Date of Award

Spring 5-10-2025

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Open-Access Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Committee Advisor

Shannon McCoy

Second Committee Member

Jordan LaBouff

Third Committee Member

Jennifer Blossom

Additional Committee Members

Patricia Goodhines

Rebecca Schwartz-Mette

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three experimental studies investigating how chosen confrontation approach and demographic variables of confronters influence women bystanders’ perceptions of dyad members in a sexism confrontation interaction. In Study 1, we investigated how confrontation approach (HATE or CARE) and confronter race/ethnicity influence college-aged women’s perceptions of confronters, perpetrators, and the effectiveness and success of a confrontation in target confrontation interactions. In Study 2, we explored how confronter race/ethnicity influences the previously stated variables when an ambiguous confrontation approach was used. In Study 3, we replicated the design from Study 1 in an ally confrontation interaction. Results from the three studies suggest CARE confrontation approaches can help confronters mitigate negative evaluations from women bystanders and are a good confrontation tactic for target and ally confronters looking to reduce the interpersonal costs of confronting. Furthermore, the studies suggest that confronter race/ethnicity has little influence on bystanders’ perceptions of confronters, perpetrators, and the confrontation itself. In overtly sexist situations, when an obvious confrontation approach is used, ally and target CARE confronters experienced less backlash than HATE confronters, regardless of racial/ethnic identity (Study 1 and Study 3).

The results underscore the potential benefits of adopting CARE strategies to mitigate the interpersonal costs associated with confronting prejudice and highlight the importance of adopting intersectional approaches in research to glean information regarding the boundary conditions associated with the costs of confronting prejudice. Perceived interpersonal costs commonly act as a barrier to confronting prejudice (Ashburn-Nardo & Karim, 2019; Barreto & Ellemers, 2015; Becker & Barreto, 2019; Czopp, 2019; Swim & Hyers, 1999), knowing how to reduce those costs can encourage more people to confront prejudice when they witness it. Thus, future research should explore ambiguous forms of sexism to better understand what, if any, demographic identities unrelated to the identity the prejudice targets influence potential costs to would-be-confronters.

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