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Browsing by Author "Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie"
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Item Ally motivation to confront prejudice: understanding how a sense of emergency and responsibility influence the likelihood of confrontation for pitied groups versus envied groups(2018-07) Teets, LeClaire Marie; Ashburn-Nardo, LeslieResearch indicates that stereotypes influence how people behave towards different social groups, and this study investigated how allies (individuals who will confront prejudice on behalf of targets or groups) differentially confront a discriminatory comment as a function of the groups’ associated stereotypes. The Confronting Prejudiced Responses (CPR) model would suggest that when someone feels an increase in a sense of emergency and a sense of responsibility to address discrimination, they will be more likely to confront that discrimination. Results indicate that although the group that was being discriminated against did not influence whether or not the participant would confront, the higher sense of emergency and sense of responsibility were indicators of a stronger likelihood of confrontation. Limitations and future directions are discussed.Item Are Black, Male Leaders Expected to Help Other Black Americans in the Workplace?(2024-08) Yan, Sisley; Williams, Jane; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Derricks, VeronicaExperimental vignette methodology was utilized to investigate the relationships between leader group prototypicality, identity denial, and three leader outcomes (i.e., charisma, trust, and endorsement). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: general advocacy (control), ingroup advocacy, and ingroup anti-advocacy. We hypothesized that a Black, male target displaying ingroup advocacy behaviors would be perceived most favorably while a Black, male target displaying ingroup anti-advocacy behaviors would be perceived most poorly. Furthermore, we predicted that identity denial, measured via perceived racial identification, would serve as a mediator. Overall, we found support for our hypotheses, with the exception being that there were no significant differences in leader outcome ratings when comparing the general advocacy condition to the ingroup advocacy condition, even despite the significant mediation throughout all conditions. In summary, Black Americans on average do not expect a Black, male leader to help other Black employees, but he is expected to not devalue or trivialize his Black identity. Doing so would lead to identity denial and less positive evaluations. In contrast, standing in solidarity with the ingroup increases the leader’s perceived racial identification the most and this in turn helps to bolster leader outcomes. Although future research should test climate change as a valid control condition, our pattern of findings suggests that environmental sustainability should be a safe topic for a Black, male leader to advocate for if he wishes to remain more neutral on matters pertaining to race.Item Are leader-prototypical African Americans distrusted by their ingroup? The role of identity denial(2017) Cho, Thomas; Ashburn-Nardo, LeslieBlack representation in American business leadership ranks is not proportionate to America’s demographics. Previous research into this issue has mostly focused on the relationship between majority racial group and minority racial groups. However, research in identity denial and backlash shows that ingroup members may also play a negative role in undermining leadership efforts. African Americans may react negatively to a Black business leader because of the mismatch between negative stereotypes of African Americans and the positive prototype of a leader. The current study hypothesizes that resembling a business leader as an African American leads to negative reaction from other African Americans in the form of lowered trust, lowered endorsement as leader, and lowered intention to engage in organizational citizenship behavior. The current study also hypothesizes that participant’s ingroup identification level will act as a moderator, and that perceived racial identification will act as a mediator. To test the hypotheses, participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk were randomly assigned to either the strong match to leader prototype condition, weak match condition, or control condition in which no information about leader prototype was provided. The results revealed a simple main effect in which strongly matching the leader prototype led to lower levels of the outcome variables. The current study brings attention to an area of research that should be further explored and suggests that organizations should create interventions to counteract this negative ingroup effect.Item Assessing the Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Reducing Schema-enmeshment in Fibromyalgia Syndrome(2014-09-04) Steiner, Jennifer Leah; Hirsh, Adam; Bigatti, Silvia M.; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Stewart, Jesse C.; Grahame, Nicholas J.The presence of a chronic pain condition can have a profound impact on one’s self-concept. Some individuals may have had to make major lifestyle changes. As a result, some people may start to define themselves in terms of their pain, such that their self-schema and pain-schemas become intertwined in a process termed schema-enmeshment. It is thought that schema-enmeshment is related to psychological distress making it a prime target for intervention. Little research has been conducted on interventions to reduce schema-enmeshment. Acceptance-based interventions may be especially appropriate in reducing schema-enmeshment or the connection between self and illness symptoms as these interventions tend to emphasize learning to live with pain and other symptoms and to work toward important life goals rather than continually fighting against the condition and allowing it to control their life. This study is a randomized trial comparing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to education about pain management in a sample of women with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS). The primary aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of ACT in reducing schema-enmeshment between self and pain, as well as enmeshment between self and other symptoms and FMS as a whole. In addition, this study also explored the role of pain acceptance, specifically activity engagement