Colette Van Laar
Biographic Data
| ID | 1927741 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Colette Van Laar |
| GIVEN NAMES | Colette |
| FAMILY NAME | Van Laar |
| SIGNATURE | VAN LAAR C |
| AFFILIATIONS | KU Leuven |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 605 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Did Descriptive and Prescriptive Norms About Gender Equality at Home Change During the Covid-19 Pandemic? A Cross-National Investigation
Using data from 15 countries, this article investigates whether descriptive and prescriptive gender norms concerning housework and child care (domestic work) changed after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a total of 8,343 participants ( M = 19.95, SD = 1.68) from two comparable student samples suggest that descriptive norms about unpaid domestic work have been affected by the pandemic, with individuals seeing mothers’ relative to fa…
Does Culture Moderate Gender Stereotypes? Individualism Predicts Communal (but Not Agentic) Prescriptions for Men Across 62 Nations
The cultural moderation of gender stereotypes hypothesis argues that societies assign the most culturally valued traits to men, the dominant group. Thus, in line with cultural ideals, collectivistic societies should assign men more communality, whereas individualistic societies should assign men more individualism. Using archival data, Cuddy et al. found evidence for cultural moderation in descriptive stereotypes. We argue, however, that cultural…
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…
Through the eyes of my peers: Sharing perceptions of unequal treatment in ethno–racially diverse classrooms
We found consistent evidence of sharing minority perceptions, so that both majority and minority youth would see inequality through their minority peers' eyes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)
Gendered Self-Views Across 62 Countries: A Test of Competing Models
Social role theory posits that binary gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in less egalitarian countries, reflecting these countries’ more pronounced sex-based power divisions. Conversely, evolutionary and self-construal theorists suggest that gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in more egalitarian countries, reflecting the greater autonomy support and flexible self-construction processes present in these countrie…
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…
My future-self has (not) quit smoking: An experimental study into the effect of a future-self intervention on smoking-related self-identity constructs
Although the future-self intervention did not significantly influence smoking-related identity or behavior, identity-in particular, non-smoker self-identity-is important to consider in smoking cessation interventions. More research is needed to find effective operationalizations for identity-based interventions in the context of smoking
Daily Coping With Social Identity Threat in Outgroup-Dominated Contexts: Self-Group Distancing Among Female Soldiers
We examine the degree to which women in a male-dominated field cope with daily experiences of social identity threat by distancing themselves from other women. A daily experience-sampling study among female soldiers ( N = 345 data points nested in 61 participants) showed women to self-group distance more on days in which they experienced more identity threat. This was mediated by daily concerns about belonging but not achievement in the military,…
Psychometric Properties and Correlates of Precarious Manhood Beliefs in 62 Nations
Precarious manhood beliefs portray manhood, relative to womanhood, as a social status that is hard to earn, easy to lose, and proven via public action. Here, we present cross-cultural data on a brief measure of precarious manhood beliefs (the Precarious Manhood Beliefs scale [PMB]) that covaries meaningfully with other cross-culturally validated gender ideologies and with country-level indices of gender equality and human development. Using data …
To belong or not to belong: Protecting minority engagement in the face of discrimination
School belonging is pivotal in enabling sustained task engagement, yet minorities' belonging is contingent on the intergroup context. From a social identity approach, discrimination experiences elicit identity threat, undermining school belonging. Conversely, a positive diversity climate may shield belonging through protecting minority identities. This study addresses minority school belonging and task engagement from the interplay of identity th…
Identity processes in smokers who want to quit smoking: A longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis
The importance of identity in smoking cessation is increasingly becoming recognized by researchers. This study is the first in-depth longitudinal qualitative investigation of identity change processes among smokers who intend to quit. Participants' accounts of smoking, attempts to quit and sense of identity were explored over time to examine identity continuity and change. Ten smokers with a quit intention were interviewed three times, approximat…
Feeling Pressure to Be a Perfect Mother Relates to Parental Burnout and Career Ambitions
Background & aims. Intensive mothering norms prescribe women to be perfect mothers. Recent research has shown that women’s experiences of pressure towards perfect parenting are related to higher levels of guilt and stress. The current paper follows up on this research with two aims: First, we examine how mothers regulate pressure towards perfect mothering affectively, cognitively, and behaviorally, and how such regulation may relate to parental b…
The queen bee phenomenon: Why women leaders distance themselves from junior women
