D.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The focus of this study will be on gender stereotypes versus gender equality in Swaartbooi's novel “UMandisa” and in Saule's novel “Idinga”. CHAPTER ONE will be the introductory chapter where the aim of the study, methodology, motivation and definition of terms will be given, as well as the biographical outline of Ncedile Saule and that of V.N.M. Swaartbooi. CHAPTER TWO will focus on developing the theoretical framework of the study. Theories are used to advocate a change of approach in the teaching and reading of literature. The theory to be employed in this study will be based on aspects of the female gender and feminism. CHAPTER THREE will explore the issues of gender stereotypes as portrayed in Swaartbooi's “UMANDISA” CHAPTER FOUR will focus on gender equality as portrayed in “IDINGA” by Saule and “UMANDISA” by Swaartbooi. The two novels raised the question of equality between women and men. CHAPTER FIVE will serve as the concluding chapter where the evaluation of the study will be made.

This study uses survey data collected from a convenience sample of undergraduate students (N=89). A vignette survey design is employed to measure social rejection of striptease performers compared to a control group. Data is also collected on negative stereotypes held about striptease performers, which are correlated with social rejection. Link and Phelan's conceptualization of the stigma process provides the theoretical framework for this analysis. Findings suggest that striptease performers experience higher levels of social rejection and are perceived more negatively than the control group and that endorsement of negative stereotypes is associated with social rejection.

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The purpose of this dissertation is to develop the Response Inventory to Stereotype-threatening Environments Questionnaire (RISE-Q), a multidimensional measure of the intentional cognitive and behavioral strategies women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations engage to contend with systemic stereotype threat. Hundreds of studies demonstrate negative effects of stereotype threat relevant to women’s workplace experiences (for a review see Walton, Murphy, & Ryan, 2015). However, most focus on acute processes and effects, those that are immediate and temporary in response to a single cue. Less is known about how individuals respond to the experience of chronic stereotype threat (Block, Koch, Liberman, Merriweather, & Roberson, 2011). This has implications for organizations because it is unlikely stereotype threat is only experienced as an acute state in the workplace (Kalokerinos, von Hippel, & Zacher, 2014), and it is the accumulation of stereotype threat-activating cues that may lead to permanent outcomes (Steele, Spencer, & Aronson, 2002). In order to address this gap and contribute to research on women’s career experiences in STEM (Makarem & Wang, 2019), this dissertation develops the RISE-Q, an inventory of three separate, but related, response pattern scales based on three response patterns previously identified by Block, Cruz, Bairley, Harel-Marian, & Roberson (2019): (1) Fending Off the Threat, (2) Confronting the Threat, and (3) Sustaining Self in the Presence of Threat. Seventy-two items across three response pattern scales were developed and tested in a sample of 726 women who currently work in STEM occupations. Results from Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFAs) of data collected from a Qualtrics Panel sample (n = 378) demonstrated each response pattern scale consisted of four factors reflecting four specific strategies. A series of Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFAs) using data collected from online “women in STEM” networks (n = 348) provided evidence for moderate model fit for the Fending Off response pattern scale, and good model fit for the Confronting Threat and Sustaining Self scales. Assessments of internal consistency reliabilities for all three response pattern scales and associated subscales demonstrated strong internal consistency. Further analyses provided strong evidence of convergent validity and criterion-related validity for all three scales. Initial results for the RISE-Q are promising. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Do gender stereotype threat and racioethnic stereotype threat combine to adversely impact American women of African descents’ likelihood to approach financial rewards in a job-negotiation context? This experimental study used a 2 (gender stereotype threat: high, low) x 2 (racioethnic stereotype threat: high, low) between-subject’s factorial design in order to investigate this question. Measures of salary expectations and affect were collected using previously validated scales. Key findings include a significant interaction between sense of power and racioethnic stereotype threat on anticipated backlash, and a main effect of sense of power on approach-avoidance, positive affect, and negative affect. Post hoc analyses show that implicit power moderates the effects of racioethnic stereotype threat on negotiation behavior, that is, having a situational sense of power mitigates the impact of being under fear of confirming a negative stereotype about a group in which you hold membership in. Implications for theory and practice are discussed along with future research directions in organizational behavior and social psychology.

