Monica Biernat
Biographic Data
| ID | 118409 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Monica Biernat |
| GIVEN NAMES | Monica |
| FAMILY NAME | Biernat |
| SIGNATURE | BIERNAT M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Kansas |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9475-250X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 74 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 866 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 74 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1989 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 16 |
Experienced invisibility and well-being among people with multiple-stigmatized identities
Effects of name learning and name use on interethnic perceptions
Names are important aspects of identity, but when they are perceived as difficult to pronounce or “foreign,” they may trigger discriminatory responses. Rather than engaging in name “whitening” as a solution, we advocate placing the onus on others to learn to pronounce names of ethnic minority group members. In one study with White American college students, we examine the effects of a name learning intervention on communications to and perception…
The gender gap in the care economy is larger in highly developed countries: Sociocultural explanations for paradoxical findings
Despite the growing demand for care economy employees (e.g., nurses, teachers, and social workers), men remain underrepresented in these careers. While economically developed countries support more equal rights for women and men, their labor markets are highly gender segregated (Charles, 1992, 2003). We conducted a focused investigation of this paradoxical pattern in the care economy, testing whether gender gaps in care economy career interest ar…
Perceptions of Harm and Benefit Predict Judgments of Cultural Appropriation
What factors underlie judgments of cultural appropriation? In two studies, participants read 157 scenarios involving actors using cultural products or elements of racial/ethnic groups to which they did not belong. Participants evaluated scenarios on seven dimensions (perceived cultural appropriation, harm to the community from which the cultural object originated, racism, profit to actors, extent to which cultural objects represent a source of pr…
Assessing the Impact of Media on Blaming the Victim of Acquaintance Rape
Along with the direct trauma of their experience, many rape victims also suffer secondary victimization due to the tendency of others to blame victims for their assault, particularly in cases of acquaintance rape. We explored the role of news media coverage in promoting victim blaming tendencies. In Study 1, a content analysis of articles reporting sexual assaults from two newspapers revealed a tendency for media to overreport stranger rapes and …
Shifting Standards of Sexuality: An Intersectional Account of Men’s Objectification of Black and White Women
To what extent do men objectify and dehumanize Black and White women based on shifting standards of sexuality? Across five experimental studies (2 pre-registered; N = 702), White (Studies 1-4a) and Black (Study 4b) American heterosexual men evaluated a series of images of Black and White women who were either fully- or scantily-clothed, and provided ratings of sexual objectification, animalistic dehumanization, and perceived appropriateness of th…
Sociocultural engagement in a colorblind racism framework moderates perceptions of cultural appropriation
Cultural appropriation refers to an action whereby an individual makes use of, imitates, or takes possession of cultural products of an outgroup or source community. Compared to Black Americans, many White Americans do not differentiate between high (i.e., White) and low (i.e., Black) status actors when making judgments of cultural appropriation (Mosley & Biernat, 2021). The goal of the current research is to assess why some individuals exhibit a…
Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries
Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender‐based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental‐leave intentions in young adults (18–30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental‐leave policies and…
Status of immigrants’ country of origin and Americans’ assimilation expectations
2,246). Using 60 countries/areas as targets, Study 1 showed that perceived country status negatively predicted assimilation expectations for immigrants from that country. In Studies 2 through 3, participants were exposed to a news article which emphasized China's shortcomings, achievements, or status-irrelevant attributes. In Studies 4 through 7, including one preregistered study, participants were presented with a portrayal of a fictitious count…
Race, politics, and perceptions of anti-Black and anti-White discrimination over time
Race differences in perceptions of discrimination are well documented, but questions remain about contextual- and individual-difference moderators of when White and Black Americans see racial bias. We examined how temporal framing (focusing on past decades or not), race, political party, and domain of discrimination influence discrimination perceptions. Temporal framing did not moderate perceptions for White or Black participants (Study 1). Perce…
Verbal Disclosure and Mental Health Among Gay Latino and Gay White Men
