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Cited by 713Social and Intergroup PsychologyGender Diversity and InequalityMedia, Gender, and Advertising

Clearing the air: identity safety moderates the effects of stereotype threat on women's leadership aspirations

Davies, Paul G., Spencer, Steven J., Steele, Claude M.·2005·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
DOI 10.1037/0022-3514.88.2.276
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Abstract

Exposing participants to gender-stereotypic TV commercials designed to elicit the female stereotype, the present research explored whether vulnerability to stereotype threat could persuade women to avoid leadership roles in favor of nonthreatening subordinate roles. Study 1 confirmed that exposure to the stereotypic commercials undermined women's aspirations on a subsequent leadership task. Study 2 established that varying the identity safety of the leadership task moderated whether activation of the female stereotype mediated the effect of the commercials on women's aspirations. Creating an identity-safe environment eliminated vulnerability to stereotype threat despite exposure to threatening situational cues that primed stigmatized social identities and their corresponding stereotypes.

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Crossref · 10.1037/0022-3514.88.2.276

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  • Gender stereotypic commercials undermine women's leadership aspirations and their interest in quantitative relative to verbal majors and career paths.

    “Davies andcolleagues (2002, 2005) found that gender stereotypic commercials undermined women's leadership aspirations (Davies et al., 2005) as well as their interest in quantitative, relative to verbal, majors and career paths (Davies et al., 2002).”

    From Managing to clear the air: Stereotype threat, women, and leadership (2016) · cites this paper as Davies et al., 2005

  • Exposing women to gender stereotypic commercials results in deleterious threat responses with respect to professional and leadership aspirations.

    “For example, Davies and colleagues demonstrated that exposing women to gender stereotypic commercials (e.g., a female college student dreaming of becoming the homecoming queen or a young women demonstrating excitement over a new acne product) resulted in deleterious threat responses with respect to professional as well as leadership aspirations (Davies, Spencer, Quinn, & Gerhardstein, 2002;Davies,”

    From Managing to clear the air: Stereotype threat, women, and leadership (2016) · cites this paper as Davies, Spencer, & Steele, 2005

  • Exposure to stereotypic commercials undermined women's leadership aspirations, but presenting the leadership task as identity safe eliminated this vulnerability.

    “For example, whereas exposure to stereotypic commercials undermined women's leadership aspirations, presenting the leadership task as identity safe, that is, telling participants that there are no gender differences on the leadership task, eliminated this vulnerability (Davies et al., 2005).”

    From Managing to clear the air: Stereotype threat, women, and leadership (2016) · cites this paper as Davies et al., 2005

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Authors
Davies, P. G., Spencer, S. J., & Steele, C. M.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
  • University of Waterloo (CA)
  • Stanford University (US)
ORCID
Spencer, Steven J.
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2005
Volume
88
Issue
2
Pages
276-287
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.88.2.276
OpenAlex
W2128025011
Cited by
713
References
72
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 85 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 38 · 2016: 36 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 30
FWCI
55.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Diversity and Inequality
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Media, Gender, and Advertising
Keywords
stereotype threat, identity safety, gender stereotypes, moderating effect
MeSH terms
Adult, Aspirations, Psychological, Choice Behavior, Female, Humans, Leadership, Male, Social Identification, Stereotyping, Vocabulary

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