This chapter reviews research from the emerging field of social neuroscience to examine the under... more This chapter reviews research from the emerging field of social neuroscience to examine the underlying mechanisms that explain why stigma and discrimination lead to suboptimal health outcomes. The review is structured around three pathways through which stigmatization has negative effects on physical health, and it discusses neural and cardiovascular processes associated with (1) the stress that being a target of discrimination elicits, (2) impaired self-regulation of health behavior among targets of discrimination, and (3) how intergroup dynamics during interactions between health care provider and patient can result in suboptimal health care for stigmatized individuals. The insights offered by the neuroscience perspective provide crucial information on how to interrupt the downward stigma–health spiral and can inform policy to reduce the impact of stigma and discrimination on the physical health of its targets.
I theorized that if redressing inequality becomes a way for dominant group members (i.e., Whites)... more I theorized that if redressing inequality becomes a way for dominant group members (i.e., Whites) to boost their group‘s moral standing (i.e., as fair and just), resistance to increased equality among these group members might decrease, thereby increasing opportunities for social change. Thus, I examined the effect of morality framing—i.e., presenting social equality as a moral ideal versus a moral obligation—on Whites‘ responses to social inequality. In Chapter 2 it is demonstrated that exposure to the moral ideal (vs. obligation) frame elicits more positive intergroup attitudes among Whites. In Chapter 3 it is established that giving a speech about equality as a moral ideal (rather than as a moral obligation), elicits cardiovascular (CV) reactivity and speech rates among Whites that are consistent with less relative threat and vigilance. However, studies in Chapter 4 show that during contact with a Black confederate, prior exposure to the moral ideal (vs. obligation) frame elicits...
Gender gaps in academia persist with women being less likely to attain leadership, earning less s... more Gender gaps in academia persist with women being less likely to attain leadership, earning less salary, and receiving less research funding and resources compared to their male peers. The current research demonstrates yet another, more intangible gender gap in academia called lack of fit, whereby compared to male academics, female academics perceive higher misfit between their professional self-concept and the agentic 'superhero' stereotype of the successful academic. The entire population of Dutch academics (i.e., assistant, associate and full professors from 14 universities) was approached to participate in a nationwide survey. Results from this unique dataset (N = 3978) demonstrate that academics perceive agency (e.g., self-confident, self-focused, competitive) as more descriptive of the stereotypical successful academic than communality (e.g., team-oriented, good teacher, collegial). Importantly, early career female academics perceived highest lack of fit with this narro...
The current research extends previous work (e.g., Blair, 2002; Lai et al., 2014; van Nunspeet, El... more The current research extends previous work (e.g., Blair, 2002; Lai et al., 2014; van Nunspeet, Ellemers, & Derks, 2015) by directly comparing the effectiveness of different contextual factors and personal motives on the reduction of implicit bias toward Muslim women in a 2 ϫ 2 ϫ 2 research design. Non-Muslim participants performed an implicit association test (IAT) for which the implications for their morality or competence were emphasized, and while their performance was evaluated by a minimal ingroup or outgroup member, who was either presented as a member of the devalued group (a woman with a headscarf) or not (a women without a headscarf). Study 1 revealed that performance monitoring by the evaluator with a headscarf resulted in significant bias reduction. Interestingly, in case of performance monitoring by an evaluator without a headscarf, emphasizing the moral implications of participant's task performance was as effective. In Study 2, we replicated the first finding and found no significant bias toward Muslim women when participants' IAT performance was evaluated by a woman with a headscarf. Additionally, the prolonged version of the IAT used in this study resulted in a further decrease in bias when the evaluator with a headscarf was presented as a minimal ingroup member. Important implications of the effectiveness of these contextual factors and personal motives are discussed with regard to their difference in level of applicability and implementation.
