Loosening the GRIP (Gender Roles Inhibiting Prosociality) to Promote Gender Equality

Prosociality is an ideal context to begin shifting traditional gender role stereotypes and promoting equality. Men and women both help others frequently, but assistance often follows traditional gender role expectations, which further reinforces restrictive gender stereotypes in other domains. We propose an integrative process model of Gender Roles Inhibiting Prosociality (GRIP) to explain why and how this occurs. We argue that prosociality provides a unique entry point for change because it is (a) immediately rewarding (which cultivates positive attitude formation), (b) less likely to threaten the gender status hierarchy, and therefore less susceptible to social backlash (which translates into less restrictive social norms), and (c) a skill that that can be learned (which leads to stronger beliefs in one’s own ability to help). Using the GRIP model, we derive a series of hypothesized interventions to interrupt the self-reinforcing cycle of gender role stereotyping and facilitate progress toward broader gender equality

Neural effects of cannabinoid CB1 neutral antagonist tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCv) on food reward and aversion in healthy volunteers

Disturbances in the regulation of reward and aversion in the brain may underlie disorders such as obesity and eating disorders. We previously showed that the cannabis receptor subtype (CB1) inverse agonist rimonabant, an antiobesity drug withdrawn due to depressogenic side effects, diminished neural reward responses yet increased aversive responses (Horder et al., 2010). Unlike rimonabant, tetrahydrocannabivarin is a neutral CB1 receptor antagonist (Pertwee, 2005) and may therefore produce different modulations of the neural reward system. We hypothesized that tetrahydrocannabivarin would, unlike rimonabant, leave intact neural reward responses but augment aversive responses. Methods: We used a within-subject, double-blind design. Twenty healthy volunteers received a single dose of tetrahydrocannabivarin (10mg) and placebo in randomized order on 2 separate occasions. We measured the neural response to rewarding (sight and/or flavor of chocolate) and aversive stimuli (picture of moldy strawberries and/or a less pleasant strawberry taste) using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Volunteers rated pleasantness, intensity, and wanting for each stimulus. Results: There were no significant differences between groups in subjective ratings. However, tetrahydrocannabivarin increased responses to chocolate stimuli in the midbrain, anterior cingulate cortex, caudate, and putamen. Tetrahydrocannabivarin also increased responses to aversive stimuli in the amygdala, insula, mid orbitofrontal cortex, caudate, and putamen. Conclusions: Our findings are the first to show that treatment with the CB1 neutral antagonist tetrahydrocannabivarin increases neural responding to rewarding and aversive stimuli. This effect profile suggests therapeutic activity in obesity, perhaps with a lowered risk of depressive side effects. Keywords: reward, THCv, obesity, fMRI, cannabinoi

Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender-based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental-leave intentions in young adults (18–30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental-leave policies and societal gender equality. In all countries, women intended to take longer leave than men. National parental-leave policies and women’s political representation partially explained cross-national variations in the gender gap. Gender gaps in leave intentions were paradoxically larger in countries with more gender-egalitarian parental-leave policies (i.e., longer leave available to both fathers and mothers). Interestingly, this cross-national variation in the gender gap was driven by cross-national variations in women’s (rather than men’s) leave intentions. Financially generous leave and gender-egalitarian policies (linked to men’s higher uptake in prior research) were not associated with leave intentions in men. Rather, men’s leave intentions were related to their individual gender attitudes. Leave intentions were inversely related to career ambitions. The potential for existing policies to foster gender equality in paid and unpaid work is discussed.Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 CountriespublishedVersio

Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender-based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental-leave intentions in young adults (18–30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental-leave policies and societal gender equality. In all countries, women intended to take longer leave than men. National parental-leave policies and women’s political representation partially explained cross-national variations in the gender gap. Gender gaps in leave intentions were paradoxically larger in countries with more gender-egalitarian parental-leave policies (i.e., longer leave available to both fathers and mothers). Interestingly, this cross-national variation in the gender gap was driven by cross-national variations in women’s (rather than men’s) leave intentions. Financially generous leave and gender-egalitarian policies (linked to men’s higher uptake in prior research) were not associated with leave intentions in men. Rather, men’s leave intentions were related to their individual gender attitudes. Leave intentions were inversely related to career ambitions. The potential for existing policies to foster gender equality in paid and unpaid work is discussed

"Man Enough" to Care: Masculinity Threats as a Barrier to Men's Communal Role Engagement

When considering ways to address issues of gender inequality, people typically think about the social and economic disadvantages faced by women compared to men. Remarkably fewer research efforts have been devoted to understanding why men remain underrepresented in female-dominated and communal roles. Informed by theories of precarious masculinity, this dissertation investigated how threats to masculinity contribute to the underrepresentation of men in communal roles in diverse contexts, including romantic relationships, the domestic sphere, and health promotion behaviors. Study 1 examined the impact of masculinity threats on men’s self-reported closeness, commitment, and interdependence with their romantic partners, as well as their cardiovascular reactivity to threats. Moving to the domestic sphere, Study 2A explored how threats to masculinity shape young men’s preferences for the division of domestic labor, and Study 2B examined how manhood threats impact the way fathers report the division of labor in their current families. Study 3 documented the impact of masculinity threats on men’s attitudes toward psychological help seeking behaviors, as well as their participation in health promotion behaviors. While the specific outcomes differ across studies, the predicted psychological process is similar: Experiencing a masculinity threat should lead men to engage in behaviors congruent with traditional masculinity. Ultimately, the findings did not support this prediction, but exploratory analyses highlight the importance of sexual orientation and individual differences in support for gender role ideologies in moderating the effect of masculinity threats

