Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2012-3
When Do Counterstereotypic Ingroup Members Inspire Versus Deflate? The Effect of Successful Professional Women on Young Women’s Leadership Self-Concept
Three experiments tested whether and when exposure to counterstereotypic ingroup members enhances women’s implicit leadership self-concept. Participants read about professional women leaders framed as similar to versus different from most women (Experiment 1) or having the same versus different collegiate background as participants (Experiment 3). Experiment 2 manipulated similarity by giving false feedback about participants’ similarity to women leaders. In all cases, seeing women leaders reduced implicit self-stereotyping relative to controls but only when they were portrayed as similar to one’s ingroup (Experiment 1) and oneself (Experiments 2-3). Leaders portrayed as dissimilar either had no effect on self-beliefs (Experiment 1 and 3) or increased implicit self-stereotyping (Experiment 2). Dissimilar leaders also deflated participants’ career goals and explicit leadership beliefs (Experiment 3). Finally, implicit self-beliefs became less stereotypic regardless of whether women believed the similarity feedback, but explicit self-beliefs changed only when they believed the feedback to be true (Experiment 2).
AronsonJ.FriedC.GoodC. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 113-125.
2.
AronsonJ.QuinnD. M.SpencerS. J. (1998). Stereotype threat and the academic underperformance of minorities and women. In SwimJ. K.StangorC. (Eds.), Prejudice: The target’s perspective (pp. 83-103). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
3.
AronsonJ.SteeleC.M. (2005). Stereotypes and the fragility of human competence, motivation, and self-concept. In DweckC.ElliotE. (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation (pp. 436-456). New York: Guilford.
4.
AsgariS.DasguptaN.Gilbert CoteN. (2010). When does contact with successful ingroup members change self- stereotypes? A longitudinal study comparing the effect of quantity versus quality of contact with successful individuals. Social Psychology, 41, 202-211.
5.
BanduraA. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: Freeman.
6.
Bar NirA.WatsonW. E.HutchinsH. M. (2011). Mediation and moderated mediation in the relationship among role models, self-efficacy, entrepreneurial career intention, and gender. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41, 270-297.
7.
BlantonH. (2001). Evaluating the self in the context of another: The three-selves model of social comparison assimilation and contrast. In MoskowitzG. B. (Ed.), Cognitive social psychology: The Princeton Symposium on the Legacy and Future of Social Cognition (pp. 75-87). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
8.
BrewerM. B.GardnerW. (1996). Who is this “we”? Levels of collective identity and self-representations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 83-93.
9.
BuunkA. P.PeiroJ. M.GriffioenC. (2007). A positive role model may stimulate career-oriented behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37, 1489-1500.
10.
BylsmaW. H.MajorB. (1994). Social comparisons and contentment: Exploring the psychological costs of the gender wage gap. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 241-249.
11.
ChenD. H.YamaguchiS.GreenwaldA. G. (2003, June). Cross-cultural comparisons of implicit and explicit self-esteem. Paper presented at the Northwest Cognition and Memory conference, Seattle, WA.
12.
CohenJ. (1977). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: Academic Press.
13.
CollinsR. L. (1996). For better or worse: The impact of upward social comparison on self-evaluations. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 51-69.
14.
CrosbyF. J. (1984). The denial of personal discrimination. American Behavioral Scientist, 27, 371-386.
15.
DasguptaN.AsgariS. (2004). Seeing is believing: Exposure to counterstereotypic women leaders and its effect on the malleability of automatic gender stereotyping. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 642-658.
16.
DaviesP. G.SpencerS. J.SteeleC. M. (2005). Clearing the air: Identity safety moderates the effects of stereotype threat on women’s leadership aspirations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 276-287.
17.
DeauxK.LaFranceM. (1998). Gender. In GilbertD.T.FiskeS. T.LindzeyG. (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vols. 1 and 2, pp. 788-827). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
18.
DevosT.BlancoK.RicoF.DunnR. (2008). The role of parenthood and college education in the self-concept of college students: Explicit and implicit assessments of gendered aspirations. Sex Roles, 59, 214-228.
19.
DiekmanA. B.EaglyA. H. (2008). On men, women, and motivation: A role congruity account. In ShahJ. Y.GardnerW. L. (Eds.), Handbook of motivation science (pp. 434-447). New York, NY: Guilford.
20.
DweckC. S. (1999). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality and development. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
21.
DweckC. S.MasterA. (2008). Self-theories motivate self-regulated learning. In SchunkD.ZimmermanB. (Eds). Motivation and self-regulated learning: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 31-51). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
22.
EaglyA. H.KarauS. J. (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychological Review, 109, 573-598.
23.
GawronskiB.BodenhausenG. V. (2006). Associative and propositional processes in evaluation: An integrative review of implicit and explicit attitude change. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 692-731.
24.