Despite equal rights, minority groups such as ethnic minorities, LGBTQ + people, and people with ... more Despite equal rights, minority groups such as ethnic minorities, LGBTQ + people, and people with mental or physical disabilities face discrimination on a day‐to‐day basis in subtle and hard‐to‐recognize forms. As discrimination slips beneath the surface, it becomes difficult to fight the stigma using collective social identity coping mechanisms. Instead, individual mobility responses such as distancing the self from the stigmatized identity (“self‐group distancing”) become more viable as a way to improve one's individual standing. In this overview of the state of the art, we take a social identity lens to reflect on the current empirical knowledge base on self‐group distancing as a coping mechanism and provide a framework on what self‐group distancing is; when, where and why self‐group distancing likely occurs; and what its consequences are at the individual and the collective level. The contributions in this special issue provide novel insights into how these processes unfold, and serve as a basis to set a future research agenda, for example on what can be done to prevent self‐group distancing (i.e., interventions). Together, the insights highlight that while self‐group distancing may seem effective to (strategically and temporarily) alleviate discomfort or to improve one's own position, on a broader collective level and over time self‐group distancing tends to keep the current unequal social hierarchy in place.
Fifteen years ago, the British Journal of Social Psychology published a set of studies on male an... more Fifteen years ago, the British Journal of Social Psychology published a set of studies on male and female academics, documenting that female faculty members were more likely than male faculty members to express stereotyped views of women at the beginning of their academic careers (PhD candidates; Ellemers et al., 2004, Br. J. Soc. Psychol., 43, 3). At the same time, the self‐descriptions of female faculty members were just as masculine as those of their male colleagues. Ellemers and colleagues (2004, Br. J. Soc. Psychol., 43, 3) referred to this combination of results as indicating the existence of a ‘Queen Bee (QB) phenomenon’ in academia. The present contribution investigates whether the QB phenomenon is also found among current generations of academics, investigating this in two recent samples of academic professionals (N = 462; N = 339). Our findings demonstrate that the phenomenon first documented in 2004 still exists: Advanced career female academics are more likely than their male counterparts to underestimate the career commitment of women at the beginning of their academic careers. At the same time, both male and female academics at advanced career stages describe themselves in more masculine terms than those at early career stages. We argue this indicates a response pattern in which successful women emulate the masculinity of the work environment. To indicate this, the term ‘self‐group distancing’ might be more appropriate than ‘Queen Bee effect’.
The very early perceptional processes that underlie social categorization can be detected with ev... more The very early perceptional processes that underlie social categorization can be detected with event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Using this methodology, the present work aims to detect differential attentional processing of ingroup and outgroup members based on gender categories. Specifically, three EEG studies tested how factors that enhance social identity relevance, namely gender identification and contextual salience of gender representation, moderate neural gender categorization effects. Study 1 showed that both women (Study 1a) and men (Study 1b) were more likely to show preferential attention to ingroup over outgroup members, but only when they identified strongly with their gender group. Study 2 showed that when gender categories in an intergroup leadership context were made salient (i.e., when women were numerically underrepresented versus equally represented compared to men), women, irrespective of their level of gender identification, showed preferential attention to ingroup over outgroup members. Together, this work provides empirical evidence for (1) the neural gender categorization effect among both men and women as soon as 100 ms after face perception and (2) the moderating role of factors that enhance social identity relevance in early gender categorization.
Two studies carried out in Switzerland examined different explanations for the "Queen Bee (QB)-ph... more Two studies carried out in Switzerland examined different explanations for the "Queen Bee (QB)-phenomenon." In Study 1 (N = 315), female managers (vs. subordinates) identified with successful women and supported measures that would benefit these women-even though they are their direct competitors. However, they were disinclined to identify with women who put their family first, viewed themselves as different (more masculine) than junior women, and were reluctant to endorse measures to support them. Study 2 (N = 277) compared QB-responses of women to Alpha Male (AM) responses of men. We found evidence of QB and AM effects: both female and male managers rated their own masculinity as higher than that of same-gender junior colleagues. Compared to their male colleagues, women in managerial positions were more inclined to identify with successful same-gender colleagues. This counters explanations for the QB effect as being due to increased competitiveness of successful women.
Social Identity Theory (SIT) is one of the most influential perspectives on intergroup relations.... more Social Identity Theory (SIT) is one of the most influential perspectives on intergroup relations. We discuss how different neuroscientific models and methods (EEG, fMRI, cardiovascular measures) can illuminate insights into four core social identity constructs and processes: Social categorization, self-group overlap, ingroup bias, and coping with threat. We describe neuroscientific research that provides converging evidence for SIT. More specifically, we propose that social neuroscience provides more direct measures for core SITconstructs (e.g., categorization, threat) that are difficult to measure with self-report measures, and refines SIT by identifying more subtle forms of ingroup bias in 'upstream' neural processing, and by testing more dynamic relationships between SIT constructs (e.g., considering categorization as a dependent variable, or examining social identity 'challenge', in addition to threat).