as a mediator of the relationship between treatment group membership and changes in schema-enmeshment. The data was analyzed as an intent-to-treat analysis using the “last measure carried forward” method. Results indicated that the ACT group reported statistically significant differences in self schema-enmeshment with FMS, fatigue, and cognitive symptoms, but not with pain, following the intervention, compared to the educational control group. In each of these cases, the ACT group experienced greater reductions in schema-enmeshment compared to the education group. Interestingly, no statistically significant differences were observed for schema-enmeshment with pain. Statistically significant group differences were also observed for acceptance of pain following the intervention. Finally, a mediational model in which changes in activity engagement (a form of pain acceptance) served as the mediator of the relationship between treatment group and changes in schema-enmeshment with FMS was tested. The model was tested using a bootstrapping method, and results revealed a trend toward a significant indirect effect of changes in activity engagement leading to changes in schema-enmeshment with FMS. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that ACT may be a promising intervention for targeting maladaptive beliefs about the self in relation to illness, especially schema-enmeshment of self with illness and illness symptoms. Additionally, there is evidence that ACT may target key constructs such as activity engagement, which may be related to other cognitive and behavioral changes. Future directions for research and clinical practice related to ACT as an intervention for FMS are discussed in depth.Item Attachment Avoidance and Depressive Symptoms: A Test of Moderation by Cognitive Abilities(2014-09-04) Shea, Amanda Marie; Rand, Kevin L.; Stewart, Jesse C.; Cyders, Melissa A.; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Grahame, Nicholas J.The substantial interpersonal and economic costs of depression make it imperative to better understand the predictors and moderators of depressive symptoms. The ability to use social support protects people from depressive symptoms, but individuals high in attachment avoidance tend not to use others as sources of support. Research has found that attachment avoidance is related to depressive symptoms in some samples but not in others (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007; Shea, 2011). Thus, there appear to be factors that moderate the relationship between attachment avoidance and depressive symptoms. The present study examined if cognitive abilities that facilitate effective emotion regulation strategies moderate the relationship between attachment avoidance and depressive symptoms. Using a sample of college students, attachment avoidance, cognitive abilities, depressive symptoms, and other indices of psychological distress and well-being were measured and examined for evidence of moderation via hierarchical linear regression. The hypothesis that cognitive abilities moderate the relationship between attachment avoidance and depressive symptoms was not supported (ΔR2 = 0.02, p = .68). Factors contributing to the null findings are discussed and conceptual and methodological suggestions are offered for future research.Item Being Pushed and Pulled in Different Directions: Examining People's Ambivalence Toward Transgender-Specific Policies(2024-12) Abdul Karim, Muhammad Fazuan; Williams, Jane; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Salyers, Michelle; Stockdale, Margaret (Peggy); Daniel, Jamie LevineObjectives: This work examines the dynamic relationships between people’s ambivalence and support for specific transgender policies, namely the bathroom bill and the transgender sports participation policy. Even though attitude ambivalence has been studied extensively in the social psychological research, our current understanding of this topic as it relates to attitudes toward transgender policies remains scant. Method: In Study 1, cisgender participants were surveyed about their values, ambivalence, likelihood of seeking new information, and attitudes toward transgender policies. In Study 2 and Study 3, cisgender participants were asked to report their ambivalence (distinguishing between potential and felt ambivalence), likelihood of seeking new information, and attitude toward the bathroom bill. In Study 4, cisgender participants were randomly assigned to reflect on either one-sided arguments or two-sided arguments of the transgender sports participation policy. Lastly, Study 5 investigated the extent to which cisgender participants’ endorsement of the transgender sports participation policy was a function of social norms. Results: Studies 1-3 revealed that there exist relationships among potential ambivalence, felt ambivalence, likelihood of seeking new information, and attitudes toward the bathroom bill, and these relationships were consistent with the extant literature. Study 4 demonstrated that when asked to reflect on both sides of the transgender sports participation policy, participants reported greater ambivalence than when they were asked to reflect on only one side of the policy arguments. Study 5 revealed that regardless of ambivalence levels, participants’ attitudes toward the transgender sports participation policy changed in accordance with social norms. Conclusion: This body of work allows us to understand the impact of attitudinal ambivalence in predicting support for specific transgender policies. The current work documents how ambivalence could be leveraged to mobilize support for transgender policies but may be less influential compared to social norms, especially in the context of bathroom bill and transgender sports participation policies.Item Belonging Uncertainty and Psychological Capital: An Investigation of Antecedents of the Leaky Pipeline in STEM(2012-08-07) Seaton, Gina A.; Williams, Jane R.; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Rand, Kevin L.Women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM), especially in higher levels. Researchers term this phenomenon "the leaky pipeline." While the issue is well-documented in the literature, little is known about its antecedents. The current study offers insight into factors that relate to career choice and contribute to the lack of diversity in STEM fields by investigating how sense of belonging and psychological capital (PsyCap) influence important psychological, academic, and career