| 1. |
- Besta, Tomasz, et al.
(author)
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Liking Low-Status? Contextual and Individual Differences in Attributional Biases of Low-Status Outgroup Members
- 2019
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In: Journal of Social and Political Psychology. - : Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID). - 2195-3325. ; 7:1, s. 192-212
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Previous studies on biased intergroup perceptions of outgroups’ irrationality mostly treated the target groups as opponents and rivals. In three studies, we extended this line of research and tested the hypothesis that individuals who challenge the existing social hierarchy exhibit more positive biases toward low-status outgroup members. We also hypothesized that when irrational thinking is framed as an important human trait, this bias is reduced among low social dominance orientation (SDO) individuals. In three studies (N = 169, N = 450, and N = 161), conducted in countries that vary in power distance levels (Poland, Spain, Sweden and Turkey), we examined under which conditions low-status outgroups are perceived as more rational than ingroup members. The results show that in a condition without irrationality framed as a human trait, psychology students (Study 1 and Study 2) and nonstudents low in group-based dominance orientation (Study 3) perceive outgroup members as less irrational than ingroup members. However, when participants were reminded that irrationality is a human trait, the perceived differences between in- and outgroup members were reduced. This effect was observed in all four countries (Study 1 and Study 2) and held when variables related to the tendency to behave in a socially desirable way were controlled for (Study 3).
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| 2. |
- Bosson, J. K., et al.
(author)
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Psychometric Properties and Correlates of Precarious Manhood Beliefs in 62 Nations
- 2021
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In: Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. - : SAGE Publications. - 0022-0221 .- 1552-5422. ; 52:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Precarious manhood beliefs portray manhood, relative to womanhood, as a social status that is hard to earn, easy to lose, and proven via public action. Here, we present cross-cultural data on a brief measure of precarious manhood beliefs (the Precarious Manhood Beliefs scale [PMB]) that covaries meaningfully with other cross-culturally validated gender ideologies and with country-level indices of gender equality and human development. Using data from university samples in 62 countries across 13 world regions (N = 33,417), we demonstrate: (1) the psychometric isomorphism of the PMB (i.e., its comparability in meaning and statistical properties across the individual and country levels); (2) the PMB's distinctness from, and associations with, ambivalent sexism and ambivalence toward men; and (3) associations of the PMB with nation-level gender equality and human development. Findings are discussed in terms of their statistical and theoretical implications for understanding widely-held beliefs about the precariousness of the male gender role.
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| 3. |
- Bäck, Hanna, et al.
(author)
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The Social Network: How Friends' Online Behavior and Belongingness Needs Influence Political Activity
- 2021
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In: Policy and Internet. - : Wiley. - 1944-2866. ; 13:2, s. 209-232
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Are people more likely to become more politically active through social media when they observe that their friends are active? Previous research has shown that an individual's likelihood of engaging politically is influenced by observations of how friends act through social media, but relatively little is known about how such social influence through social media interacts with personality features. We argue that individuals with high belongingness needs will engage in political activity if they believe that this is expected from the social groups they belong to. To evaluate this hypothesis, a survey experiment was designed (n = 289) in Qualtrics. We had two experimental conditions (friends or extended network) in which we informed participants that the most shared or "liked" online material among their friends or extended network on Facebook was a specific petition. In a control condition, they were informed that they were shown a random petition. To increase the credibility of the manipulation, we asked participants to log into a fictive app that supposedly downloaded their Facebook data. We show that individuals are more likely to engage politically if they observe that their friends have been politically active on Facebook, but only if they have high belongingness needs.
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| 4. |
- Claréus, Benjamin, et al.
(author)
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Patients’ return-to-work expectancy relates to their beliefs about their physician’s opinion regarding return to work volition and ability
- 2019
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In: Journal of Pain Research. - 1178-7090. ; 12, s. 353-362
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose This study investigates the relationship between sick-listed patients’ return to work (RTW) expectancy and how they perceive that their physicians evaluate their ability and volition for RTW. Methods Hierarchical logistic regression controlling for sociodemographic factors and pain characteristics was carried out on cross-sectional data from 205 participants (mean age= 47.24±9.66 years, 83.9% women). They were currently on full-time sick leave with a total duration of 10 years or less and represented various diagnosed and undiagnosed pain conditions. Results A positive expectation for RTW within a year was significantly associated with the belief that the physician favorably evaluated one’s ability (OR= 1.44, 95% CI= 1.13–1.83) and volition (OR= 1.42, 95% CI= 1.11–1.83) to RTW. This held even when other variables significantly associated with RTW expectancy were accounted for. Beyond beliefs, only age made a significant contribution in our final model (OR= 0.94, 95% CI= 0.90–0.98). Conclusion The results indicate that patients’ beliefs regarding their physician’s opinion about their ability and volition for RTW influence their own RTW expectancy. Rehabilitation might be facilitated if health care professionals address and affirm patients’ ability and volition for RTW, regardless of patients’ pain characteristics or if the total duration of their sick leave is <10 years. As other studies have found that RTW expectancy is one of the strongest predictors for actual RTW, future research should test the effect of beliefs about physicians’ opinions on actual RTW rates.