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2009
Experiencing social identity threat can lead members of stigmatized groups to protect their self-... more Experiencing social identity threat can lead members of stigmatized groups to protect their self-regard by withdrawing from domains that are associated with higher status groups. Four experiments examined how providing identity affirmation in alternative domains affects performance motivation in statusdefining domains among stigmatized group members. Two forms of identity affirmation were distinguished: self-affirmation, which enhances personal identity, and group affirmation, which enhances social identity. The results showed that although self-and group affirmation both induce high performance motivation, they do so in different ways. Whereas self-affirmation induces a focus on the personal self, group affirmation induces a focus on the social self (Study 1). Accordingly, group affirmation elicited high performance motivation among highly identified group members (Studies 1 and 2) by inducing challenge (Study 2) and protected interest in group-serving behaviors that improve collective status (Studies 3 and 4). By contrast, low identifiers were challenged and motivated to perform well only after self-affirmation (Studies 1 and 2) and reported an even stronger inclination to work for themselves at the expense of the group when offered group affirmation (Studies 3 and 4).
The guilt that mothers feel about the time and energy that they invest in work instead of their f... more The guilt that mothers feel about the time and energy that they invest in work instead of their family is often proposed to be an important reason for why mothers 'opt-out' the career track. We sought to understand if mothers indeed experience more workfamily guilt than fathers and how this relates to both their own gender role beliefs and organizational gender norms across nine European countries. Analyses draw on the European Social Workforce Survey, with data from 2619 working parents nested in 110 organizations in 9 European countries. Results showed that when fathers and mothers work more than a full-time week (a) fathers with traditional gender role beliefs felt less guilty, and (b) especially mothers working in an organization with low support for the parent role of working fathers felt guilty. Explorative analyses showed no effect of national gender norms on gender differences in guilt. Our results are beneficial for organizations and policy makers by showing that guilt in working mothers can be reduced by developing egalitarian organizational norms, in which there is support for the parent role of mothers and fathers, potentially helping mothers to focus on their careers alongside their families.
Derks (2019) Neural processing of gendered information is more robustly associated with mothers' ... more Derks (2019) Neural processing of gendered information is more robustly associated with mothers' gendered communication with children than mothers' implicit and explicit gender stereotypes, Social
The positive effects of intergroup contact on prejudice reduction have been widely validated by n... more The positive effects of intergroup contact on prejudice reduction have been widely validated by now. However, the potential of contact for intergroup relations is only available when there is readiness to have contact with outgroup members to begin with. In two correlational studies with the main ethnic groups in postconflict Kosovo, Albanian majority (Study 1, N = 221) and Serb minority (Study 2, N = 110), we examine how social identity complexity mechanism and distinctiveness threat contribute to predicting more readiness to have contact with outgroup members. As the establishment of a new national identity unfolds, we show that while there are different processes that work for each of the groups, distinctiveness threat is a central concern to both as it mediates the relationship between identity and intergroup outcomes. For the Albanian majority group, having more complex identities (or perceiving less identity overlap between national and ethnic identity) predicts more readiness...
This study examined whether parenthood changes gender-role behavior and implicit gender-role ster... more This study examined whether parenthood changes gender-role behavior and implicit gender-role stereotypes as assessed with an Implicit Association Test in Dutch parents. In a cross-sectional sample, parents were found to have more traditional gender-role stereotypes than nonparents with a wish to have a child and nonparents without the wish to have a child. This suggests that gender-role stereotypes increase after the transition into parenthood. In a longitudinal sample, parents were followed for 4 years after the first birthday of their youngest child. The authors found that implicit gender-role stereotypes and behavior became increasingly traditional over time in most parents, except for the following two groups: (a) Fathers with highly traditional gender-role stereotypes did not show change over time and (b) older, highly educated mothers who worked relatively many hours outside the home and who had an egalitarian task division at
This chapter reviews research from the emerging field of social neuroscience to examine the under... more This chapter reviews research from the emerging field of social neuroscience to examine the underlying mechanisms that explain why stigma and discrimination lead to suboptimal health outcomes. The review is structured around three pathways through which stigmatization has negative effects on physical health, and it discusses neural and cardiovascular processes associated with (1) the stress that being a target of discrimination elicits, (2) impaired self-regulation of health behavior among targets of discrimination, and (3) how intergroup dynamics during interactions between health care provider and patient can result in suboptimal health care for stigmatized individuals. The insights offered by the neuroscience perspective provide crucial information on how to interrupt the downward stigma–health spiral and can inform policy to reduce the impact of stigma and discrimination on the physical health of its targets.
