Social Psychology Brown Bag:

Ariana

Title: Unbalanced Expectations? Examining Graduate Students of Color’s Mentorship Expectations for Faculty of Color vs. White Faculty

Abstract:
According to previous work, faculty of color report that students of color expect them to provide greater support and understanding of their concerns given their shared identities, compared to White faculty. My work examines these possible unbalanced expectations from the graduate students’ perspective. First, in a qualitative study, I examine which types of mentorship expectations are most important to graduate students (e.g., research, professional, socioemotional support, respect). In a second, correlational study I investigate whether graduate students of color report higher mentorship expectations for faculty advisors of color than White faculty advisors. Furthermore, this study examines whether these unbalanced expectations could be explained by the student’s perception that an advisor of color is more understanding of their situation and specific needs as a person of color in academia (i.e., perceived race-based empathy).

Desiree

Title: Assessing Perceptions of Leaders Who Use Anger in the Workplace: An Intersectional Approach

Abstract:
In 2019, Women in the Workplace (the largest study of the state of women in cooperate America) reported that for every 100 entry-level men that are promoted to managerial positions, only 58 Black women are promoted. Why might this be the case? Standards for men in the workplace are very different than standards for women in the workplace. Past research demonstrates that women leaders who use anger in the workplace are penalized more than men leaders who use anger in the workplace. This might be because women are stereotyped and expected to show emotions like happiness, fear, and sympathy. Concurrently, men are stereotyped and believed to express emotions like anger and pride. Further, women leaders who demonstrate stereotype inconsistent behaviors are penalized professionally. What’s interesting however, is when we intersect gender and race, differing stereotypes about women and emotionality emerge. The Angry Black Woman (ABW) stereotypes characterizes Black women as being angry aggressive, unfeminine, and attitudinal. The intersection of race with gender presents a stereotype that directly contrasts stereotypes and beliefs about women’s emotions overall. If being angry is stereotype consistent with Black women, as it is with men, then we might expect Black women leaders to not be penalized for expressing anger in the workplace, as are men. In our work, we asked whether professional evaluations of leaders who use anger in the workplace depend on (1) the gender of the evaluator, (2) the gender of the leader, and/or (3) the race of the leader. White participants (N = 183) read a fake transcript in which a leader describes an interaction with an employee. In the interaction, the leader expressed anger or sympathy. The researchers manipulated the race and gender of the leader. Participants made professional evaluations of the leader. Overall, white men and white women participants rated White leaders similarly professionally regardless of the emotion expressed. However, for Black leaders, White women rated Black women leaders higher professionally than Black men leaders regardless of the emotion expressed. Additionally, White men rated Black men leaders higher professionally than Black women leaders regardless of the emotion expressed. These findings suggest that the perceiver gender impacts impression formation/maintenance of leaders in the workplace.