I have broad interests in social psychology, particularly with regard to social justice, prejudice, stereotyping, gender roles, intergroup relations, and health care disparities. I have recently become interested in the role that ambivalent sexism and aversive racism play in the allocation of health care to women and minorities. Address: Department of Psychology Harris Hall Marshall University 1 John Marshall Drive Huntington, WV 25755
Disparities for women and minorities persist in both access to and quality of medical care (Agenc... more Disparities for women and minorities persist in both access to and quality of medical care (Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, 2015a; Ikemoto, 2006), and research indicates that medical recommendations may include the use of stereotypes (Chapman, Kaatz, & Carnes, 2013; Dovidio & Fiske, 2012; Dovidio, Gaertner, Penner, Pearson, & Norton, 2009; Dovidio, et al., 2008; Major, Mendes, & Dovidio, 2013; Mehta, et al., 2016). Thus, expectations and suspicions that physicians hold about their patients’ prognosis and recovery could play a major role in the decision-making process and course of treatment that is either recommended or prescribed (Major, et al., 2013). The present chapter includes four major subsections. The first provides a history of legislation and national health policy to reduce bias in health care for women and minorities. The second reviews current disparities relevant to women in the United States, including differences in cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and infant mortality. The third focuses on stereotyping and bias in medical treatment decision-making pathways. The final section includes a summary and recommends avenues for future research.
Abstract The present research investigated potential disparities in recommendations for coronary ... more Abstract The present research investigated potential disparities in recommendations for coronary artery disease (CAD) as a function of physician benevolent sexism, patient sex, and surgical risk.
Disparities in health care access, treatment, and outcomes are widely prevalent for women and min... more Disparities in health care access, treatment, and outcomes are widely prevalent for women and minorities. At the same time, health care choices have become increasingly intricate and correspondingly uncertain. We review contemporary issues in health care for women, with emphasis on access to care and on health care disparities. In the belief that forewarned is to be forearmed, we review the role of sexism and the psychology of decision making in producing health disparities. In the face of this complexity, therapists can help women seek sound health care and make informed choices. Implications for feminist therapy are suggested that emphasize client empowerment and agency.
Majority group members often hold inconsistent attitudes and behave inconsistently toward minorit... more Majority group members often hold inconsistent attitudes and behave inconsistently toward minority group members (LaPiere, 1934). We conceptually replicated LaPiere (1934) to examine discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in two studies. As predicted, randomly selected bed and breakfasts were more likely to discriminate against gay males when impersonally contacted (Study 1) than when personally contacted (Study 2), suggesting an attitude-behavior discrepancy. We reason that establishments were more likely to discriminate when they did not have the motivation to appear non-prejudicial, and discuss the results in terms of the MODE model of attitude-behavioral processes.
Many sex education curricula currently used in public schools indoctrinate students in gender ste... more Many sex education curricula currently used in public schools indoctrinate students in gender stereotypes. As expressed in the title of one article: “If You Don’t Aim to Please, Don’t Dress to Tease,” and Other Public School Sex Education Lessons Subsidized by You, the Federal Taxpayer (Jennifer L. Greenblatt, 14 TEX. J. ON C.L. & C.R. 1 (2008)). Other lessons pertain not only to responsibility for sexual activity but to lifelong approaches to family life and individual achievement. One lesson, for example, instructs students that, in marriage, men need sex from their wives and women need financial support from their husbands.
This Article first describes the ways in which teaching sex stereotypes may affect children, highlighting the need for further empirical research in this area. Second, it critiques the extant feminist legal response to gender-biased Sex Ed curricula, particularly the use of precedent dealing with governmental perpetuation of stereotypes; those precedents cannot be incorporated wholesale into this context. Finally, to correct this analytical gap, this Article connects the Sex Ed issue to the existing scholarly literature on indoctrination of schoolchildren, a literature that has hooks in both equal protection and the first amendment. The first amendment principles developed in this literature provide the missing link to explain the constitutional flaw in sex stereotyping at school. The result is an endorsement standard, based on a blending of equal protection and first amendment doctrine. Public school students should not be inculcated in values whose entrenchment by government is contrary to constitutional principles.
Two studies of ethnically diverse US college students from northern California examined whether i... more Two studies of ethnically diverse US college students from northern California examined whether ingroup bias and gender norm violations influence acquaintance rape attributions (Study 1, N=118; Study 2, N=140). Participants read vignettes depicting acquaintance rape and completed questionnaires. Victims were part of participants’ ingroup or outgroup. Study 1 manipulated the victim’s sexual history (chaste or promiscuous). Study 2 manipulated the victim’s alcohol use (sober or intoxicated). Ingroup victims were perceived more positively than outgroup victims if the victims were promiscuous or intoxicated. More guilt was attributed to rapists of ingroup victims than outgroup victims if the victims were promiscuous or intoxicated. Findings are examined in relation to ingroup bias and gender norm violations.
Disparities for women and minorities persist in both access to and quality of medical care (Agenc... more Disparities for women and minorities persist in both access to and quality of medical care (Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, 2015a; Ikemoto, 2006), and research indicates that medical recommendations may include the use of stereotypes (Chapman, Kaatz, & Carnes, 2013; Dovidio & Fiske, 2012; Dovidio, Gaertner, Penner, Pearson, & Norton, 2009; Dovidio, et al., 2008; Major, Mendes, & Dovidio, 2013; Mehta, et al., 2016). Thus, expectations and suspicions that physicians hold about their patients’ prognosis and recovery could play a major role in the decision-making process and course of treatment that is either recommended or prescribed (Major, et al., 2013). The present chapter includes four major subsections. The first provides a history of legislation and national health policy to reduce bias in health care for women and minorities. The second reviews current disparities relevant to women in the United States, including differences in cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and infant mortality. The third focuses on stereotyping and bias in medical treatment decision-making pathways. The final section includes a summary and recommends avenues for future research.
