Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2023, Psychology

This current study investigates the relationship between sexist beliefs, self-objectification, and fear of crime. In addition, the researchers sought to investigate whether these social attitudes would predict trustworthiness ratings of male faces. In part one, survey responses from 52 participants were collected. In part two, 45 participants were exposed to a crime salience manipulation before rating the trustworthiness of a series of male faces. We ran bivariate correlations between the predictor variables to confirm existing relationships as seen in the literature regarding the development of the scales as well as the research used well after the scales were developed. The results confirmed these existing relationships and revealed a significant negative relationship between fear of crime and body shame, as well as a significant positive relationship between right-wing political ideology and hostile sexism. In part two, those who were exposed to the crime salience manipulation agreed more with the results of the crime-centered poll if they scored high in fear of crime rather than low. Those exposed to the control condition showed no difference in agreement whether low or high in fear of crime. A 4-way interaction was also found between the dichotomized fear of crime variable, the manipulation condition, face model type, and the amount of manipulation applied to faces. For trust model-derived faces, trustworthiness ratings increased in a linear progression as more information was applied. However, for dominance model-derived faces, trust judgments increased in a curvilinear progression. Trust ratings peaked at the mid-level of information and were the lowest at the highest level of information.

Committee: Michael Anes (Advisor); Cynthia Richards (Committee Member); William Davis (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender Studies; Physiological Psychology; Psychological Tests; Psychology; Social Psychology; Womens Studies

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2019, Psychology

The Ambivalent Sexism Theory consists of two subdimensions of sexism—hostile sexism and benevolent sexism. Hostile sexism comprises of openly negative attitudes towards women, while benevolent sexism endorses the continuation of traditional paternalistic attitudes towards women. Previous research in the field has found significant associations between both hostilely and benevolently sexist attitudes and the Big Five personality traits of Open-Mindedness and Agreeableness as well as the personality traits of other-oriented empathy. Previous research has also found significant associations between Open-Mindedness, Agreeableness, and empathy and the interpretation of hostile sexism in real-world. The aim of this study was to determine the existence of associations between the aforementioned personality traits and the interpretation of benevolent sexism in real-world scenarios. Participants completed an anonymous online survey that assessed their endorsement of Open-Mindedness and Agreeableness personality traits, their endorsement of empathy, and their interpretation of benevolent sexism in ambiguous scenarios. The scenarios were presented in a series of vignettes created specifically for this study. This study found significant positive associations between Open-Mindedness and the interpretation of benevolent sexism. There were no significant associations between Agreeableness and the interpretation of benevolent sexism or other-oriented empathy and the interpretation of benevolent sexism. However, findings may be limited due to low power as a result of small sample size.

Committee: William Davis (Advisor); Lauren Crane (Committee Member); Kate Polak (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; Gender Studies; Psychology; Womens Studies