roles and goals
These
projects span different topics that focus on the goals that people choose and
how they pursue them. In particular, we adopt a role congruity perspective
that posits that people are motivated to fit into broader societal roles
(including gender roles). In addition, the role congruity perspective on
prejudice suggests that people are particularly devalued when they violate
valued social roles.
Relevant papers
Diekman, A. B., & Hirnisey,
L. (2007). The effect of context on the silver ceiling: A role congruity
perspective on prejudiced responses. Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1353-1366.
Diekman,
A. B. (2007). Negotiating the double bind: Interpersonal and instrumental
evaluations of dominance. Sex Roles,
22, 551-561.
Diekman, A. B., & Eagly, A.
H. (2008). On men, women, and motivation: A role congruity account. In J.
Shah & W. Gardner (Eds.), Handbook
of Motivational Science (pp. 434-447). New York: Guilford.
Diekman, A. B., Eagly, A. H., &
Johnston, A. M. (2010). Social structure. In J. F. Dovidio, M. Hewstone, P.
Glick & V. M. Esses (Eds.), The
Sage Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination (pp.
209-224). New York: Sage.
Current projects
Goal congruity: Stereotypes of STEM as inhibiting communal goals
A major emphasis of our current work is examining a goal congruity model, in which we
predict that people seek out careers that are perceived to help them fulfill
important goals. In the case of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics), we document consensual stereotypes that STEM careers are
thought to inhibit these important goals.
Diekman, A. B., Brown, E. R., Johnston, A. M., & Clark, E.
K. (2010). Seeking congruity between roles and goals: A new look at why women
opt out of STEM careers. Psychological
Science.
Motivated role selection This project focuses on
how gender beliefs influence selection of social roles - such as career or
mate choice - through motivational factors like goals. Do our beliefs about
what is appropriate for men and women affect the types of goals we have? Do
these goals in turn affect life choices which further support those gender
beliefs?
Evans, C. D., & Diekman, A. B. (2009). On
motivated role selection: Gender beliefs, distant goals, and career
preferences. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33, 235-249.
Possible selves How do men and women differ in their near and distant possible
selves? We have found that men and women tend to have similar near possible
selves (i.e., 1 year from now) but different distant possible selves (i.e.,
10 years from now). The broad goal of the project is to see how our gender
roles affect how we see ourselves in the future. How men and women see
themselves in the future can affect their present-day choices, causing them
to approach or avoid particular goals.
Brown, E. R., & Diekman, A. B. (in press). What will I be? Exploring
gender differences in near and distant possible selves. Sex Roles.
Role
flexibility
This project
investigates the flexibility and constraints of social roles. Specifically we
are examining the pressures on men and women to align with traditional vs. nontraditional
social roles, the mechanisms that lead to role inflexibility, and
the implications of breaking from traditional social roles.
Diekman, A. B., Johnston, A.
M., & Lanter, J. (2007, October). Who's
under pressure? Gender roles, the self, and others. Paper presented at
the meeting of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, Chicago, IL.
Johnston,
A. M., Lanter, J., & Diekman, A. B. (2008). Feeling the pressure:
Gender role flexibility in men and women. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society for
Personality and Social Psychology.