Abstract The present research investigated potential disparities in recommendations for coronary ... more Abstract The present research investigated potential disparities in recommendations for coronary artery disease (CAD) as a function of physician benevolent sexism, patient sex, and surgical risk.
Disparities in health care access, treatment, and outcomes are widely prevalent for women and min... more Disparities in health care access, treatment, and outcomes are widely prevalent for women and minorities. At the same time, health care choices have become increasingly intricate and correspondingly uncertain. We review contemporary issues in health care for women, with emphasis on access to care and on health care disparities. In the belief that forewarned is to be forearmed, we review the role of sexism and the psychology of decision making in producing health disparities. In the face of this complexity, therapists can help women seek sound health care and make informed choices. Implications for feminist therapy are suggested that emphasize client empowerment and agency.
Majority group members often hold inconsistent attitudes and behave inconsistently toward minorit... more Majority group members often hold inconsistent attitudes and behave inconsistently toward minority group members (LaPiere, 1934). We conceptually replicated LaPiere (1934) to examine discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in two studies. As predicted, randomly selected bed and breakfasts were more likely to discriminate against gay males when impersonally contacted (Study 1) than when personally contacted (Study 2), suggesting an attitude-behavior discrepancy. We reason that establishments were more likely to discriminate when they did not have the motivation to appear non-prejudicial, and discuss the results in terms of the MODE model of attitude-behavioral processes.
Many sex education curricula currently used in public schools indoctrinate students in gender ste... more Many sex education curricula currently used in public schools indoctrinate students in gender stereotypes. As expressed in the title of one article: “If You Don’t Aim to Please, Don’t Dress to Tease,” and Other Public School Sex Education Lessons Subsidized by You, the Federal Taxpayer (Jennifer L. Greenblatt, 14 TEX. J. ON C.L. & C.R. 1 (2008)). Other lessons pertain not only to responsibility for sexual activity but to lifelong approaches to family life and individual achievement. One lesson, for example, instructs students that, in marriage, men need sex from their wives and women need financial support from their husbands.
This Article first describes the ways in which teaching sex stereotypes may affect children, highlighting the need for further empirical research in this area. Second, it critiques the extant feminist legal response to gender-biased Sex Ed curricula, particularly the use of precedent dealing with governmental perpetuation of stereotypes; those precedents cannot be incorporated wholesale into this context. Finally, to correct this analytical gap, this Article connects the Sex Ed issue to the existing scholarly literature on indoctrination of schoolchildren, a literature that has hooks in both equal protection and the first amendment. The first amendment principles developed in this literature provide the missing link to explain the constitutional flaw in sex stereotyping at school. The result is an endorsement standard, based on a blending of equal protection and first amendment doctrine. Public school students should not be inculcated in values whose entrenchment by government is contrary to constitutional principles.
Two studies of ethnically diverse US college students from northern California examined whether i... more Two studies of ethnically diverse US college students from northern California examined whether ingroup bias and gender norm violations influence acquaintance rape attributions (Study 1, N=118; Study 2, N=140). Participants read vignettes depicting acquaintance rape and completed questionnaires. Victims were part of participants’ ingroup or outgroup. Study 1 manipulated the victim’s sexual history (chaste or promiscuous). Study 2 manipulated the victim’s alcohol use (sober or intoxicated). Ingroup victims were perceived more positively than outgroup victims if the victims were promiscuous or intoxicated. More guilt was attributed to rapists of ingroup victims than outgroup victims if the victims were promiscuous or intoxicated. Findings are examined in relation to ingroup bias and gender norm violations.
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Papers by Dawn M Goel
This Article first describes the ways in which teaching sex stereotypes may affect children, highlighting the need for further empirical research in this area. Second, it critiques the extant feminist legal response to gender-biased Sex Ed curricula, particularly the use of precedent dealing with governmental perpetuation of stereotypes; those precedents cannot be incorporated wholesale into this context. Finally, to correct this analytical gap, this Article connects the Sex Ed issue to the existing scholarly literature on indoctrination of schoolchildren, a literature that has hooks in both equal protection and the first amendment. The first amendment principles developed in this literature provide the missing link to explain the constitutional flaw in sex stereotyping at school. The result is an endorsement standard, based on a blending of equal protection and first amendment doctrine. Public school students should not be inculcated in values whose entrenchment by government is contrary to constitutional principles.
This Article first describes the ways in which teaching sex stereotypes may affect children, highlighting the need for further empirical research in this area. Second, it critiques the extant feminist legal response to gender-biased Sex Ed curricula, particularly the use of precedent dealing with governmental perpetuation of stereotypes; those precedents cannot be incorporated wholesale into this context. Finally, to correct this analytical gap, this Article connects the Sex Ed issue to the existing scholarly literature on indoctrination of schoolchildren, a literature that has hooks in both equal protection and the first amendment. The first amendment principles developed in this literature provide the missing link to explain the constitutional flaw in sex stereotyping at school. The result is an endorsement standard, based on a blending of equal protection and first amendment doctrine. Public school students should not be inculcated in values whose entrenchment by government is contrary to constitutional principles.