Perceptions of Gender Non-Conforming Men: The Impact of Perceiver Gender, Relationship Status and Gender Role Ideology

Due to patriarchal gender role norms, the male gender has been historically afforded increased social status and prestige by way of social, political, and economic advantage. While men benefit from this privileged status, they experience many negative consequences from these norms as well. Male gender roles are more rigid than female gender roles, as demonstrated by previous research suggesting that men who deviate from prescribed gender roles are met with more social backlash than women (Siren, McCreary, & Mahalik, 2004). However, research on why this is the case is inconclusive. Thus, the present study sought to examine variables associated with perceptions of gender non-conforming men, such as perceiver gender, relationship status, and gender role ideology. One hundred and thirty-five adults completed an online survey and were exposed to either a gender conforming or gender non-conforming target. Participants rated their perceptions of the target’s warmth, competence, likability, and romantic partner suitability. The findings indicated that the gender conforming man was rated higher on dimensions of competence and lower on dimensions of warmth, while the gender non-conforming man was rated higher on dimensions of warmth and lower on dimensions of competence. Furthermore, participants rated the gender non-conforming man higher in romantic partner suitability than the gender conforming man. However, there were no significant interactions for perceptions of non-conforming men with regard to participant gender, relationship status, or gender role ideology

People overestimate backlash against helpers who violate gender stereotypes: experimental examination of a prosociality paradox

Men and women typically help others in gender stereotypic ways (gender-consistent helping), but how might people judge helpers who do so in counter-stereotypic ways (gender-inconsistent helping)? Most of the time helpers are viewed favorably, but behaviors that deviate from gender stereotypes tend to elicit social sanctions from others. Thus, gender-inconsistent helping presents a paradox wherein people may anticipate facing negative judgments from others despite helping being a positive, prosocial act. Across three experiments (two pre-registered), participants provided their own (Studies 1-3) and normative (Studies 2-3) evaluations of gender-consistent and gender-inconsistent helpers. Taken together, results revealed that participants expected other people to evaluate gender-inconsistent helpers less favorably than gender-consistent helpers (Hypothesis 1), and less favorably than they actually did themselves (Hypothesis 2). These findings show that gender-inconsistent helping is less susceptible to backlash than people think, and instead suggest that pluralistic ignorance could be a barrier to gender-inconsistent helping, if people fear that others’ judgments of gender-inconsistent helpers are harsher than their own. Our results highlight novel opportunities for addressing persistent occupational gender segregation in prosocial contexts (by confronting pluralistic ignorance), which could subsequently enhance gender equality more broadly

A Cognitive Uncoupling: Masculinity Threats and the Rejection of Relationship Interdependence

What happens when a primary resource people draw from in times of need is at odds with maintaining a threatened, yet valued, identity? Four studies (N-total= 806) examined whether men cognitively disengage from romantic relationships following masculinity threats. As hypothesized, romantically attached men reported less closeness, commitment, and interdependence in their romantic relationships (Study 1), and both single and romantically attached men expressed less positive commitment beliefs (Study 2) following masculinity threats. Supporting a strategy of distancing from interdependence to protect masculinity, perceivers evaluated men who used more interdependent language to describe their relationships as less masculine and more feminine (Studies 3a and 3b). However, exhibiting less interdependence did not restore third-party evaluations of masculinity following a public masculinity threat (Study 3b). Thus, subverting relationship interdependence to protect perceptions of masculinity is an ineffective strategy for restoring masculinity in the eyes of others and may cause unnecessary strain on relationships.Open access articleThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Gender differences in grief narrative construction: a myth or reality?

Background: Narratives play a central role in the recovery process following death, and linguistic properties of grief narratives can serve as indicators of adjustment to loss. The present study examined whether bereaved men and women differ in how they discuss their loss, and how linguistic markers relate to psychological functioning. Positive associations were hypothesized between first-person singular pronoun use and psychological distress. Gender differences were expected for different emotion and social process words, and overall word use. Exploratory analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between linguistic markers and psychosocial outcomes for men and women separately. Method: 50 bereaved widow(er)s and parents (29 women, 21 men; MAge = 71.16 years, SD = 9.95) completed psychosocial self-report questionnaires and individual in-depth interviews. Grief narratives were analysed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a software program that quantifies words into linguistic and psychological categories. Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, first-person pronoun use was not related to psychological distress. Although gender differences emerged in self-reported psychosocial outcomes, we failed to find the predicted gender differences in linguistic markers (emotion and social process words, overall word count). Exploratory analyses revealed additional associations between linguistic markers and psychosocial outcomes, and gender differences in these relationships. Notably, first-person pronoun use was related to heightened grief avoidance. Furthermore, various linguistic markers were associated with increased depression levels in females, but not males. In contrast, nonfluencies were positively associated with indicators of psychological distress in men only. Conclusion: In line with the gender similarities hypothesis, analyses suggest similarities between men and women's discussion of their grief experience. Associations between linguistic markers and psychological adjustment indicate that grief narratives contain meaningful indices of underlying health.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]