outcomes for women in these fields. Female undergraduate STEM majors were recruited for participation at two times during the fall academic semester (N=182 at time one, N=86 at time two) and data were analyzed using correlation and regression. Results provide support for the influence of both sense of belonging and PsyCap as important correlates of an individual's academic and career making decisions. Specifically, PsyCap mediated the relationship between belonging and well-being and belonging and career outcomes of engagement and participants' intentions to apply to graduate programs in an unrelated major. In addition, PsyCap moderated the relationship between sense of belonging and participants' intentions to switch majors and intentions to apply to graduate programs in a field unrelated to their current major. An increased understanding of the factors that contribute to the leaky pipeline in STEM will serve as a basis for developing further research questions and targeting interventions.Item Can Women Faculty Say No? The Gendered Expectation of Mentorship(2021-11) Hall, Deidre Yvonne; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Pietri, Evava; Williams, JaneWomen in academia tend to take on the caretaker role in their departments by fulfilling most of the less promotable service work like mentoring. The perceived fit between this service and the communal stereotype of women creates expectations that women should take on these roles, which can lead to backlash if women violate these expectations. This study investigates gendered expectations in academia by evaluating whether women faculty experience more backlash for declining a student’s mentorship request than their male counterparts. Participants read a profile of a faculty member (male or female) and an email exchange between that faculty member and a student requesting mentorship. The faculty member either declined or accepted the request and participants rated the faculty member on interpersonal measures. Results indicated that men and women faculty were both rated more negatively by students when they declined the request, suggesting that women can say no to mentoring without the burden of gendered backlash. Given that some predicted effects approached significance, it is important to understand other factors that may impact perceptions, including whether the reason for declining, field of study (i.e., STEM), and the gender of student may impact the extent of backlash. This work furthers our understanding of whether women faculty can say no to service and focus on more promotable tasks without hurting their reputations.Item Cognitive and task performance consequences for women who confront vs. fail to confront sexism(2014-07-31) Gorski, Kimberly M.; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Morris, Kathryn A.; Williams, Jane R.; Grahame, Nicholas J.Women who fail to confront sexism can experience negative intrapersonal consequences, such as greater negative self-directed affect (negself) and greater obsessive thoughts, particularly if they are highly committed to challenging sexism. Female undergraduates (N = 392) were sampled to investigate whether failing to confront past sexism influences future task performance and whether any effects on performance occur through the depletion of cognitive resources. Participants were randomly assigned to recall either confronting or failing to confront past sexism, then completed measures of affect, obsessive thoughts, working memory, and performance. Women who recalled failing to confront were expected to have greater negself and obsessive thoughts related to the situation and lower working memory and performance, and desire to respond to the situation was expected to moderate these effects. As predicted, compared with women who recalled confronting, women who recalled failing to confront reported greater negself. Contrary to predictions, there was no significant effect of confrontation condition on obsessive thoughts, working memory, or performance. However, condition interacted with desire to confront, such that the more women who recalled failing to confront wanted to respond to the situation, the more negself they reported and the lower their working memory. In addition, for women who recalled confronting, greater desire to respond was associated with higher performance, while desire to respond was unrelated to performance for women who recalled failing to confront. In contrast to predictions, neither obsessive thoughts nor working memory mediated the failure to confront-performance relationship, and there was no evidence of moderated mediation. In sum, although the cognitive variables of obsessive thoughts and working memory did not mediate the effect of failing to confront on performance, the results nevertheless demonstrate the importance of confronting sexism, particularly when one wants to do so, and have important implications for settings like the workplace where women may face discrimination and have to decide whether or not to confront.Item A Comparative Analysis of Hierarchical and Numerical Representation in Organizational Diversity Perceptions and Identity-Safety(2020-08) Lewis, Arielle N.; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Pietri, Evava S.; Williams, Jane R.A significant body of work has demonstrated the importance of diversity and representation in racial and ethnic minority jobseekers’ organizational judgments. While representation is often conceptualized as the general percentage or count of underrepresented minorities (URM) within an organization, a broader definition has been proposed that distinguishes this general or numerical representation from hierarchical representation which considers the placement of those URM employees within an organization. Although the separate effects of these two forms of representation have been evaluated, the present study extends on earlier work by considering the interactive effect. Additionally, the current research considered a potential mechanism to explain the influence of these forms of representation on URM’s organizational judgements. As expected, results showed that an organization depicting more URM employees (high numerical representation) and including Black leadership personnel (hierarchical representation) increased URM’s identity-safety relative to those which had low numerical representation and only White leadership. Moreover, and importantly, both representation effects could be explained indirectly via feelings of anticipated tokenism.