The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the complexity of modern-day hiring discrimination against gay men. This is the first study known to the author that experimentally manipulated gender presentation (feminine or masculine), sexual orientation (gay or heterosexual), and job type (gay- and female-typed or heterosexual- and male-typed) to examine their collective effect on hiring recommendation. Furthermore, much remains to be understood about how descriptive and prescriptive stereotypes operate to explain hiring discrimination against gay men. Drawing on implicit inversion theory, social cognitive career theory, and the lack of fit model, a descriptive stereotype model was proposed to investigate the influence of descriptive stereotypes (perceptions of communality and agency) about male subtypes (gender presentation-sexual orientation combinations), in conjunction with occupational stereotypes about the extent to which different male subtypes are believed to occupy specific job types, on perceptions of job fit and hiring recommendation. Drawing on expectancy violation theory, a prescriptive stereotype model was also proposed to explore the influence of stereotypical expectations about male subtypes, and male subtype-job type combinations, on consequences of prescriptive stereotype violation (perceptions of respect) and hiring recommendation. Sexual orientation did not have an effect in the descriptive or prescriptive stereotype models. However, results of the descriptive stereotype model revealed that perceptions of job fit decreased when gender presentation misaligned with job type (feminine-presenting men who applied to the heterosexual- and male-typed job and masculine-presenting men who applied to the gay- and female-typed job). Evidence of moderated mediation indicated that when applying to the heterosexual- and male-typed job, feminine-presenting men were seen as less agentic, and thus received lower ratings for hiring recommendation, than masculine-presenting men. In contrast, when applying to the gay- and female-typed job, masculine-presenting men were seen as less communal, and thus received lower ratings for hiring recommendation, than feminine-presenting men. These findings suggest that perceptions of agency and communality, and job fit, were serial mediators that positively correlated with hiring recommendation. Evidence of moderated mediation for the prescriptive stereotype model occurred only for the gay- and female-typed job, revealing that masculine-presenting men were less respected, and thus received lower ratings for hiring recommendation, than feminine-presenting men. Follow-up research to develop and refine the proposed descriptive and prescriptive stereotype models is crucial to furthering our understanding of hiring discrimination against gay men in today’s organizations.

Although research speaks to the relationships between stereotype threat and academic performance, and race-based psychosocial variables and academic performance, little research thus far has investigated these variables simultaneously. To address this gap in the literature, the current study examined the impact of a negative stereotype induction on persuasive writing performance and post-task self-perceptions of academic performance in a sample of Black, White, and Hispanic undergraduate students. Unique to the current study is an additional investigation which reviewed the role racial/ethnic centrality plays in the relationship between stereotype threat and writing performance. A researcher generated measure of persuasive writing was administered to assess writing skills, and was scored based on a holistic quality scale with reported efficacy in the literature. Racial/ethnic centrality was assessed via the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity, whereas post-task perceptions of academic ability were garnered via a survey used in prior stereotype threat research. Participants were randomly assigned to either a stereotype induced or stereotype not induced condition, and completed study measures either in person, or online. Findings were not indicative of statistically significant differences in persuasive writing scores across experimental conditions; however, race/ethnic and gender differences were noted. Furthermore, Black participants in the stereotype induced condition were found to report more negative self-perceptions of writing ability. Racial/ethnic differences in racial/ethnic centrality were found, with Black and Hispanic participants self-reporting higher racial/ethnic centrality when compared to their White peers. Lastly, a statistically significant interaction effect for racial/ethnic identity by racial/ethnic centrality by stereotype condition was found for persuasive writing performance.

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George Kelly has stated that persons place interpretations, or constructs, on what they perceive. Past research has indicated that subjects more meaningfully apply their own personal constructs to persons and situations than constructs supplied from other sources. This study attempted to confirm previous findings. Sixty-three university students used their own personal constructs, elicited from the Role Construct Repertory Test, and supplied instrumental-expressive role constructs to interpret and rate 12 actors portraying instrumental and expressive behaviors in six videotaped scenes. The purpose of this study is to compare the meaningfulness to subjects of stereotypic terms in a sex-role inventory to the meaningfulness of the subjects' own personal constructs when interpreting typical masculine- and feminine-typed behavior.