Relational/Cultural theory (aka Stone Center Theory; Jordan, Kaplan, Miller, Stiver, & Surrey, 1991) has suggested that mutuality is a bidirectional interpersonal process in which both parties hold empathic consideration for the other, value and encourage the differentness of the other, and have the ability and willingness to impact and be impacted by the other. Separately, attitudes of sexism, racism, and heterosexism have been defined as involving interpersonal attitudes and interaction that are distinctly defined by a lack of empathic consideration, the devaluing of difference and an unwillingness to be impacted. This seemingly inverse relationship leads to speculation about how the absence of mutuality may be an underlying requirement to the maintenance of sexism, racism, and heterosexism.Canonical correlation was used to identify the simple and compound relationships between two predictor variables (mutuality) and six criterion variables (social attitudes). The mutuality variables were assessed using the Mutual Psychological Development Questionnaire (Genero, Miller, & Surrey, 1992), and the attitude variables were assessed using the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (Glick & Fiske, 1996), the Pro-Black/Anti-Black scale (Katz & Hass, 1988), and the Attitudes Towards Lesbians and Gay Men scale (Herek, 1988). Participants were 310 White, heterosexual, women and men undergraduate students at a large midwestern university.A pattern of perceived mutuality in relationships was identified and was found to be related to a mixed pattern of prejudicial attitudes. The expression of perceived mutuality in two types of relationships formed a unipolar pattern. A bipolar pattern of attitudes was characterized by (a) less prejudice towards Blacks, (b) less sympathy towards the condition of Blacks, (c) less prejudice towards gay men, (d) greater sexism towards women, and (e) greater prejudice towards lesbians.Gender roles and values-based Ambivalent Racism Theory (Katz & Hass, 1988) were used to explain the results. The study upheld previous research findings that women express less prejudicial attitudes than do men, and that those who express negative attitudes toward one out-group tend to express negative attitudes towards multiple targets.The results indicate that there is sufficient evidence to retain the concept of a mutual relational orientation as a necessary but insufficient underlying dynamic across multiple forms of oppression.College of Architecture / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/176709 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Heineman, Carolyn J. |
| Contributors | Alexander, Charlene M. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | ii, 134 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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