Abstract
Competitions are ubiquitous and their psychological consequences for women have not received sufficient attention. For this research, we tested whether competition, in either work settings or a broader form of competition for resources, would interact with the sex is power belief to result in self-objectification among women. This prediction was confirmed by a series of studies (N = 1416), including correlational studies, a quasi-experiment, and fully controlled experiments, with samples including company employees, MBA students with work experience, college students currently competing in a job market, and Mechanical Turkers. Competition (or a sense of competition) as a feature of the working environment (Study 1), a real state in life (Study 2), or a temporarily activated state (Studies 3–5) resulted in self-objectification among women who believe sex is power (Study 1) or who enter such a mindset (Studies 2–5). This effect further impaired the pursuit of personal growth (Studies 4 and 5).
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Notes
The self-dimension of the Sex Is Power Scale: α = .92, M = 2.87, SD = 1.32; the other dimension of the Sex Is Power Scale: α = .92, M = 4.22, SD = 1.36.
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Acknowledgements
All authors conceived of the research idea. The first author designed the study. The first and second author collected and analyzed the data. The first author wrote the manuscript with input from the corresponding author. All authors contributed to the revision of the manuscript.
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This research is partially supported by Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (to Hao Chen, Grant/Award Number: 71731004).
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The protocol was approved by the Department of Social Psychology, Nankai University, Tianjin, China (ethics approval no. NKPSYP181001).
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Appendix
Appendix
Perceived Competitiveness at Work Scale (self-developed).
我周围的工作环境竞争激烈。
工作同事之间的较量是白热化的。
只有竞争的胜出者才有升职加薪的可能。
只有竞争的胜出者才有可能长期在公司(单位)中发展。
想在公司(单位)生存下去, 要在竞争中始终立于不败之地。
我所处的公司/单位, 竞争非常激烈。
想要进入我的行业, 必须具有非常强的竞争力。
想要在我的行业中生存, 必须具有非常强的竞争力。
My work environment is very competitive.
The competition between colleagues at work is intense.
Only the competition winner has the possibility of getting a promotion and a pay raise.
Only the winners of a competition are likely to keep their positions in the company for a long time.
If you want to keep your position in the company for a long time, you should remain competitive.
Competition between colleagues is very high in my company.
To work in my industry, one needs to be very competitive.
To do well in my industry, one needs to be very competitive.
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Wang, X., Chen, H. & Chen, Z. Women’s Self-Objectification Under Competition When They Believe Sex Is Power. Arch Sex Behav 51, 2837–2854 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02335-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02335-2