We examined the relationship between verbal disclosure of sexual orientation and mental health among gay Latino and gay White men. In Study 1, we recruited 164 gay Latino ( n = 81) and gay White ( n = 83) men via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Participants completed measures assessing the degree to which they verbally disclosed their gay identity to others, as well as their depression and anxiety symptoms. Increased verbal disclosure predicted…
The new identity theft: Perceptions of cultural appropriation in intergroup contexts
Cultural appropriation has been described and discussed within academic and everyday discourse, but little research has examined its role in the psychological context of intergroup relations. We sought to examine whether minority and majority group members (i.e., Black and White Americans) would differentially judge instances of cultural exchange as cultural appropriation. Five experiments (3 were preregistered on OSF) using a variety of potentia…
More than the Sum of Its Parts: Intersections of Sexual Orientation and Race as They Influence Perceptions of Group Similarity and Stereotype Content
Mammal functional diversity and habitat heterogeneity: Implications for hominin habitat reconstruction
On the strength of ties that bind: Measuring the strength of norms in romantic relationships
In seven studies ( ncross-sectional = 1,699, nlongitudinal = 118), we developed a measure of relationship norm strength defined as qualities that make the rules and expectations in romantic couples more or less likely to be followed. In our six cross-sectional samples, the resulting Relationship Norm Strength Questionnaire (RNSQ) yielded consistent norm tractability, norm agreement, anticipated punishment for deviance, and norm explicitness facto…
Blaming the Victim of Acquaintance Rape: Individual, Situational, and Sociocultural Factors
Victims of rape are uniquely vulnerable for being blamed for their assault relative to victims of other interpersonal crimes and thus much research has been conducted to understand why this is the case. But the study of victim blaming in acquaintance rape cases is hindered by contradictory empirical results. Early investigations in victim blaming often treated acquaintance rapes and stranger rapes as synonymous and thus much of these data are sus…
Your Name Is Your Lifesaver: Anglicization of Names and Moral Dilemmas in a Trilogy of Transportation Accidents
Can immigrants’ names determine whether they receive help or not? Drawing on a partial in-group membership framework, we adapted intergroup versions of moral dilemmas (a trilogy of transportation accidents) to test how Anglicizing ethnic names affects intergroup decision-making in hypothetical life-and-death situations. Study 1 showed that White American participants were equally likely to help White and Asian immigrants with Anglicized names but…
Live music, bats, BBQ, and science: The 2018 Paleoanthropology Society meetings
I Have Two Names, Xian and Alex: Psychological Correlates of Adopting Anglo Names
The practice of adopting Anglo names among ethnic minorities and foreign individuals may be intended to smooth interactions with majority group members, but it may also have negative implications for minorities themselves. Two studies investigated the associations among adoption of Anglo names, self-esteem, and other psychological outcomes. Chinese college students studying in the United States completed a battery of questions regarding adoption …
The impact of power and powerlessness on blaming the victim of sexual assault
Sexual assault is often described as motivated by power, yet there is relatively little experimental research investigating the effect of power (and powerlessness) on interpretations of a sexual assault. Two studies manipulated participants’ feelings of power prior to a thought-listing task about sexual assault victims (Study 1) or an evaluation of a case of sexual assault (Study 2). Among men, feelings of powerlessness led to reduced victim blam…
The Academic Conference as a Chilly Climate for Women: Effects of Gender Representation on Experiences of Sexism, Coping Responses, and Career Intentions
Welcome to the U.S.” but “change your name”? Adopting Anglo names and discrimination
Coming out” among gay Latino and gay White men: Implications of verbal disclosure for well-being
We examined how verbal disclosure affects subjective well-being among gay Latino and White men. In Study 1, increased gay identification predicted increased verbal disclosure for gay White men but not for gay Latino men, who reported verbal disclosure levels in line with a tacit coming out strategy (expressing one’s sexual orientation to others more non-verbally) regardless of their gay identification. Moreover, low verbal disclosure hindered sub…
Invisibility of Black women: Drawing attention to individuality
We examine nonprototypicality as an antecedent to invisibility ( lack of individuation) of Black women. Study 1 varied numerical representation of Black women within the group “women” to be low/equal to White women, and Study 2 varied the trait overlap of Black women to be low/high relative to White women and/or Black men. Invisibility was measured by a face recognition task. Rather than invisibility being reduced under conditions of equal numeri…
Effects of dyadic communication on race-based impressions and memory
