Date of Award

6-20-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Robyn Mallett

Abstract

Sexism is still persistent in the United States (Swim et al., 2001), especially in the workplace (Fitzgerald, 1993; Loy & Stewart, 1984), leading to many negative outcomes for women. Unfortunately, there is an assumption in America that targets of bias will confront the perpetrator in the moment. However, this is often not the case leading to a disconnect in society at the cost of the target (Gutek & O’Connor, 1995). Looking at targets’ decision-making process and the factors that influence it can provide more context for why targets respond the way they do. I tested whether behaviors following bias (i.e., avoidance, repairing, confronting) can be influenced by the targets goal choice (i.e., self-protection, liking, respect) and if those in turn can be influenced by factors such as risk and trust. As predicted, in both Study 1 (n = 262) and Study 2 (n = 262), high (vs. low) risk did not influence protection but risk did increase liking. Contrary to predictions, risk did not impact respect. As hypothesized, goals predicted behavior in both studies with protection predicting avoidance, liking predicting repair, and respect predicting confrontation. However, the indirect effect of risk on repair through liking was the only mediation. In Study 2, the trust manipulation was unsuccessful. A continuous measure of trust was positively associated with the liking goal and only moderated the indirect effect of risk on repair through liking. These results indicate that while goals do influence behavior, in this context, the liking goal is the most influenced by the risk scenario and the most related to trust, which in turn impacted its effect on repair behaviors. The type of risk manipulation used, and the failure of the trust manipulation are considered in terms of their influence on the results of these studies, and implications for female targets of sexism are discussed.

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