Socio-economic status in relation to smoking: The role of (expected and desired) social support and quitter identity
Extending the Queen Bee Effect: How Hindustani Workers Cope with Disadvantage by Distancing the Self from the Group
Previous research revealed that one way by which members of minority groups resist disadvantage is through strategic “self‐group distancing” by evaluating this group negatively, describing themselves according to outgroup stereotypes and supporting the status hierarchy, hereby limiting societal change. Drawing upon recent work on the Queen Bee phenomenon among women at work, we explain self‐group distancing as a coping response of low identified …
Ingroup and outgroup support for upward mobility: Divergent responses to ingroup identification in low status groups
Members of groups with low societal status can pursue individual upward mobility to improve their status. We examine the conditions under which ingroup and outgroup members are most inclined to support such upward mobility attempts. Whereas both ingroup and outgroup supports are important, there may be tension: dissociation from the low status group may lower ingroup support, whereas association with the low status group may lower outgroup suppor…
The role of prevention focus under stereotype threat: Initial cognitive mobilization is followed by depletion
Previous research has demonstrated that stereotype threat induces a prevention focus and impairs central executive functions. The present research examines how these 2 consequences of stereotype threat are related. The authors argue that the prevention focus is responsible for the effects of stereotype threat on executive functions and cognitive performance. However, because the prevention focus is adapted to deal with threatening situations, the…
Do sexist organizational cultures create the Queen Bee?
‘Queen Bees’ are senior women in masculine organizational cultures who have fulfilled their career aspirations by dissociating themselves from their gender while simultaneously contributing to the gender stereotyping of other women. It is often assumed that this phenomenon contributes to gender discrimination in organizations, and is inherent to the personalities of successful career women. We argue for a social identity explanation and examine o…
Gender-Bias Primes Elicit Queen-Bee Responses Among Senior Policewomen
Queen bees are senior women in male-dominated organizations who have achieved success by emphasizing how they differ from other women. Although the behavior of queen bees tends to be seen as contributing to gender disparities in career outcomes, we argue that queen-bee behavior is actually a result of the gender bias and social identity threat that produce gender disparities in career outcomes. In the experiment reported here, we asked separate g…
Cross‐ethnic friendships, perceived discrimination, and their effects on ethnic activism over time: A longitudinal investigation of three ethnic minority groups
This research examines cross-ethnic friendships as a predictor of perceived discrimination and support for ethnic activism over time among African American, Latino American, and Asian American undergraduate participants from a multi-year, longitudinal study conducted in the United States. Our research builds on prior cross-sectional research by testing effects longitudinally and examining how relationships among these variables may differ across …
Valuing Social Identity: Consequences for Motivation and Performance in Low-Status Groups
Presented is our perspective on the role of social identity in the motivation and performance of members of stigmatized groups (e.g., ethnic minorities, women in traditionally male-dominated fields). We discuss how stigmatized group members pursuing upward mobility face significant threats in out-group environments through the numerical dominance of the higher status out-group, the negative views held by the out-group of the low-status group, and…
The threat vs. challenge of car parking for women: How self- and group affirmation affect cardiovascular responses
This study examines cardiovascular responses indicating challenge (vs. threat) during motivated performance of women under social identity threat. Low gender identified women should primarily be concerned with their personal identity and self-worth, leading them to benefit from self-affirmation under social identity threat. Highly identified women, conversely, should care more for the value of their group and benefit more from group affirmation. …
Ethnic and University Identities across the College Years: A Common In‐Group Identity Perspective
The common in‐group identity model advocates the creation of a superordinate group identity in order to reduce conflict between members of different ethnic subgroups. This study demonstrates that a university identity can serve as an effective common in‐group identity for students from different ethnic groups. Longitudinal data were collected from an ethnically diverse sample of university students at the end of each year of college. Although eth…
Working for the self or working for the group: How self- versus group affirmation affects collective behavior in low-status groups
Experiencing social identity threat can lead members of stigmatized groups to protect their self-regard by withdrawing from domains that are associated with higher status groups. Four experiments examined how providing identity affirmation in alternative domains affects performance motivation in status-defining domains among stigmatized group members. Two forms of identity affirmation were distinguished: self-affirmation, which enhances personal …
Stigma and Group Inequality
Is It Really Racism: The Origins of White Americans' Opposition to Race-Targeted Policies