In an experimental study, we examined the effects of dyadic communication and implicit racial attitudes on impressions formed of Black versus White individuals. Participants viewed a graduate application of a student depicted as a Black or White male and then had a conversation about the applicant with another student (or not) before individually rendering judgments of him. Subjective impressions were more favorable for the Black than White appli…
Prototypes of race and gender: The invisibility of Black women
Gender- and race-based standards of competence: Lower minimum standards but higher ability standards for devalued groups
Yarkin, Town, & Wallston
Toward a Broader View of Social Stereotyping
Stereotyping effects are typically considered to be assimilative in nature: A member of a group stereotyped as having some attribute is judged to have more of that attribute than a member of some comparison group. This article highlights the fact that stereotyping effects can also occur in the direction of contrast--or even null effects-- depending on the nature and form of the outcome being assessed (from the researcher's perspective, the depend…
Shifting standards and stereotype-based judgments
Four studies tested a model of stereotype-based shifts in judgment standards developed by M. Biernat, M. Manis, and T. E. Nelson (1991). The model suggests that subjective judgments of target persons from different social groups may fail to reveal the stereotyped expectations of judges, because they invite the use of different evaluative standards; more "objective" or common rule indicators reduce such standard shifts. The stereotypes that men ar…
Violating American Values: A “Value Congruence” Approach to Understanding Outgroup Attitudes
Stereotypes and standards of judgment
People routinely adjust their subjective judgment standards as they evaluate members of stereotyped social groups. Such shifts are less likely to occur, however, when judgments are made on stable, «objective» response scales. In 3 studies, subjects judged a series of targets with respect to a number of gender-relevant attributes (e.g., height, weight, and income), using either subjective (Likert-type) or objective response scales (e.g., inches, p…
Decoding Subjective Evaluations: How Stereotypes Provide Shifting Standards
Mothers and Fathers in the Workplace: How Gender and Parental Status Influence Judgments of Job‐Related Competence
We investigated the influence of gender and parental status on employment decisions. The shifting standards model predicts that parenthood polarizes judgments of women and men such that mothers are held to stricter employment standards than fathers. Social role theory predicts that parenting role, rather than gender, guides judgments of mothers and fathers. One hundred ninety‐six undergraduates at two universities evaluated a job applicant; the a…
Sharing of home responsibilities between professionally employed women and their husbands
A sample of 139 married couples with young children and with relatively equal status careers (wives were university professors or businesswomen) were interviewed about work and home life. Considerable, traditional inequity in the distribution of child-care tasks and chore responsibility was noted, but women were generally satisfied with their husbands' home involvement. In the academic sample, the longer hours each spouse worked, the more child c…
Derogating black sheep: Individual or group protection
Categorization and Stereotyping: Effects of Group Context on Memory and Social Judgment
Shifting Standards and the Evaluation of Competence: Complexity in Gender‐Based Judgment and Decision Making
Gender stereotypes regarding task competence may lead perceivers to set different standards for diagnosing competence in women versus men. Specifically, stereotypes may prompt lower minimum standards (or initial screening criteria) but higher confirmatory standards for women than men (Biernat & Kobrynowicz, 1997). In two studies simulating hiring decisions, predictions were that women would be (1) more likely than men to make a short list for a j…
The Academic Conference as a Chilly Climate for Women: Effects of Gender Representation on Experiences of Sexism, Coping Responses, and Career Intentions
Selective self-stereotyping
The Maternal Wall
Although the economic and social position of women has improved considerably in the last decades, some gendered expectations and roles have proved remarkably resilient. Increasingly, the gender gap in compensation has become an issue of “mother” versus “other,” as, for example, working mothers earn 60% of what working fathers earn. Conservatives tend to frame the gender imbalance in terms of women's choices; but feminists, including those in this…
Remembering the real me: Nostalgia offers a window to the intrinsic self
Seven studies reveal that nostalgia, a sentimental affection for the past, offers a window to the intrinsic self-concept-who people think they truly are. In Study 1, state nostalgia was associated with higher authenticity and lower extrinsic self-focus (concern with meeting extrinsic value standards). In Study 2, experimentally primed nostalgia increased perceived authenticity of the past self, which in turn predicted reduced current extrinsic se…
Welcome to the U.S.” but “change your name”? Adopting Anglo names and discrimination