I theorized that if redressing inequality becomes a way for dominant group members (i.e., Whites)... more I theorized that if redressing inequality becomes a way for dominant group members (i.e., Whites) to boost their group‘s moral standing (i.e., as fair and just), resistance to increased equality among these group members might decrease, thereby increasing opportunities for social change. Thus, I examined the effect of morality framing—i.e., presenting social equality as a moral ideal versus a moral obligation—on Whites‘ responses to social inequality. In Chapter 2 it is demonstrated that exposure to the moral ideal (vs. obligation) frame elicits more positive intergroup attitudes among Whites. In Chapter 3 it is established that giving a speech about equality as a moral ideal (rather than as a moral obligation), elicits cardiovascular (CV) reactivity and speech rates among Whites that are consistent with less relative threat and vigilance. However, studies in Chapter 4 show that during contact with a Black confederate, prior exposure to the moral ideal (vs. obligation) frame elicits...
Gender gaps in academia persist with women being less likely to attain leadership, earning less s... more Gender gaps in academia persist with women being less likely to attain leadership, earning less salary, and receiving less research funding and resources compared to their male peers. The current research demonstrates yet another, more intangible gender gap in academia called lack of fit, whereby compared to male academics, female academics perceive higher misfit between their professional self-concept and the agentic 'superhero' stereotype of the successful academic. The entire population of Dutch academics (i.e., assistant, associate and full professors from 14 universities) was approached to participate in a nationwide survey. Results from this unique dataset (N = 3978) demonstrate that academics perceive agency (e.g., self-confident, self-focused, competitive) as more descriptive of the stereotypical successful academic than communality (e.g., team-oriented, good teacher, collegial). Importantly, early career female academics perceived highest lack of fit with this narro...
The current research extends previous work (e.g., Blair, 2002; Lai et al., 2014; van Nunspeet, El... more The current research extends previous work (e.g., Blair, 2002; Lai et al., 2014; van Nunspeet, Ellemers, & Derks, 2015) by directly comparing the effectiveness of different contextual factors and personal motives on the reduction of implicit bias toward Muslim women in a 2 ϫ 2 ϫ 2 research design. Non-Muslim participants performed an implicit association test (IAT) for which the implications for their morality or competence were emphasized, and while their performance was evaluated by a minimal ingroup or outgroup member, who was either presented as a member of the devalued group (a woman with a headscarf) or not (a women without a headscarf). Study 1 revealed that performance monitoring by the evaluator with a headscarf resulted in significant bias reduction. Interestingly, in case of performance monitoring by an evaluator without a headscarf, emphasizing the moral implications of participant's task performance was as effective. In Study 2, we replicated the first finding and found no significant bias toward Muslim women when participants' IAT performance was evaluated by a woman with a headscarf. Additionally, the prolonged version of the IAT used in this study resulted in a further decrease in bias when the evaluator with a headscarf was presented as a minimal ingroup member. Important implications of the effectiveness of these contextual factors and personal motives are discussed with regard to their difference in level of applicability and implementation.
