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How Nice of Us and How Dumb of Me: The Effect of Exposure to Benevolent Sexism on Women’s Task and Relational Self-Descriptions

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Abstract

This research demonstrates how women assimilate to benevolent sexism by emphasizing their relational qualities and de-emphasizing their task-related characteristics when exposed to benevolent sexism. Studies 1 (N = 62) and 2 (N = 100) show, with slightly different paradigms and measures, that compared to exposure to hostile sexism, exposure to benevolent sexism increases the extent to which female Dutch college students define themselves in relational terms and decreases the extent to which they emphasize their task-related characteristics. Study 3 (N = 79) demonstrates that benevolent sexism has more pernicious effects when it is expressed by someone with whom women expect to collaborate than when no collaboration is expected with the source of sexism. The implications of these results are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financed by a grant from the Dutch Scientific Organization (NWO) awarded to the first author, who was at Leiden University when this research was conducted. Study 3 was part of the master thesis of the third author.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Social Research and Intervention (CIS), Av das Forças Armadas-Ed ISCTE, 1649-026, Lisbon, Portugal

    Manuela Barreto

  2. Leiden Institute for Psychological Research, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands

    Naomi Ellemers & Laura Piebinga

  3. University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Miguel Moya

Authors
  1. Manuela Barreto
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  2. Naomi Ellemers
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  3. Laura Piebinga
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  4. Miguel Moya
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manuela Barreto.

Appendix

Appendix

Measures Study 1

Task-related

(selected from the Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale of Crocker et al. 2003):

  • Weten dat ik beter ben dan anderen op een taak vergroot mijn zelfvertrouwen (knowing that I am better than others at a task increases my self-esteem)

  • Mijn eigenwaarde wordt beïnvloed door hoe goed ik presteer op competitieve taken (my self-esteem is influenced by how well I perform in competitive tasks)

  • Ik voel me de moeite waard wanneer ik beter dan anderen presteer op bepaalde taken of vaardigheden (I feel worth while when I perform better than others at some tasks or abilities)

  • Mijn zelfvertrouwen wordt beïnvloed door mijn academische prestatie (my self-esteem is influenced by my academic performance)

Relational:

attent (attentive), hartelijk (warm), romatisch (romantic)

Measures Study 2

Task-related:

Zelfverzekerd (self-assured), ambitieus (ambitious), dominant (dominant)

Relational

(selected from the Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale of Crocker et al. 2003):

  • Mijn zelfvertrouwen is afhankelijk van de mening die anderen van mij hebben (my self-esteem depends on the opinion that others have of me)

  • Het kan mij niet schelen wat anderen van mij denken (I do not care about what others think of me)

  • Mijn zelfvertrouwen gaat omlaag wanneer ik denk dat ik er niet goed uitzie (my self-esteem goes down when I think that I do not look good)

  • Mijn zelfvertrouwen is niet afhankelijk van of ik mij wel of niet aantrekkelijk voel (my self-esteem is not dependent on whether or not I feel attractive)

  • Mijn zelfvertrouwen wordt beïnvloed door hoe aantrekkelijk ik mijn gezicht of gezichtstrekken vind (my self-esteem is influenced by how attractive I find my face or facial characteristics).

Measures Study 3

Check of the benevolent sexism manipulation

  • In hoeverre denk je dat je partner bevooroordeeld is (to what extent do you think that your partner is biased)

  • In hoeverre denk je dat je partner seksistisch is (to what extent do you think that your partner is sexist).

Checks of the manipulation of expected collaboration

  • Ik denk dat mijn partner mijn bijdrage aan de taak zal erkennen (I think that my partner will acknowledge my contribution to the task)

  • Ik denk dat mijn partner mijn bijdrage aan de taak zal waarderen (I think that my partner will appreciate my contribution to the task)

  • Ik denk dat ik invloed heb op de uitkomst van de taak (I think I have an influence on the outcome of the task)

  • Ik verwacht niet dat er een conflict zal ontstaan tussen mijn partner en mij (I do not expect a conflict to develop between my partner and I)

  • Ik ben gemotiveerd om eventuele conflicten die tussen mijn partner en mij ontstaan op te lossen (I am motivated to solve conflicts that arise between my partner and I)

  • Ik denk dat de samenwerking met mijn partner soepel zal verlopen (I think that working together with my partner will go smoothly).

  • Het kan met niet schelen als anderen een negatief oordeel over me hebben (I do not care when others have a negative opinion of me)

  • Wat anderen van mij denken heeft geen invloed op de manier waarop ik over mijzelf denk (what others think of me does not influence the way I think about myself).

Task-related self-descriptions

(adapted from a selection of items from the Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale of Crocker et al. 2003):

  • Goed presteren op deze taak zal me een gevoel van zelfrespect geven (doing well at the task will give me a feeling of self-respect)

  • Iets beter doen dan een ander geeft me een gevoel van zelfrespect (doing something better than others gives me a feeling of self-respect)

  • Mijn zelfvertrouwen wordt beïnvloed door hoe goed ik iets doe in vergelijking met anderen (my self-esteem is influenced by how well I do something compared to others)

  • Weten dat ik ergens beter in ben dan een ander vergroot mijn zelfwaardering (knowing that I am better at something than someone else increases my self-esteem)

Leadership aspirations

  • Ik zou graag de leider van mijn team willen zijn (I would like to be the leader of my team)

  • Ik denk dat ik een goede leider van mijn team zou zijn (I think I will be a good leader of my team)

  • Ik denk dat we als team een goede uitkomst kunnen bereiken als ik de leider van mijn team ben (I think that if I am the leader of my team we will have a good outcome)

  • Ik denk dat de samenwerking in het team goed zal verlopen als ik de leider van het team ben (I think that if I am the leader of the team working together will go well)

  • Ik denk dat er meer conflicten zullen ontstaan als ik de leider van mijn team ben (I think that if I am the leader of my team more conflict will arise)

  • Ik denk dat mijn partner een betere leider van het team zal zijn dan ik (I think that my partner will be a better leader of the team than I will)

  • Ik denk dat we als team een goede uitkomst kunnen bereiken als mijn partner de leider van het team is (I think that if my partner is the leader of my team we will have a good outcome)

  • Ik denk dat de samenwerking in het team goed zal verlopen als mijn partner de leider van het team is (I think that if my partner is the leader of the team working together will go well)

  • Ik denk dat er meer conflicten zullen ontstaan als mijn partner de leider van mijn team is (I think that if my partner is the leader of my team more conflict will arise)

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Barreto, M., Ellemers, N., Piebinga, L. et al. How Nice of Us and How Dumb of Me: The Effect of Exposure to Benevolent Sexism on Women’s Task and Relational Self-Descriptions. Sex Roles 62, 532–544 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9699-0

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