Participant Perceptions of Potential Employers

Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1993

Sexual harassment proclivities in both men and women were studied in 222 college students. They were administered the newly developed Sexual Harassment Proclivities Scale and their scores were compared with a large number of measures, including sex-role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, sexual conservatism, acceptance of interpersonal violence, rape myth acceptance, likelihood of rape, acceptance of feminism, empathetic concern, sexual activity, and sexual exploitation. Most of the results were statistically significant for both males and females, although correlations tended to be higher for males. A factor analysis of the Sexual Harassment Proclivities Scale yielded a one-factor solution for both men and women, supporting the view that the scale measures likelihood of sexual harassment.

Journal of Social Issues, 1995

, this model suggests that sexually harassing behavior may be predicted from an analysis of social situational and person factors. Sexual harassment is a behavior that some people do some of the time. The social norms in specific organizational settings may "permit" sexual harassment. Certain individuals may possess proclivities for sexual harassment. When individuals with a proclivity for sexual harassment are placed in social situations that permit or accept this sort of behavior, the behavior is most likely to occur. From a review of research relating social norms in organizational settings and sexual harassment incidence, women are found more likely to experience sexual harassment in workplaces where men perceive the social norms as permitting such behavior. Research on sexual harassment proclivities in men also is reviewed. A profile of men who are high in the likelihood to sexually harass (LSH) is developed through an examination of correlations between the LSH scale and ( I ) standard selj-report inventories, (2) social cognitive measures, and (3) social behaviors measured in laboratory settings. Possible applications of the Person X Situation analysis to direrent forms of sexual harassment are discussed. Social scientific research on sexual harassment is still in its infancy. The first generation of research on sexual harassment concentrated mainly upon ( 1) assessing interpretationldefinition issues (

Sex Roles, 1992

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in perceptions of two "severity dichotomies" present in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Guidelines on sexual harassment. Alale and female undergraduates (N = 198), from a predominately white midwestern university, were given one of four statements based on these guidelines, varying "form" (physical/verbal) and "consequence" (economic injury/hostile environment) of the behavior. Analysis of variance results showed females rated the incident as more definitely sexual harassment and as affecting perfonnance more than did males. Participants reading "economic injury" statements rated them as having more effect on the victim's job status than did those reading "hostile environment" statements. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant "consequence" and '~ex" effects on several factors: A significant three-way interaction showed that males rated statements less negatively than did females, especially when the statement described "physical" behavior with "hostile environment" consequences. Cluster analysis results are also presented.

Sex Roles, 1992

Social exchange theory was used to explain sexual harassment interactions in terms of perceived or actual inequities in incurred costs or rewards between targets and perpetrators. A factorial experiment was conducted in which the effects of severity of harassment, target response, target gender, and rater gender on perceptions of harassment, perpetrator appropriateness and target appropriateness and suggested responses to harassment were examined. Ninety-four male and 116 female students from two eastern universities served as subjects. The sample was approximately 90% Caucasian and was composed of traditional (18-22-year-old) undergraduates. Results indicated that all independent variables affected perceptions of and responses to sexual harassment situations.

Law and Human Behavior

A dual processing model of sexual harassment judgments predicted that the behavior of a complainant in a prior case would influence evaluations in an unrelated subsequent case. In the first of two experimental scenarios depicting social–sexual conduct at work, the female complainant's conduct was manipulated to be aggressive, submissive, ambiguous, or neutral. Half of the participants were asked to reflect upon the first scenario after reading it and before answering responsibility questions. The other half simply reviewed the scenario and answered the questions. When the complainant acted aggressively, her behavior in the first scenario caused men who reflected on the fact pattern to find less evidence of harassment. Most interestingly, an aggressive complainant observed in the first scenario caused participants (especially women) to rate lower the likelihood that a neutral complainant in a second independent case was the victim of gender discrimination. Across cases, men found...

Basic and Applied Social …, 1995

2007

Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2011

The present study distinguishes between bothersome versus frightening sexual harassment appraisals and examines their relative strength as mediators of the relationship of sexual harassment intensity and perpetrator status with psychological distress. Using a sample of 6,304 men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces, the results indicated that sexual harassment intensity and perpetrator status were related to psychological distress. For men, bothersome appraisals mediated this relationship for two of the three sexual harassment subtypes examined and for perpetrator status; for women, bothersome appraisal was not a significant mediator. Frightening appraisals mediated the relationship for all sexual harassment subtypes and perpetrator status for both men and women, and accounted for significantly more of the relationship between sexual harassment intensity and distress than did bothersome appraisals for most analyses. However, mediating relationships were significantly stronger for men than for women. We discuss the utility of a multidimensional conceptualization of sexual harassment appraisals.

ijhssnet.com

Sexual harassment is a phenomenon that has always been looked from a woman's perspective. Almost all earlier studies on sexual harassment look at the incidences of sexual harassment, the effects on victims and coping strategies for victims. There is a dire need to change our understanding of this issue. In order to obtain a more holistic view of this issue, there should be a paradigm shift where the focus should be on the perpetrators. As men are generally the perpetrators, it is hoped that an insight into background, thoughts, feelings, perceptions and attitude would help understand why this phenomenon does exist. A total of 900 male respondents were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The major finding of the study shows that men, regardless of his position and status, view sexual harassment as a sexual act, rather than a crime that affects the victims in many ways. Therefore, men are generally ignorant to the fact that their behaviour are subject to legal action.

Law and Human Behavior, 2004

A dual processing model of sexual harassment judgments predicted that the behavior of a complainant in a prior case would influence evaluations in an unrelated subsequent case. In the first of two experimental scenarios depicting social-sexual conduct at work, the female complainant's conduct was manipulated to be aggressive, submissive, ambiguous, or neutral. Half of the participants were asked to reflect upon the first scenario after reading it and before answering responsibility questions. The other half simply reviewed the scenario and answered the questions. When the complainant acted aggressively, her behavior in the first scenario caused men who reflected on the fact pattern to find less evidence of harassment. Most interestingly, an aggressive complainant observed in the first scenario caused participants (especially women) to rate lower the likelihood that a neutral complainant in a second independent case was the victim of gender discrimination. Across cases, men found less evidence of harassment than did women. KEY WORDS: prior behavior; harassment judgments.