Despite equal rights, minority groups such as ethnic minorities, LGBTQ + people, and people with ... more Despite equal rights, minority groups such as ethnic minorities, LGBTQ + people, and people with mental or physical disabilities face discrimination on a day‐to‐day basis in subtle and hard‐to‐recognize forms. As discrimination slips beneath the surface, it becomes difficult to fight the stigma using collective social identity coping mechanisms. Instead, individual mobility responses such as distancing the self from the stigmatized identity (“self‐group distancing”) become more viable as a way to improve one's individual standing. In this overview of the state of the art, we take a social identity lens to reflect on the current empirical knowledge base on self‐group distancing as a coping mechanism and provide a framework on what self‐group distancing is; when, where and why self‐group distancing likely occurs; and what its consequences are at the individual and the collective level. The contributions in this special issue provide novel insights into how these processes unfold, and serve as a basis to set a future research agenda, for example on what can be done to prevent self‐group distancing (i.e., interventions). Together, the insights highlight that while self‐group distancing may seem effective to (strategically and temporarily) alleviate discomfort or to improve one's own position, on a broader collective level and over time self‐group distancing tends to keep the current unequal social hierarchy in place.
Fifteen years ago, the British Journal of Social Psychology published a set of studies on male an... more Fifteen years ago, the British Journal of Social Psychology published a set of studies on male and female academics, documenting that female faculty members were more likely than male faculty members to express stereotyped views of women at the beginning of their academic careers (PhD candidates; Ellemers et al., 2004, Br. J. Soc. Psychol., 43, 3). At the same time, the self‐descriptions of female faculty members were just as masculine as those of their male colleagues. Ellemers and colleagues (2004, Br. J. Soc. Psychol., 43, 3) referred to this combination of results as indicating the existence of a ‘Queen Bee (QB) phenomenon’ in academia. The present contribution investigates whether the QB phenomenon is also found among current generations of academics, investigating this in two recent samples of academic professionals (N = 462; N = 339). Our findings demonstrate that the phenomenon first documented in 2004 still exists: Advanced career female academics are more likely than their male counterparts to underestimate the career commitment of women at the beginning of their academic careers. At the same time, both male and female academics at advanced career stages describe themselves in more masculine terms than those at early career stages. We argue this indicates a response pattern in which successful women emulate the masculinity of the work environment. To indicate this, the term ‘self‐group distancing’ might be more appropriate than ‘Queen Bee effect’.
The very early perceptional processes that underlie social categorization can be detected with ev... more The very early perceptional processes that underlie social categorization can be detected with event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Using this methodology, the present work aims to detect differential attentional processing of ingroup and outgroup members based on gender categories. Specifically, three EEG studies tested how factors that enhance social identity relevance, namely gender identification and contextual salience of gender representation, moderate neural gender categorization effects. Study 1 showed that both women (Study 1a) and men (Study 1b) were more likely to show preferential attention to ingroup over outgroup members, but only when they identified strongly with their gender group. Study 2 showed that when gender categories in an intergroup leadership context were made salient (i.e., when women were numerically underrepresented versus equally represented compared to men), women, irrespective of their level of gender identification, showed preferential attention to ingroup over outgroup members. Together, this work provides empirical evidence for (1) the neural gender categorization effect among both men and women as soon as 100 ms after face perception and (2) the moderating role of factors that enhance social identity relevance in early gender categorization.
Two studies carried out in Switzerland examined different explanations for the "Queen Bee (QB)-ph... more Two studies carried out in Switzerland examined different explanations for the "Queen Bee (QB)-phenomenon." In Study 1 (N = 315), female managers (vs. subordinates) identified with successful women and supported measures that would benefit these women-even though they are their direct competitors. However, they were disinclined to identify with women who put their family first, viewed themselves as different (more masculine) than junior women, and were reluctant to endorse measures to support them. Study 2 (N = 277) compared QB-responses of women to Alpha Male (AM) responses of men. We found evidence of QB and AM effects: both female and male managers rated their own masculinity as higher than that of same-gender junior colleagues. Compared to their male colleagues, women in managerial positions were more inclined to identify with successful same-gender colleagues. This counters explanations for the QB effect as being due to increased competitiveness of successful women.
Social Identity Theory (SIT) is one of the most influential perspectives on intergroup relations.... more Social Identity Theory (SIT) is one of the most influential perspectives on intergroup relations. We discuss how different neuroscientific models and methods (EEG, fMRI, cardiovascular measures) can illuminate insights into four core social identity constructs and processes: Social categorization, self-group overlap, ingroup bias, and coping with threat. We describe neuroscientific research that provides converging evidence for SIT. More specifically, we propose that social neuroscience provides more direct measures for core SITconstructs (e.g., categorization, threat) that are difficult to measure with self-report measures, and refines SIT by identifying more subtle forms of ingroup bias in 'upstream' neural processing, and by testing more dynamic relationships between SIT constructs (e.g., considering categorization as a dependent variable, or examining social identity 'challenge', in addition to threat).