Journal Article Examinations of Core Concepts and Processes Is It Really Racism?: The Origins of White American Opposition to Race-Targeted Policies Get access DAVID O. SEARS, DAVID O. SEARS Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar COLETTE VAN LAAR, COLETTE VAN LAAR Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar MARY CARRILLO, MARY CARRILLO Search for other works by this author on: Oxford …
Social Dominance Theory: Its Agenda and Method
The theory has been misconstrued in four primary ways, which are often expressed as the claims of psychological reductionism, conceptual redundancy, biological reductionism, and hierarchy justification. This paper addresses these claims and suggests how social dominance theory builds on and moves beyond social identity theory and system justification theory
The effect of university roommate contact on ethnic attitudes and behavior
Cross‐ethnic friendships, perceived discrimination, and their effects on ethnic activism over time: A longitudinal investigation of three ethnic minority groups
This research examines cross-ethnic friendships as a predictor of perceived discrimination and support for ethnic activism over time among African American, Latino American, and Asian American undergraduate participants from a multi-year, longitudinal study conducted in the United States. Our research builds on prior cross-sectional research by testing effects longitudinally and examining how relationships among these variables may differ across …
Ethnic Enclaves and the Dynamics of Social Identity on the College Campus: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The effects of membership in ethnic organizations and fraternities and sororities on intergroup attitudes were examined using a 5-wave panel study at a major, multiethnic university. The results showed that these effects were similar for both minority and White students. Membership in ethnic student organizations for minorities and Greek organizations for Whites was anteceded by the degree of one's ethnic identity, and the effects of membership i…
Extending the Queen Bee Effect: How Hindustani Workers Cope with Disadvantage by Distancing the Self from the Group
Previous research revealed that one way by which members of minority groups resist disadvantage is through strategic “self‐group distancing” by evaluating this group negatively, describing themselves according to outgroup stereotypes and supporting the status hierarchy, hereby limiting societal change. Drawing upon recent work on the Queen Bee phenomenon among women at work, we explain self‐group distancing as a coping response of low identified …
Working for the self or working for the group: How self- versus group affirmation affects collective behavior in low-status groups
Experiencing social identity threat can lead members of stigmatized groups to protect their self-regard by withdrawing from domains that are associated with higher status groups. Four experiments examined how providing identity affirmation in alternative domains affects performance motivation in status-defining domains among stigmatized group members. Two forms of identity affirmation were distinguished: self-affirmation, which enhances personal …
The threat vs. challenge of car parking for women: How self- and group affirmation affect cardiovascular responses
This study examines cardiovascular responses indicating challenge (vs. threat) during motivated performance of women under social identity threat. Low gender identified women should primarily be concerned with their personal identity and self-worth, leading them to benefit from self-affirmation under social identity threat. Highly identified women, conversely, should care more for the value of their group and benefit more from group affirmation. …
Mother teresa meets Genghis Khan: The dialectics of hierarchy-enhancing and hierarchy-attenuating career choices
Social Status and the Academic Achievement Gap: A Social Dominance Perspective
Ingroup and outgroup support for upward mobility: Divergent responses to ingroup identification in low status groups
Members of groups with low societal status can pursue individual upward mobility to improve their status. We examine the conditions under which ingroup and outgroup members are most inclined to support such upward mobility attempts. Whereas both ingroup and outgroup supports are important, there may be tension: dissociation from the low status group may lower ingroup support, whereas association with the low status group may lower outgroup suppor…
Valuing Social Identity: Consequences for Motivation and Performance in Low-Status Groups
Presented is our perspective on the role of social identity in the motivation and performance of members of stigmatized groups (e.g., ethnic minorities, women in traditionally male-dominated fields). We discuss how stigmatized group members pursuing upward mobility face significant threats in out-group environments through the numerical dominance of the higher status out-group, the negative views held by the out-group of the low-status group, and…
Ethnic and University Identities across the College Years: A Common In‐Group Identity Perspective
The common in‐group identity model advocates the creation of a superordinate group identity in order to reduce conflict between members of different ethnic subgroups. This study demonstrates that a university identity can serve as an effective common in‐group identity for students from different ethnic groups. Longitudinal data were collected from an ethnically diverse sample of university students at the end of each year of college. Although eth…
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…
Identity processes in smokers who want to quit smoking: A longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis
The importance of identity in smoking cessation is increasingly becoming recognized by researchers. This study is the first in-depth longitudinal qualitative investigation of identity change processes among smokers who intend to quit. Participants' accounts of smoking, attempts to quit and sense of identity were explored over time to examine identity continuity and change. Ten smokers with a quit intention were interviewed three times, approximat…
Socio-economic status in relation to smoking: The role of (expected and desired) social support and quitter identity
The role of prevention focus under stereotype threat: Initial cognitive mobilization is followed by depletion
Previous research has demonstrated that stereotype threat induces a prevention focus and impairs central executive functions. The present research examines how these 2 consequences of stereotype threat are related. The authors argue that the prevention focus is responsible for the effects of stereotype threat on executive functions and cognitive performance. However, because the prevention focus is adapted to deal with threatening situations, the…
My future-self has (not) quit smoking: An experimental study into the effect of a future-self intervention on smoking-related self-identity constructs
Although the future-self intervention did not significantly influence smoking-related identity or behavior, identity-in particular, non-smoker self-identity-is important to consider in smoking cessation interventions. More research is needed to find effective operationalizations for identity-based interventions in the context of smoking
Mother teresa meets Genghis Khan: The dialectics of hierarchy-enhancing and hierarchy-attenuating career choices
Is It Really Racism: The Origins of White Americans' Opposition to Race-Targeted Policies
Journal Article Examinations of Core Concepts and Processes Is It Really Racism?: The Origins of White American Opposition to Race-Targeted Policies Get access DAVID O. SEARS, DAVID O. SEARS Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar COLETTE VAN LAAR, COLETTE VAN LAAR Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar MARY CARRILLO, MARY CARRILLO Search for other works by this author on: Oxford …
Social Status and the Academic Achievement Gap: A Social Dominance Perspective
The effect of university roommate contact on ethnic attitudes and behavior
Social Dominance Theory: Its Agenda and Method
The theory has been misconstrued in four primary ways, which are often expressed as the claims of psychological reductionism, conceptual redundancy, biological reductionism, and hierarchy justification. This paper addresses these claims and suggests how social dominance theory builds on and moves beyond social identity theory and system justification theory
Ethnic Enclaves and the Dynamics of Social Identity on the College Campus: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The effects of membership in ethnic organizations and fraternities and sororities on intergroup attitudes were examined using a 5-wave panel study at a major, multiethnic university. The results showed that these effects were similar for both minority and White students. Membership in ethnic student organizations for minorities and Greek organizations for Whites was anteceded by the degree of one's ethnic identity, and the effects of membership i…
Stigma and Group Inequality
Stigma and Group Inequality: Social Psychological Perspectives
Ethnic and University Identities across the College Years: A Common In‐Group Identity Perspective
The common in‐group identity model advocates the creation of a superordinate group identity in order to reduce conflict between members of different ethnic subgroups. This study demonstrates that a university identity can serve as an effective common in‐group identity for students from different ethnic groups. Longitudinal data were collected from an ethnically diverse sample of university students at the end of each year of college. Although eth…
Working for the self or working for the group: How self- versus group affirmation affects collective behavior in low-status groups
Experiencing social identity threat can lead members of stigmatized groups to protect their self-regard by withdrawing from domains that are associated with higher status groups. Four experiments examined how providing identity affirmation in alternative domains affects performance motivation in status-defining domains among stigmatized group members. Two forms of identity affirmation were distinguished: self-affirmation, which enhances personal …
Valuing Social Identity: Consequences for Motivation and Performance in Low-Status Groups
Presented is our perspective on the role of social identity in the motivation and performance of members of stigmatized groups (e.g., ethnic minorities, women in traditionally male-dominated fields). We discuss how stigmatized group members pursuing upward mobility face significant threats in out-group environments through the numerical dominance of the higher status out-group, the negative views held by the out-group of the low-status group, and…
The threat vs. challenge of car parking for women: How self- and group affirmation affect cardiovascular responses
This study examines cardiovascular responses indicating challenge (vs. threat) during motivated performance of women under social identity threat. Low gender identified women should primarily be concerned with their personal identity and self-worth, leading them to benefit from self-affirmation under social identity threat. Highly identified women, conversely, should care more for the value of their group and benefit more from group affirmation. …
Do sexist organizational cultures create the Queen Bee?
