Publications by year
In Press
van Breen J, Goclowska MA, de Lemus S, Baas M, Kelleci B, Spears R (In Press). Creativity for the Group: Distinctive Feminists engage in Divergent Thinking when Acting on Behalf of Women.
Social Psychological and Personality Science Full text.
Ciftci E, Barreto M, Doyle D, van Breen J, Darden S (In Press). Distancing or drawing together: Sexism and organizational tolerance of sexism impact women’s social relationships at work. European Journal of Social Psychology
2018
van Breen JA, De Dreu CKW, Kret ME (2018). Pupil to pupil: the effect of a partner's pupil size on (dis)honest behavior.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,
74, 231-245.
Abstract:
Pupil to pupil: the effect of a partner's pupil size on (dis)honest behavior
© 2017 Being observed by others fosters honest behavior. In this study, we examine a very subtle eye signal that may affect participants' tendency to behave honestly: observed pupil size. For this, we use an experimental task that is known to evoke dishonest behavior. Specifically, participants made private predictions for a coin toss and earned a bonus by reporting correct predictions. Before reporting the (in)correctness of their predictions, participants viewed videos of partners with dilating or constricting pupils. As dilating pupils are generally perceived positively, we expected that dishonesty would be reduced when participants look into the eyes of a partner with dilating pupils, especially when their own pupil size mimics the observed pupil size. In line with this prediction, Experiments 1 and 2 showed that, when earning a bonus meant harming the interaction partner, dishonesty occurred less frequently when the partner's pupils dilated rather than constricted. That is, when the interests of the self and the other conflict, participants use the pupil of the partner as a social cue to inform their behavior. However, pupil mimicry was not observed. In Experiment 3, we examined pupil mimicry and dishonesty in a context where there was no temptation to hurt the partner. Here, pupil mimicry between partners was observed, but there were no effects of the partner's pupil on dishonesty. Thus, when dishonesty harms the interaction partner, participants use pupillary cues from their partner to inform their behavior. Pupil mimicry, however, is bound to non-competitive contexts only.
Abstract.
van Breen JA, Spears R, Kuppens T, de Lemus S (2018). Subliminal Gender Stereotypes: Who can Resist?.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1-16.
Abstract:
Subliminal Gender Stereotypes: Who can Resist?
We examine women’s responses to subliminal gender stereotypes, that is, stereotypes present outside conscious awareness.
Previous research suggests that subtle stereotypes elicit acceptance and assimilation, but we predict that subliminal exposure
to gender stereotypes will trigger resistance in some women. Specifically, we expect resistance to occur among women who
are relatively strongly identified with feminists, but not with the broader group of women. We predict that resistance takes
the form of persistence in stereotypically masculine domains and (implicit) in-group bias. Indeed, we found that subliminal
exposure to stereotypes (vs. counter-stereotypes) led women who identify relatively strongly with feminists, but less strongly
with women, to (a) persist in a math task, (b) show increased willingness to sacrifice men in a Moral Choice Dilemma task,
and (c) show implicit in-group bias on an evaluative priming task. This evidence of resistance suggests that members of
devalued groups are more resilient than previously thought.
Abstract.
2017
van Breen JA, Spears R, Kuppens T, de Lemus S (2017). A multiple identity approach to gender: Identification with women, identification with feminists, and their interaction.
Frontiers in Psychology,
8(JUN).
Abstract:
A multiple identity approach to gender: Identification with women, identification with feminists, and their interaction
© 2017 van Breen, Spears, Kuppens and de Lemus. Across four studies, we examine multiple identities in the context of gender and propose that women's attitudes toward gender group membership are governed by two largely orthogonal dimensions of gender identity: identification with women and identification with feminists. We argue that identification with women reflects attitudes toward the content society gives to group membership: what does it mean to be a woman in terms of group characteristics, interests and values? Identification with feminists, on the other hand, is a politicized identity dimension reflecting attitudes toward the social position of the group: what does it mean to be a woman in terms of disadvantage, inequality, and relative status? We examine the utility of this multiple identity approach in four studies. Study 1 showed that identification with women reflects attitudes toward group characteristics, such as femininity and self-stereotyping, while identification with feminists reflects attitudes toward the group's social position, such as perceived sexism. The two dimensions are shown to be largely independent, and as such provide support for the multiple identity approach. In Studies 2-4, we examine the utility of this multiple identity approach in predicting qualitative differences in gender attitudes. Results show that specific combinations of identification with women and feminists predicted attitudes toward collective action and gender stereotypes. Higher identification with feminists led to endorsement of radical collective action (Study 2) and critical attitudes toward gender stereotypes (Studies 3-4), especially at lower levels of identification with women. The different combinations of high vs. low identification with women and feminists can be thought of as reflecting four theoretical identity "types." a woman can be (1) strongly identified with neither women nor feminists ("low identifier"), (2) strongly identified with women but less so with feminists ("traditional identifier"), (3) strongly identified with both women and feminists ("dual identifier"), or (4) strongly identified with feminists but less so with women ("distinctive feminist"). In sum, by considering identification with women and identification with feminists as multiple identities we aim to show how the multiple identity approach predicts distinct attitudes to gender issues and offer a new perspective on gender identity.
Abstract.
Full text.
Leicht C, Goclowska MA, Van Breen JA, de Lemus S, de Moura GR (2017). Counter-stereotypes and feminism promote leadership aspirations in highly identified women.
Frontiers in Psychology,
8(JUN).
Abstract:
Counter-stereotypes and feminism promote leadership aspirations in highly identified women
© 2017 Leicht, Goclowska, Van Breen, de Lemus and Randsley de Moura. lthough women who highly identify with other women are more susceptible to stereotype threat effects, women's identification might associate with greater leadership aspirations contingent on (1) counter-stereotype salience and (2) feminist identification. When gender counter-stereotypes are salient, women's identification should associate with greater leadership aspiration regardless of feminism, while when gender stereotypes are salient, women's identification would predict greater leadership aspirations contingent on a high level of feminist identification. In our study US-based women (N = 208) attended to gender stereotypic (vs. counter-stereotypic) content. We measured identification with women and identification with feminism, and, following the manipulation, leadership aspirations in an imagined work scenario. The interaction between identification with women, identification with feminism, and attention to stereotypes (vs. counter-stereotypes) significantly predicted leadership aspirations. In the counter-stereotypic condition women's identification associated with greater leadership aspirations regardless of feminist identification. In the stereotypic condition women's identification predicted leadership aspirations only at high levels of feminist identification. We conclude that salient counter-stereotypes and a strong identification with feminism may help high women identifiers increase their leadership aspirations.
Abstract.
Full text.
2016
de Lemus Martin S, Spears R, van Breen JA, Telga M (2016). Coping with identity threats to group agency as well as group value: Explicit and implicit routes to resistance. In Bukowski M, Fritsche I, Kofta M, Guinote A (Eds.) Coping with Lack of Control in a Social World, Abingdon: Routledge, 151-169.
