Why Women Ask for Less Salary than Men: Mediation of Stereotype Threat in Salary Negotiations

Women ask for less salary than men in negotiations. Sex differences in negotiating performance have recently been explained as stereotype threat effects. Stereotype threat theory states that the performance of negatively stereotyped group-members can suffer in contexts where the negative stereotype is salient. Women are stereo¬typed as bad negotiators, compared to men, and previous research has shown that women negotiate inferiorly to men when a negotiation is described as diagnostic of negotiating ability. However, when a negotiation is described as non-diagnostic of ability, the stereotype threat is lifted and there are no sex differences in negotiating performance. It is still unclear which psychological mechanisms mediate stereotype threat performance effects. The studies in the present thesis aimed at investigating self-stereotyping and motivational factors as possible mediators of stereotype threat performance effects in salary negotiations. In Study I, the participating women resisted self-stereotyping with negative, feminine stereotypical traits that were contrasted with masculine, stereotypical traits which were more positive in valence. In Study II the women self-stereotyped with feminine stereotypical traits before the diagnostic negotiation, although there were no sex differences in the self-concept content before the non-diagnostic negotiation. As the self-concept is considered an important regulator of behaviour there is reason to believe that self-stereotyping with feminine stereotypical traits may temporarily lead to acting more stereotypically feminine, which may be un¬fortunate in salary negotiations. However, there was no stereotype threat per¬formance effect in study II, so self-stereotyping could not be tested as a mediator of a stereotype threat performance effect. In study III there was a stereotype threat performance effect. Also, the results showed that the women set less challenging goals than the men before the diagnostic salary negotiation, although there were no sex differences before the non-diagnostic negotiation. The participants’ minimum salary goals (reservation salary) significantly mediated the stereotype threat performance effect. In conclusion: The observation that women under stereotype threat ask for less salary than men can be explained by sex differences in motivational factors. Future stereotype threat research may want to investigate whether self-stereotyping is connected to motivational factors in a stereotype threat context

Stereotype threat in salary negotiations is mediated by reservation salary

Women are stereotypically perceived as worse negotiators than men, which may make them ask for less salary than men when under stereotype threat (Kray et al., 2001). However, the mechanisms of stereotype threat are not yet properly understood. The current study investigated whether stereotype threat effects in salary negotiations can be explained by motivational factors. A total of 116 business students negotiated salary with a confederate and were either told that this was diagnostic of negotiating ability (threat manipulation) or not. Measures of minimum (reservation) and ideal (aspiration) salary goals and regulatory focus were collected. The finding (Kray et al., 2001) that women make lower salary requests than men when under stereotype threat was replicated. Women in the threat condition further reported lower aspiration salary, marginally significantly lower reservation salary and less eagerness/more vigilance than men. Reservation salary mediated the stereotype threat effect, and there was a trend for regulatory focus to mediate the effect. Thus, reserva-tion salary partly explains why women ask for less salary than men under stereotype threat. Female negotiators may benefit from learning that stereotype threat causes sex-differences in motivation

Communicating gender-equality progress, reduces social identity threats for women considering a research career

Since the majority of top-level researchers are men, how does this vertical gender-segregation affect students’ perceptions of a research career? In the current study, an experimental manipulation either reminded students of academia’s current dominance of men or of its improving gender-balance. The results showed that women primed with the dominance of men anticipated much higher social identity threats (e.g., fear of discrimination) in a future research career as compared to a control group. In contrast, women primed with the improving gender-balance anticipated much lower threat. Further, the dominance of men prime increased men’s interest in the PhD program, as compared to controls. Women’s interest was unaffected by the prime, but their lower interest as compared to men’s across conditions was mediated by their lower research self-efficacy (i.e., competence beliefs). The results imply that communicating gender-equality progress may allow women to consider a career in research without the barrier of social identity threat

The Effects of Yoga on Stress and Psychological Health Among Employees: An 8- and 16-week Intervention Study