Comparison and expectancy processes in human judgment
This work explored a judgment model proposed by Manis and Paskewitz (1984a). The model suggests that prior experience with the members of a given category affects the assessment of other category members in 2 ways: (a) by providing a basis for comparison and (b) by leading the judge to expect that new exemplars will resemble those previously encountered. In 4 experiments, respondents judged the height of different people on the basis of full-leng…
Evaluating the contributions of members of mixed-sex work teams: Race and gender matter
More than the Sum of Its Parts: Intersections of Sexual Orientation and Race as They Influence Perceptions of Group Similarity and Stereotype Content
Stress, Social Support, and Health in Married Professional Women with Small Children
Two hundred married professional women with small children were surveyed to investigate what types of occupational and role-conflict stresses are associated with physical and depressive symptoms, and whether social support could protect individuals from the negative health effects of stress. Six stress indices predicted physical and depressive symptoms, both concurrently and 1 year later. These stresses reflected perceptions of lack of authority …
Gender stereotypes and the relationship between masculinity and femininity: A developmental analysis
This study investigated developmental shifts in (a) the use of global gender stereotypes (base rates) and individuating gender-relevant information when making social judgments and (b) the perceived association between masculinity and femininity. Interviews/surveys of kindergartners, 3rd graders, 7th graders, 10th graders, and college students (N = 491) were conducted, in which Ss were presented with descriptions of boys or girls with stereotypic…
Women with Multiple Roles: Role-Compatibility Perceptions, Satisfaction, and Mental Health
Invisibility of Black women: Drawing attention to individuality
We examine nonprototypicality as an antecedent to invisibility ( lack of individuation) of Black women. Study 1 varied numerical representation of Black women within the group “women” to be low/equal to White women, and Study 2 varied the trait overlap of Black women to be low/high relative to White women and/or Black men. Invisibility was measured by a face recognition task. Rather than invisibility being reduced under conditions of equal numeri…
Gender Bias or Motherhood Disadvantage? Judgments of Blue Collar Mothers and Fathers in the Workplace
Motives and Values to Achieve: Different Constructs With Different Effects
Motives to achieve and values associated with achievement were conceptualized as distinct and independent personality constructs, one nonconscious, the other conscious, each predictive of a different type of achievement‐related behavior It was hypothesized that ( a ) motive and value measures would be uncorrelated, ( b ) motives would predict “operant” or spontaneous behaviors while values would predict “respondent” or stimulus‐driven behaviors, …
Everyday base rates (sex stereotypes): Potent and resilient
Women with Multiple Roles: Role-Compatibility Perceptions, Satisfaction, and Mental Health
Stress, Social Support, and Health in Married Professional Women with Small Children
Two hundred married professional women with small children were surveyed to investigate what types of occupational and role-conflict stresses are associated with physical and depressive symptoms, and whether social support could protect individuals from the negative health effects of stress. Six stress indices predicted physical and depressive symptoms, both concurrently and 1 year later. These stresses reflected perceptions of lack of authority …
A multicomponent, developmental analysis of sex typing
Comparison and expectancy processes in human judgment
This work explored a judgment model proposed by Manis and Paskewitz (1984a). The model suggests that prior experience with the members of a given category affects the assessment of other category members in 2 ways: (a) by providing a basis for comparison and (b) by leading the judge to expect that new exemplars will resemble those previously encountered. In 4 experiments, respondents judged the height of different people on the basis of full-leng…
Gender stereotypes and the relationship between masculinity and femininity: A developmental analysis
This study investigated developmental shifts in (a) the use of global gender stereotypes (base rates) and individuating gender-relevant information when making social judgments and (b) the perceived association between masculinity and femininity. Interviews/surveys of kindergartners, 3rd graders, 7th graders, 10th graders, and college students (N = 491) were conducted, in which Ss were presented with descriptions of boys or girls with stereotypic…
Sharing of home responsibilities between professionally employed women and their husbands
A sample of 139 married couples with young children and with relatively equal status careers (wives were university professors or businesswomen) were interviewed about work and home life. Considerable, traditional inequity in the distribution of child-care tasks and chore responsibility was noted, but women were generally satisfied with their husbands' home involvement. In the academic sample, the longer hours each spouse worked, the more child c…
