maintain meaningful interpersonal relationships, an inability to identify and express a range of feelings in oneself and others, and difficulty responding appropriately and empathically to the feelings and needs of close associates and intimates. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Past research has shown that, regardless of sex, those in a subordinate role are more sensitive to how their leaders feel about them than are the leaders sensitive to their subordinates, suggesting that the stereotypically greater sensitivity of women might be explained by their traditionally subordinate role to men. The present study further investigated this phenomenon, specifically in a boss–employee situation. A total of 120 Ss interacted in 96 pairs (male, female, and mixed-sex). Results revealed no significant sex differences but indicated that subordinates were more sensitive to how their leaders felt about them (the subordinates), and leaders were more sensitive to how their subordinates felt about themselves. Findings are discussed in relation to role requirements of leader and subordinate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Gender differences in cognitive abilities were determined using the norms from the four standardizations of the Differential Aptitude Tests conducted between 1947 and 1980, and from the four standardizations of the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/Scholastic Aptitude Test conducted between 1960 and 1983. The standardized gender differences (d
s) were averaged over grade of examinees and year of standardization to obtain a mean effect size for each ability, and variations among effect sizes were examined for grade, year, and Grade × Year trends. Girls scored higher than boys on scales of grammar, spelling, and perceptual speed; boys had higher means on measures of spatial visualization, high school mathematics, and mechanical aptitude; and no average gender differences were found on tests of verbal reasoning, arithmetic, and figural reasoning. Gender differences declined precipitously over the years surveyed, and the increases in these differences over the high school grades have diminished. The important exception to the rule of vanishing gender differences is that the well-documented gender gap at the upper levels of performance on high school mathematics has remained constant over the past 27 years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated the thesis that the subordinate status of women in Western society may have led to their development of greater interpersonal sensitivity and intuition. The effects of sex and leader/subordinate role on interpersonal sensitivity were examined in 36 same- or mixed-sex dyads (composed predominantly of undergraduates) that interacted for 1 hr. One member of each dyad was randomly assigned to the leader role. Throughout the interaction, Ss completed rating scales describing their feelings. Results show that subordinates were more sensitive than leaders to the feelings of the other dyad member. Women were not more sensitive than men. However, mixed-sex dyads were more sensitive than same-sex dyads, and the sex of the other person had a greater effect on women than on men. A combination of leader expressiveness and subordinate perceptiveness are posited to underlie this role effect. Results support the subordinate role explanation for female superiority in interpersonal sensitivity. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Dual functional brain asymmetry refers to the notion that in most individuals the left cerebral hemisphere is specialized for language functions, whereas the right cerebral hemisphere is more important than the left for the perception, construction, and recall of stimuli that are difficult to verbalize. In the last twenty years there have been scattered reports of sex differences in degree of hemispheric specialization. This review provides a critical framework within which two related topics are discussed: Do meaningful sex differences in verbal or spatial cerebral lateralization exist? and, if so, Is the brain of one sex more symmetrically organized than the other? Data gathered on right-handed adults are examined from clinical studies of patients with unilateral brain lesions; from dichotic listening, tachistoscopic, and sensorimotor studies of functional asymmetries in non-brain-damaged subjects; from anatomical and electrophysiological investigations, as well as from the developmental literature. Retrospective and descriptive findings predominate over prospective and experimental methodologies. Nevertheless, there is an impressive accummulation of evidence suggesting that the male brain may be more asymmetrically organized than the female brain, both for verbal and nonverbal functions. These trends are rarely found in childhood but are often significant in the mature organism.
Adolescents (N=262) in the fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh grades reported the frequency, intensity, and duration of their experiences of 12 emotions and the situations during which they occurred. The first three scales of emotion combined to produce the emotion saliency score. Girls reported higher saliences of surprise, sad, self-hostility, shame, shy, and guilt. Boys reported higher saliency of contempt. Factor analysis of the salient emotions retained the same three factors for both genders: positive emotion, inner-passive, and outer-hostile negative emotions. The loadings for surprise, sad, and anger on each factor suggested within factor gender differences. Most salient emotions were experienced with peers; however, boys experienced both surprise and sadness more often when alone than did girls. There were gender differences in most emotion categories on the events associated with salient emotions. Boys found activities and achievement, and girls found affiliation, to be emotionally salient. These data suggest that gender differences in emotion are pervasive rather than confined to depressive emotion and include differences in the organizational properties of emotion.
The claim of a gender bias is considered on measures of moral judgment focusing on concepts of justice. Both meta-analyses and secondary analyses on 56 samples of over 6000 male and female subjects are used to estimate the magnitude of gender effects. Inconsistent with current expectations, the results indicate that overall, and at every age/educational level, females score significantly higher than males. Second, the magnitude of this difference is small, both in comparison with age/education effects and in relation to conventional interpretations of the measures employed. Several possible interpretations of these results are discussed especially with regard to C. Gilligan's (1977, Harvard Educational Review, 47, 481–517) recent criticism of Kohlberg's theory.
In this article, the focus is on a comparison of suicide attempts and substance abuse in the United States. It is argued that suicide attempts and substance abuse may function as psychologically equivalent but gender-specialized forms of self-injurious behaviors. Possible explanations for the gender segregation of suicide attempts and substance abuse are reviewed, and the benefits of crossover theories and treatments are presented.
Reviewers have consistently concluded that males perform better on mathematics tests than females do. To make a refined assessment of the magnitude of gender differences in mathematics performance, we performed a meta-analysis of 100 studies. They yielded 254 independent effect sizes, representing the testing of 3,175,188 Ss. Averaged over all effect sizes based on samples of the general population, d was -0.05, indicating that females outperformed males by only a negligible amount. For computation, d was -0.14 (the negative value indicating superior performance by females). For understanding of mathematical concepts, d was -0.03; for complex problem solving, d was 0.08. An examination of age trends indicated that girls showed a slight superiority in computation in elementary school and middle school. There were no gender differences in problem solving in elementary or middle school; differences favoring men emerged in high school (d = 0.29) and in college (d = 0.32). Gender differences were smallest and actually favored females in samples of the general population, grew larger with increasingly selective samples, and were largest for highly selected samples and samples of highly precocious persons. The magnitude of the gender difference has declined over the years; for studies published in 1973 or earlier d was 0.31, whereas it was 0.14 for studies published in 1974 or later. We conclude that gender differences in mathematics performance are small. Nonetheless, the lower performance of women in problem solving that is evident in high school requires attention.
This article argues that behavioral differentiation of the sexes is minimal when children are observed or tested individually. Sex differences emerge primarily in social situations, and their nature varies with the gender composition of dyads and groups. Children find same-sex play partners more compatible, and they segregate themselves into same-sex groups, in which distinctive interaction styles emerge. These styles are described. As children move into adolescence, the patterns they developed in their childhood same-sex groups are carried over into cross-sex encounters in which girls' styles put them at a disadvantage. Patterns of mutual influence can become more symmetrical in intimate male-female dyads, but the distinctive styles of the two sexes can still be seen in such dyads and are subsequently manifested in the roles and relationships of parenthood. The implications of these continuities are considered.
This investigation of the differences between men's and women's attitudes toward war and endorsement of militaristic solutions to conflict counters the commonly held belief that men always endorse war more readily than do women. The present study reveals a more complex set of attitudes and responses, calls into question the findings of past research, and suggests directions for future study.