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| 5. |
- Claréus, Benjamin, et al.
(author)
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Physicians' gender bias in the diagnostic assessment of medically unexplained symptoms and its effect on patient-physician relations
- 2019
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. - : Wiley. - 0036-5564 .- 1467-9450. ; 60:4, s. 338-347
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Nonspecific, functional, and somatoform (NFS) syndromes is an umbrella term for various diagnoses with medically unexplained symptoms. These syndromes are more prevalent among women than among men, and associated with negative preconceptions that can impede rehabilitation. In two studies, we quantitatively assess how patients' gender affects the diagnostic assessment of NFS syndromes, as well as the healthcare experiences of individuals diagnosed with NFS syndromes. In the first study, our vignette-based experiment showed that Swedish general practitioners (N = 90) were gender biased in their diagnostic assessment of NFS syndromes, such that a female patient with back pain was more likely to be assigned a NFS syndrome compared to an otherwise identical male patient. In the second study, a large community sample of Swedish individuals with medically explained (n = 432) and unexplained pain (n = 521) evaluated their treating physician's relational conduct. Even after accounting for a variety of sociodemographic variables and other pain characteristics, women with at least one NFS syndrome percieved their physician's relational conduct as significantly poorer than other women as well as men with and without NFS syndromes. When women's pain is more likely than men's to be assessed as NFS, their rehabilitation could be prolonged as pertient alternative diagnoses and treatments are omittied and their negative healthcare experiences lower their volition to partake and persevere in treatment.
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| 6. |
- Gustafsson Sendén, Marie, et al.
(author)
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Gender bias in assessment of future work ability among pain patients - an experimental vignette study of medical students' assessment
- 2019
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Pain. - : Walter de Gruyter GmbH. - 1877-8860 .- 1877-8879. ; 19:2, s. 407-414
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background and aims: Pain is a prevalent problem in many countries. Women are more often on sick-leave for pain than men. Such gender differences have been explained through biological factors, different demands for on the job market, and home conditions. Fewer studies have focused on how gender stereotypes may bias the medical assessment of pain patients. The aim of the present research was to investigate if a gender bias in medical students' evaluations of chronic pain patients can contribute to explaining the gender differences in sick-leave due to pain. Specifically, we investigated whether medical students' estimates of a patient's accuracy of their own work ability and amount of domestic work differed between female and male patients, and how such estimates influenced the medical students' judgments of the patient's work ability. Methods: Medical students (n = 137; 60 women; 74 men; three unspecified) read a vignette describing a patient with pain and filled out a questionnaire. The vignette was identical and gender neutral, except for the name of the patient signaling gender. A between-subjects experimental design was used in which participants were randomly assigned to an experimental condition. Participants then judged the patient's work ability, the accuracy of the patient's self-assessed work ability, and the amount of domestic work they believed was performed by the patient. All ratings were made on seven-point items. Results: The results showed that there was no main effect of gender on perceived future work ability of the patient, F (1,131) = 0.867, p = 0.353. However, male patients were considered to be more accurate in their self-assessed work ability than female patients F (1,131) = 5.925 p = 0.016 (M-female = 4.87, SDfemale = 1.22, and M-male = 5.33, SDmale = 1.02). Moreover, female patients were thought to perform more domestic work, F (1,131) = 25.56, p < 0.001 (M-female = 4.14, SDfemale = 1.41, and M-male = 3.07, SDmale = 1.16). Finally, perceived amount of domestic work moderated the effects of perceived future work ability for female but not for male patients, B = 0.42, p = 0.005. Hence, there was a positive effect of amount of domestic work performed on work ability judgments for women, such that the more domestic work they were assumed to perform, the more they were perceived to be able to work. Conclusions: Gender stereotypes influenced assessments of future work ability in pain patients, mainly because women were assumed to perform more domestic work which had a positive effect on perceived work ability. Because domestic work should have a negative effect on recovery, expectations from the physician that domestic work is expected by female patients may in fact have the opposite effect prolonging sick-leave. Moreover, the students trusted the male patients' ability to assess their own work capacity more than women's.
