Date of Award

Summer 2022

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Open-Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Advisor

Shannon McCoy

Second Committee Member

Jordan LaBouff

Third Committee Member

Mollie Ruben

Abstract

The present research sought to examine the effects of self-affirmation on women’s confrontation approaches following exposure to sexism. However, before examining the effects of self-affirmation, we needed a way to measure confrontation approaches. In Study 1, participants read either prototypical HATE or CARE confrontations and assessed the response. Researchers then conducted an exploratory factor analysis to create a novel scale that can assess approaches to confrontation. Study 1 also established the reliability of the HATE and CARE subscales (α = .956 and α = .929, respectively). Study 2 sought to establish the construct validity of the new measure. Study 2 implemented the same procedure as Study 1 and a confirmatory factor analysis revealed that while there is room to improve the new measure, the model fit is not necessarily bad. Finally, Study 3 explored the effects of self-affirmation on women’s confrontation approaches after exposure to sexism. After manipulating self-affirmation, women participated in an imagined scenario where they responded to a male colleague making sexist comments. We hypothesized that (1) self-affirmed women would directly confront the sexism less than non-affirmed women, (2) self-affirmed women would have lower HATE scores than non-affirmed women, (3) self-affirmed women would have higher CARE scores than non- affirmed women, (4) self-affirmed women would have lower perceived responsibly to confront compared to non-affirmed women, and (5) self-affirmed women would have lower negative state affect than non-affirmed women. Results of the statistical analyses supported Hypothesis 1. Implications for the findings of the three studies are discussed.

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