Background: The stresses of modern work life necessitate effective copingstrategies that are accessible and affordable to the general public. Yogahas been found to reduce stress in clinical samples, but studies areneeded to examine standard gym yoga classes among functionalindividuals.Objectives: This study investigated the effects of 8- and 16-week gymyoga on stress and psychological health.Design and Method: Ninety individuals reporting moderate-to-high stresswere randomly assigned to 16 consecutive weeks of yoga, or to a waitlistcrossover group who did not practice yoga for 8 weeks then practicedyoga for 8 weeks. Stress and psychological health variables wereassessed at baseline, 8 weeks, and 16 weeks.Results: Significant reductions in stress and all psychological healthmeasures were found within the Yoga group over 16 weeks. Whencompared to the control group, yoga practitioners showed significantdecreases in stress, anxiety, and general psychological health, andsignificant increases in well-being. The group who did not practice yogashowed significant decreases in stress, anxiety, depression, and insomniaafter they crossed over and practiced yoga for 8 weeks.Conclusions: Gym yoga appears to be effective for stress amelioration andpromotion of psychological health among workers experiencing stress

STEM by the Lake: Raising High School Women’s Engineering Self-Efficacy and Belongingness through an Educational Intervention about Water Issues and Careers

Women tend to have lower interest in engineering as compared to men, which previous research has shown is partly explained by gender differences in self-efficacy, social belongingness and communal career goals. Therefore, to attract more women to engineering, effective interventions are needed that target these factors. In this study, we evaluated an industry-designed intervention for high school students. The intervention consisted of a two-day interdisciplinary course on water issues and careers in the water sector, located by a lake in the Swedish countryside. The participating 722 high school students answered a survey before, immediately after, and three months after the intervention. We measured interest, self-efficacy, social belongingness, communal career goal affordance, and stereotype threat, in relation to engineering. The results showed expected gender differences in all pre-measures. A promising result was that the intervention raised women’s engineering self-efficacy and social belongingness and reduced stereotype threat levels. However, repeated exposure might be necessary for the changes to last. Engineering interest was unexpectedly not affected by the intervention, which may imply that stronger increases in self-efficacy and social belongingness are necessary to impact interest

The role of ability beliefs and agentic vs. communal career goals in adolescents' first educational choice. What explains the degree of gender-balance?

To reduce the horizontal gender segregation in the labor market, we need to understand gender differences in career choice. The current study followed a large group of Swedish adolescents as they made their first educational choice, and tested for mediation of gender differences using measures of ability beliefs and career goals, which were collected shortly prior to the choice.Findings revealed strong gender differences in high-tech ability beliefs (e.g. computers), which combined with social ability beliefs (e.g. listening skills) and, to a lesser degree, communal career goals (e.g. helping) explained gender differences in educational choice. A new measure of career goal choice revealed that a majority of the adolescents prefer agentic (e.g. status) over communalgoal fulfilment if made to choose, although this preference was stronger amongst the boys. Our results support social cognitive career theory, expectancy-value theory and the goal congruity perspective as they demonstrate how gender differences in educational choice can be understood in terms of differences in competence beliefs and career goals. Furthermore, the results suggest that one reason why gender balanced programs appeal to adolescents is their perceived ability to fulfill both agentic and communal career goals

Will I fit in and do well? The importance of social belongingness and self-efficacy for explaining gender differences in interest in STEM- and HEED-majors.

Throughout the world, the labor market is clearly gender segregated. More research is needed to explain women's lower interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) majors and particularly to explain men's lower interest in HEED (Health care, Elementary Education, and the Domestic spheres) majors. We tested self-efficacy (competence beliefs) and social belongingness expectations (fitting in socially) as mediators of gender differences in interest in STEM and HEED majors in a representative sample of 1,327 Swedish high school students. Gender differences in interest in STEM majors strongly related to women's lower self-efficacy for STEM careers and, to a lesser degree, to women's lower social belongingness expectations with students in STEM majors. Social belongingness expectations also partly explained men's lower interest in HEED majors, but self-efficacy was not an important mediator of gender differences in interest in HEED. These results imply that interventions designed to lessen gender segregation in the labor market need to focus more on the social belongingness of students in the gender minority. Further, to specifically increase women's interest in STEM majors, we need to counteract gender stereotypical competence beliefs and assure women that they have what it takes to handle STEM careers