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| 7. |
- Gustafsson Sendén, Marie, et al.
(author)
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The (Not So) Changing Man: Dynamic Gender Stereotypes in Sweden
- 2019
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In: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-1078. ; 10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- According to Social Role Theory, gender stereotypes are dynamic constructs influenced by actual and perceived changes in what roles women and men occupy (Wood and Eagly, 2011). Sweden is ranked as one of the most egalitarian countries in the world, with a strong national equality discourse and a relatively high number of men engaging in traditionally communal roles such as parenting and domestic tasks. This would imply a perceived change toward higher communion among men. Therefore, we investigated the dynamics of gender stereotype content in Sweden with a primary interest in the male stereotype and perceptions of gender equality. In Study 1, participants (N = 323) estimated descriptive stereotype content of women and men in Sweden in the past, present, or future. They also estimated gender distribution in occupations and domestic roles for each time-point. Results showed that the female stereotype increased in agentic traits from the past to the present, whereas the male stereotype showed no change in either agentic or communal traits. Furthermore, participants estimated no change in gender stereotypes for the future, and they overestimated how often women and men occupy gender non-traditional roles at present. In Study 2, we controlled for participants' actual knowledge about role change by either describing women's increased responsibilities on the job market, or men's increased responsibility at home (or provided no description). Participants (N = 648) were randomized to the three different conditions. Overall, women were perceived to increase in agentic traits, and this change was mediated by perceptions of social role occupation. Men where not perceived to increase in communion but decreased in agency when change focused on women's increased participation in the labor market. These results indicate that role change among women also influence perceptions of the male stereotype. Altogether, the results indicate that social roles might have stronger influence on perceptions of agency than perceptions of communion, and that communion could be harder to incorporate in the male stereotype.
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| 8. |
- Klysing, Amanda, et al.
(author)
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Gender diversity in recruitment: Influence of gender trouble on applicant attraction and evaluation
- 2022
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In: Journal of Applied Social Psychology. - : Wiley. - 0021-9029 .- 1559-1816. ; 52:8, s. 781-802
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The current research addresses gender trouble (acts that question the naturalness of a binary gender system) in two parts of the recruitment situation: applicant attraction and evaluation. Experiment 1 (N=1,147) investigated how different Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) statements in an organization description influenced organizational evaluations. The EEO statements emphasized gender as binary (women and men), gender as diverse (multi-gender), or gender as irrelevant (de-gender; compared with no EEO statement). Gender minority participants experienced decreased identity threat in response to the multi-gendered and the de-gendered EEO statements, which increased organizational attractivity. There was no significant effect of EEO statement for gender majority participants. Multi-gendered and de-gendered EEO statements increased perceived gender diversity within the organization. Experiment 2 (N=214) investigated how applicants with a normative or non-normative gender expression were evaluated by HR-specialists. Applicants with a non-normative gender expression were rated as more suitable for the position and recommended a higher starting salary than applicants with a normative gender expression. Women with a non-normative gender expression were rated as more likely to be employed than men with a non-normative gender expression, while women applicants regardless of gender expression were rated as the most likely to acquire the position. This research indicates that gender minorities can be explicitly included in EEO statements without negative impact on gender majority groups and with a positive impact on gender minority groups. Furthermore, a non-normative gender expression was not found to be a cause for biased evaluations in an initial recruitment situation. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC
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| 9. |
- Lindqvist, Anna, et al.
(author)
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What is gender, anyway: a review of the options for operationalising gender
- 2021
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In: Psychology & Sexuality. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1941-9899 .- 1941-9902. ; 12:4, s. 332-344
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the social sciences, many quantitative research findings as well as presentations of demographics are related to participants' gender. Most often, gender is represented by a dichotomous variable with the possible responses of woman/man or female/male, although gender is not a binary variable. It is, however, rarely defined what is meant by gender. In this article, we deconstruct the concept 'gender' as consisting of several facets, and argue that the researcher needs to identify relevant aspects of gender in relation to their research question. We make a thorough exposition of considerations that the researcher should bear in mind when formulating questions about each facet, in order to exemplify how complex this construct is. We also remind the researcher that gender is not a binary category and discuss challenges in the balance between taking existing gender diversity into account and yet sorting participants into gender categorisations that function in statistical analyzes. To aid in this process, we provide an empirical example on how gender identity may be categorised when using a free-text response. Lastly, we suggest that other measurements than participants' gender might be better predictors of the outcome variable.
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| 10. |
- Renström, Emma Aurora, et al.