Stereotypes and standards of judgment
People routinely adjust their subjective judgment standards as they evaluate members of stereotyped social groups. Such shifts are less likely to occur, however, when judgments are made on stable, «objective» response scales. In 3 studies, subjects judged a series of targets with respect to a number of gender-relevant attributes (e.g., height, weight, and income), using either subjective (Likert-type) or objective response scales (e.g., inches, p…
Gender and height: Developmental patterns in knowledge and use of an accurate stereotype
Categorization and Stereotyping: Effects of Group Context on Memory and Social Judgment
Stereotyping and contact with social groups: Measurement and conceptual issues
In an attempt to understand and integrate various meanings of the stereotype concept, we conducted a longitudinal study in which we measured subjects' stereotypes of various target groups using multiple measurement techniques: trait ascription (Likert scales), group differentiation (diagnostic‐ratio), and deviation from group consensus. The measures were compared with regard to (I) their sensitivity to variations over time and to expected differe…
Still Another Look at the Effects of Fit and Novelty on the Salience of Social Categories
Shifting standards and stereotype-based judgments
Four studies tested a model of stereotype-based shifts in judgment standards developed by M. Biernat, M. Manis, and T. E. Nelson (1991). The model suggests that subjective judgments of target persons from different social groups may fail to reveal the stereotyped expectations of judges, because they invite the use of different evaluative standards; more "objective" or common rule indicators reduce such standard shifts. The stereotypes that men ar…
Creating stereotypes and capturing their content
In two studies, attributes of target groups were manipulated and then stereotypes of those groups were assessed using multiple measurement techniques. A variety of trait ascription (e.g. Likert-type scales) and perceived variability (probability of differentiation, standard deviation) indexes were used. The measures were compared with regard to their sensitivity to experimentally created differences between the social groups. The data suggested t…
Violating American Values: A “Value Congruence” Approach to Understanding Outgroup Attitudes
Selective self-stereotyping
Simultaneous assimilation and contrast effects in judgments of self and others
Judgments of self and referent others tend to be positively related, as evident in the false consensus effect, but others may also be contrasted from the self, as noted in the false uniqueness literature. In 3 studies that examined the domains of attitudes and traits, evidence of both assimilative and contrastive associations between self- and other-judgements were noted, depending on the form of judgment (objective vs. subjective) and the releva…
Decoding Subjective Evaluations: How Stereotypes Provide Shifting Standards
Gender- and race-based standards of competence: Lower minimum standards but higher ability standards for devalued groups
Yarkin, Town, & Wallston
All that you can be: Stereotyping of self and others in a military context
The authors tested the shifting standards model (M. Biernat, M. Manis, & T. E. Nelson, 1991) as it applies to sex- and race-based stereotyping of self and others in the military. U. S. Army officers attending a leadership training course made judgments of their own and their groupmates' leadership competence at 3 time points over a 9-week period. We examined the effects of officer sex and race on both subjective (rating) and objective/common-rule…
Black sheep and expectancy violation: Integrating two models of social judgment
A study of race-based ingroup and outgroup judgment demonstrates the links between two models of social judgment—the ‘black sheep’ effect (Marques, Yzerbyt & Leyens, 1988) and expectancy-violation theory (Jussim, Coleman & Lerch, 1987). White participants had a live interaction with a Black or White partner who contributed to a team success or failure at a game. Partner judgments, perceived expectancy violation, and mood changes indicated a patte…
When stereotype-based expectancies impair performance: The effect of prejudice, race, and target quality on judgments and perceiver performance
High- and low-prejudiced participants were presented with a lecture segment in which the race of the professor (White or Black) and lecture quality (high or low) were manipulated. Consistent with predictions, low-prejudiced participants were more extreme in their evaluations (more negative) and performed more poorly on test items when presented with an expectancy-violating low-quality Black lecturer. High-prejudiced participants were more extreme…
When stereotype‐based expectancies impair performance: The effect of prejudice, race, and target quality on judgments and perceiver performance
Defining Discrimination in the Personal/Group Discrimination Discrepancy
Psychology (71 works) · Social Psychology (67 works) · Social Psychology (48 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (42 works) · Developmental psychology (26 works) · Perception (24 works) · Gender Diversity and Inequality (22 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (19 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Gender Studies (15 works)