GawronskiB.LeBelE. P. (2008). Understanding patterns of attitude change: When implicit measures show change, but explicit measures do not. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1355-1361.
25.
GreenwaldA. G.FarnhamS. D. (2000). Using the Implicit Association Test to measure self-esteem and self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 1022-1038.
26.
GreenwaldA. G.PickrellJ. E.FarnhamS. D. (2002). Implicit partisanship: Taking sides for no reason. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 367-379.
27.
GreenwaldA. G.McGheeD. E.SchwartzJ. K. L. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464c-1480.
28.
HainesE. L.KrayL. J. (2005). Self-power associations: The possession of power impacts women’s self-concepts. European Journal of Social Psychology, 3, 643-662.
29.
HongY. Y.ChiuC.DweckC. S.LinD.WanW. (1999). Implicit theories, attributions, and coping: A meaning system approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 588-599.
30.
HoytC. L.BlascovichJ. (2007). Leadership efficacy and women leaders’ responses to stereotype activation. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 10, 595-616.
31.
InzlichtM.Ben-ZeevT. (2000). A threatening intellectual environment: Why females are susceptible to experiencing problem solving deficits in the presence of males. Psychological Science, 11, 365-371.
32.
JostJ. T.BanajiM. R.NosekB. A. (2004). A decade of system justification theory: Accumulated evidence of conscious and unconscious bolstering of the status quo. Political Psychology, 25, 881-919.
33.
KaminsM.DweckC. S. (1999). Person versus process praise and criticism: Implications for contingent self-worth and coping. Developmental Psychology, 35, 835-847.
34.
KarpinskiA. (2004). Measuring self-esteem using the Implicit Association Test: The role of the other. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 22-34.
35.
LipsH. M. (2000). College students’ visions of power and possibility as moderated by gender. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24, 39-43.
36.
LockwoodP. (2006). “Someone like me can be successful”: Do college students need same-gender role models?Psychology of Women Quarterly, 30, 36-46.
37.
LockwoodP.KundaZ. (1997). Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 91-103.
38.
LockwoodP.KundaZ. (1999) Increasing the salience of one’s best selves can undermine inspiration by outstanding role models. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 214-228.
39.
MajorB. (1994). From social inequality to personal entitlement: The role of social comparisons, legitimacy appraisals, and group membership. In ZannaM. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 293-355). New York, NY: Academic Press.
40.
MarkusH.KundaZ. (1986). Stability and malleability of the self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 858-866.
41.
MarkusH.NuriusP. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41, 954-969.
42.
MarxD. M.StapelD. A.MullerD. (2005). We can do it: The interplay of construal orientation and social comparison under threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 432-446.
43.
McGuireW. J.McGuireC. V.CheeverJ. (1986). The self in society: Effects of social contexts on the sense of self. British Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 259-270.
44.
McIntyreR. B.PaulsonR. M.LordC. G. (2003). Alleviating women’s mathematics stereotype threat through positive group achievements. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 83-90.
45.
Parks-StammE. J.HeilmanM. E.HearnsK. A. (2008). Motivated to penalize: Women’s strategic rejection of successful women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 237-247.
46.
PinterB.GreenwaldA. G. (2005). Clarifying the role of the “other” category in the self-esteem IAT. Experimental Psychology, 52, 74-79.
47.
ProninE.SteeleC. M.RossL. (2004). Identity bifurcation in response to stereotype threat: Women and mathematics. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 152-168.
48.
RosenthalR. (1984). Meta-analytic procedures for social research. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
49.
RudmanL. A.GlickP. (1999). Feminized management and backlash toward agentic women: The hidden costs to women of a kinder, gentler image of middle managers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1004-1010.
50.
RudmanL. A.KilianskiS. E. (2000). Implicit and explicit attitudes toward female authority. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 1315-1328.
51.
RudmanL. A.PhelanJ. E. (2010). The effect of priming gender roles on women’s implicit gender beliefs and career aspirations. Social Psychology, 41, 192-202.
52.
StapelD. A.KoomenW. (2001). I, we, and the effects of others on me: How self-construal level moderates social comparison effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,80, 766-781.
53.
StoutJ. G.DasguptaN.HunsingerM.McManusM. (2011). STEMing the tide: The effect of educational environments on women’s participation in engineering, and mathematics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 255-270.
54.
SwimJ. K.HyersL. L. (2009). Sexism. In NelsonT. D. (Ed.), Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination (pp. 407-430). Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
55.
SwimJ. K.StangorC. G. (1998). Prejudice: The target’s perspective. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
56.
TaylorS. E.WaymentH. A.CarrilloM. (1996). Social comparison, self-regulation, and motivation. In SorrentinoR. M.HigginsE. T. (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: The interpersonal context (pp. 3-27). New York, NY: Guilford.
57.
WoodJ. V. (1989). Theory and research concerning social comparisons of personal attributes. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 231-248.