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2009
Experiencing social identity threat can lead members of stigmatized groups to protect their self-... more Experiencing social identity threat can lead members of stigmatized groups to protect their self-regard by withdrawing from domains that are associated with higher status groups. Four experiments examined how providing identity affirmation in alternative domains affects performance motivation in statusdefining domains among stigmatized group members. Two forms of identity affirmation were distinguished: self-affirmation, which enhances personal identity, and group affirmation, which enhances social identity. The results showed that although self-and group affirmation both induce high performance motivation, they do so in different ways. Whereas self-affirmation induces a focus on the personal self, group affirmation induces a focus on the social self (Study 1). Accordingly, group affirmation elicited high performance motivation among highly identified group members (Studies 1 and 2) by inducing challenge (Study 2) and protected interest in group-serving behaviors that improve collective status (Studies 3 and 4). By contrast, low identifiers were challenged and motivated to perform well only after self-affirmation (Studies 1 and 2) and reported an even stronger inclination to work for themselves at the expense of the group when offered group affirmation (Studies 3 and 4).
The guilt that mothers feel about the time and energy that they invest in work instead of their f... more The guilt that mothers feel about the time and energy that they invest in work instead of their family is often proposed to be an important reason for why mothers 'opt-out' the career track. We sought to understand if mothers indeed experience more workfamily guilt than fathers and how this relates to both their own gender role beliefs and organizational gender norms across nine European countries. Analyses draw on the European Social Workforce Survey, with data from 2619 working parents nested in 110 organizations in 9 European countries. Results showed that when fathers and mothers work more than a full-time week (a) fathers with traditional gender role beliefs felt less guilty, and (b) especially mothers working in an organization with low support for the parent role of working fathers felt guilty. Explorative analyses showed no effect of national gender norms on gender differences in guilt. Our results are beneficial for organizations and policy makers by showing that guilt in working mothers can be reduced by developing egalitarian organizational norms, in which there is support for the parent role of mothers and fathers, potentially helping mothers to focus on their careers alongside their families.
Derks (2019) Neural processing of gendered information is more robustly associated with mothers' ... more Derks (2019) Neural processing of gendered information is more robustly associated with mothers' gendered communication with children than mothers' implicit and explicit gender stereotypes, Social
The positive effects of intergroup contact on prejudice reduction have been widely validated by n... more The positive effects of intergroup contact on prejudice reduction have been widely validated by now. However, the potential of contact for intergroup relations is only available when there is readiness to have contact with outgroup members to begin with. In two correlational studies with the main ethnic groups in postconflict Kosovo, Albanian majority (Study 1, N = 221) and Serb minority (Study 2, N = 110), we examine how social identity complexity mechanism and distinctiveness threat contribute to predicting more readiness to have contact with outgroup members. As the establishment of a new national identity unfolds, we show that while there are different processes that work for each of the groups, distinctiveness threat is a central concern to both as it mediates the relationship between identity and intergroup outcomes. For the Albanian majority group, having more complex identities (or perceiving less identity overlap between national and ethnic identity) predicts more readiness...
This study examined whether parenthood changes gender-role behavior and implicit gender-role ster... more This study examined whether parenthood changes gender-role behavior and implicit gender-role stereotypes as assessed with an Implicit Association Test in Dutch parents. In a cross-sectional sample, parents were found to have more traditional gender-role stereotypes than nonparents with a wish to have a child and nonparents without the wish to have a child. This suggests that gender-role stereotypes increase after the transition into parenthood. In a longitudinal sample, parents were followed for 4 years after the first birthday of their youngest child. The authors found that implicit gender-role stereotypes and behavior became increasingly traditional over time in most parents, except for the following two groups: (a) Fathers with highly traditional gender-role stereotypes did not show change over time and (b) older, highly educated mothers who worked relatively many hours outside the home and who had an egalitarian task division at
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Papers by Belle Derks