(author)
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Anxiety, Compassion and Pride. How Emotions Elicited by the Government's Handling of Covid-19 Influences Health-Promoting Behavior
- 2021
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In: Psychologica Belgica. - : Ubiquity Press, Ltd.. - 0033-2879 .- 2054-670X. ; 61:1, s. 224-237
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article explores how emotions connected to the Government's handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in Sweden relates to behaviors to stop the spread of the virus, and which emotions functions as mediators in this relationship. The Swedish approach to handling the outbreak greatly differed from how many other Western European countries handled the situation and thus makes an important case to study. In a large representative survey (N = 2449), we found that satisfaction with how the Government handled the situation was related to more positive and less negative emotions. Anxiety, compassion and pride mediated the effect of satisfaction on compliance with the national recommendations such that anxiety and compassion increased compliance, while pride decreased it. Importantly though, satisfaction increased compassion and pride, but only compassion led to more compliant behaviors. In fact, satisfaction was indirectly related to less compliant behaviors via anxiety and pride. Shame mediated the effect on the tendency to wear face masks, a behavior that was explicitly not endorsed by the Swedish Public Health Agency. We speculate if the face mask, which was intensely debated, became a politicized symbol of dissatisfaction with the Swedish approach. In sum, it seems that individuals who were dissatisfied with how the government handled the Covid-19 outbreak were in fact engaging more in health-promotional behaviors to stop the spread of the virus.
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| 11. |
- Renström, Emma Aurora, et al.
(author)
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Emotions during the Covid-19 pandemic: Fear, anxiety, and anger as mediators between threats and policy support and political actions
- 2021
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In: Journal of Applied Social Psychology. - : Wiley. - 0021-9029 .- 1559-1816. ; 51:8, s. 861-877
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the lives of most people. It has been described as the most severe global health disaster of modern times by the United Nations. No doubt such a major crisis influences what citizens think of different policies, and how they become politically active, not to mention, the forceful emotional experiences that the Covid-19 pandemic brings. This study evaluates how emotions affect support for policies related to restricting the spread of the virus and economic assistance, and how emotions affect intentions to engage politically. In an experiment (N = 1,072), we manipulated emotional reactions to threat by highlighting different aspects of the pandemic. Our findings show that different experimental treatments elicit different emotions, and that fear, anxiety, and anger are all related to policy support and political action intentions, but in different ways. Fear and anger predict support for restrictive policies to limit the spread of the virus, while anxiety predicts support for economic policies. Anger and anxiety, but not fear, increase intentions to engage politically. Hence, we find support for a mechanism where different aspects of the Covid-19 crisis evoke different emotional reactions, which in turn affects policy support and political actions differently.
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| 12. |
- Renström, Emma Aurora, et al.
(author)
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Exploring a pathway to radicalization: The effects of social exclusion and rejection sensitivity
- 2020
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In: Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. - : SAGE Publications. - 1368-4302 .- 1461-7188. ; 23:8, s. 1204-1229
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article aims to explore if social exclusion can constitute a pathway to radicalization, and if individual level of sensitivity of rejection moderates the effect of social exclusion. Humans innately seek belonging and meaning, and strive for re-establishing a sense of value and belongingness if faced with social exclusion. One way to achieve this is by adherence to a new and inviting group. In four studies, we test to what extent individuals who face social exclusion adapt to a radical including group. In Studies 1 (n = 104) and 2 (n = 308), we use a social media-like paradigm to manipulate social exclusion. In Study 3 (n = 1041), we use the so-called Cyberball paradigm, and in Study 4 (n = 40) we use a real-life manipulation. All studies show that rejected individuals who are sensitive to rejection are more prone to identify with, engage with and endorse an extreme group. The results hold over both ideological (Studies 1-3) and non-ideological (Study 4) content. Only the last study showed a main effect of social exclusion. We discuss the results in reference to the significance loss model of radicalization.
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| 13. |
- Renström, Emma Aurora, et al.
(author)
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The young protester: the impact of belongingness needs on political engagement
- 2021
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In: Journal of Youth Studies. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1367-6261 .- 1469-9680. ; 24:6, s. 781-798
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As institutional forms of political engagement continue to decline, participation in protests steadily become more common. These trends are particularly strong among younger citizens. Previous research indicates that social factors can explain participation in political protests, and that younger citizens' participation in protests is more affected by social ties than older people's participation. Even though the desire for social affiliation is a fundamental human need, there are individual differences in the need for belongingness. The aim of the current study is to investigate if part of younger people's higher level of participation in protests can be explained by individual-level differences in belongingness needs. More specifically, the study investigates whether a larger part of younger people's participation is explained by need to belong (NTB), as compared to older people's participation. In line with the hypothesis, results from a survey study of a representative sample of the Swedish population (N = 2034), show that only younger people's participation is predicted by individual-level belongingness needs; the higher the NTB among young people, the higher the tendency to protest, while this effect is absent among older people. These results have important implications for our understanding of participation in protest activities and youth mobilization.
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| 14. |
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| 15. |
- Vergoossen, Hellen, et al.
(author)
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Contemporary Arguments Against Gender-Neutral Language
- 2016
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In 2015, a gender-neutral pronoun (‘hen’) was introduced in Swedish as a complement to ‘hon’ (she) and ‘han’ (he). Adding a gender-neutral pronoun differs from previous gender-fair language reforms because it removes gender information instead of making women more visible by using double forms (she/he). The reforms have in common that both “double” and the “gender-neutral” language reforms have been met with negative reactions. Arguments against gender-neutral language partially tap into the same categories of arguments found against previous forms of feminist language reforms, but also belong to some new categories. Novel is the focus on challenging the idea of gender as being non-binary. While ideas such as sexism being acceptable or sexist language not being sexist were very uncommon in our sample, the idea that gender identities (and either male or female) are important and that language should reflect this was common.
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| 16. |
- Vergoossen, Hellen P., et al.
(author)
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Are New Gender-Neutral Pronouns Difficult to Process in Reading? The Case of Hen in SWEDISH
- 2020
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In: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-1078. ; 11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hen is a Swedish gender-neutral pronoun used for non-binary individuals and as a generic singular pronoun form. Hen was added to the Swedish Academy Glossary (SAOL) in 2015, and opponents of hen have argued that gender-neutral pronouns are difficult to process, and therefore should not be used. As of yet, this has not been empirically tested. This pre-registered study used eye-tracking to experimentally test if hen has a processing cost by measuring the process of understanding whom a pronoun refers to (i.e., pronoun resolution). Participants (N = 120) read 48 sentence pairs where the first sentence included a noun referring to a person (e.g., sister, hairdresser, person) and the second included a pronoun referring to the noun. The pronouns were either gendered (she and he) or gender-neutral (hen). The nouns were either neutral (e.g., person, colleague) or gendered, either by lexically referring to gender (e.g., sister, king), or by being associated with stereotypes based on occupational gender segregation (e.g., occupational titles like hairdresser, carpenter). We tested if hen had a greater processing cost than gendered pronouns, and whether the type of noun moderated this effect. The hypotheses were that hen referring to neutral nouns would lead to a smaller processing cost than hen referring to gendered nouns. Furthermore, we hypothesized that hen referring to lexically gendered nouns would lead to larger processing costs than stereotypically gendered role nouns. The processing cost of hen was measured by reading time spent on three regions of the sentence pairs; the pronoun, the spillover region (i.e., the words following the pronoun), and the noun. The only processing cost for hen occurred in the spillover region. The processing cost in this region was greater when hen referred to neutral nouns than when hen referred to a noun associated with gender. In contrast to the hypothesis, the type of gender information associated with the noun did not interact with these effects (i.e., the same reading time for hen following e.g., the queen or carpenter). Altogether, the results do not support that gender-neutral pronouns should be avoided because they are difficult to process.
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| 17. |
- Vergoossen, Hellen Petronella, et al.
(author)
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Four Dimensions of Criticism Against Gender-Fair Language
- 2020
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In: Sex Roles. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0360-0025 .- 1573-2762. ; 83, s. 328-337
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The gender-neutral third-person pronoun singular hen was recently introduced in Swedish as a complement to she (hon) and he (han). The initiative to add hen initially received strong criticism. In the present study, we analyzed 208 arguments from 168 participants with critical attitudes toward hen. We used Blaubergs’ (1980) and Parks and Roberton’s (1998) taxonomies of critical arguments against past gender-fair language reforms in English in the 1970s and 1990s as a basis for coding the arguments. A majority of arguments (80.7%) could be coded into existing categories, indicating that criticisms of gender-fair language initiatives are similar across different times and cultural contexts. Two categories of arguments did not fit existing categories (19.3%): gender-neutral pronouns are distracting in communication and gender information is important in communication. Furthermore, we established four overarching dimensions that capture assumptions and beliefs underlying gender-fair language criticism: (a) Defending the Linguistic Status Quo (39.4%), (b) Sexism and Cisgenderism (27.4%), (c) Diminishing the Issue and Its Proponents (26.9%), and (d) Distractor In Communication (6.3%). These dimensions of criticisms should be considered and addressed in different ways when implementing gender-fair language. © 2020, The Author(s).
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