‘Queen Bees’ are senior women in masculine organizational cultures who have fulfilled their career aspirations by dissociating themselves from their gender while simultaneously contributing to the gender stereotyping of other women. It is often assumed that this phenomenon contributes to gender discrimination in organizations, and is inherent to the personalities of successful career women. We argue for a social identity explanation and examine o…
Gender-Bias Primes Elicit Queen-Bee Responses Among Senior Policewomen
Queen bees are senior women in male-dominated organizations who have achieved success by emphasizing how they differ from other women. Although the behavior of queen bees tends to be seen as contributing to gender disparities in career outcomes, we argue that queen-bee behavior is actually a result of the gender bias and social identity threat that produce gender disparities in career outcomes. In the experiment reported here, we asked separate g…
Cross‐ethnic friendships, perceived discrimination, and their effects on ethnic activism over time: A longitudinal investigation of three ethnic minority groups
This research examines cross-ethnic friendships as a predictor of perceived discrimination and support for ethnic activism over time among African American, Latino American, and Asian American undergraduate participants from a multi-year, longitudinal study conducted in the United States. Our research builds on prior cross-sectional research by testing effects longitudinally and examining how relationships among these variables may differ across …
The role of prevention focus under stereotype threat: Initial cognitive mobilization is followed by depletion
Previous research has demonstrated that stereotype threat induces a prevention focus and impairs central executive functions. The present research examines how these 2 consequences of stereotype threat are related. The authors argue that the prevention focus is responsible for the effects of stereotype threat on executive functions and cognitive performance. However, because the prevention focus is adapted to deal with threatening situations, the…
Ingroup and outgroup support for upward mobility: Divergent responses to ingroup identification in low status groups
Members of groups with low societal status can pursue individual upward mobility to improve their status. We examine the conditions under which ingroup and outgroup members are most inclined to support such upward mobility attempts. Whereas both ingroup and outgroup supports are important, there may be tension: dissociation from the low status group may lower ingroup support, whereas association with the low status group may lower outgroup suppor…
Extending the Queen Bee Effect: How Hindustani Workers Cope with Disadvantage by Distancing the Self from the Group
Previous research revealed that one way by which members of minority groups resist disadvantage is through strategic “self‐group distancing” by evaluating this group negatively, describing themselves according to outgroup stereotypes and supporting the status hierarchy, hereby limiting societal change. Drawing upon recent work on the Queen Bee phenomenon among women at work, we explain self‐group distancing as a coping response of low identified …
The queen bee phenomenon: Why women leaders distance themselves from junior women
Socio-economic status in relation to smoking: The role of (expected and desired) social support and quitter identity
Feeling Pressure to Be a Perfect Mother Relates to Parental Burnout and Career Ambitions
Background & aims. Intensive mothering norms prescribe women to be perfect mothers. Recent research has shown that women’s experiences of pressure towards perfect parenting are related to higher levels of guilt and stress. The current paper follows up on this research with two aims: First, we examine how mothers regulate pressure towards perfect mothering affectively, cognitively, and behaviorally, and how such regulation may relate to parental b…
To belong or not to belong: Protecting minority engagement in the face of discrimination
School belonging is pivotal in enabling sustained task engagement, yet minorities' belonging is contingent on the intergroup context. From a social identity approach, discrimination experiences elicit identity threat, undermining school belonging. Conversely, a positive diversity climate may shield belonging through protecting minority identities. This study addresses minority school belonging and task engagement from the interplay of identity th…
Identity processes in smokers who want to quit smoking: A longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis
The importance of identity in smoking cessation is increasingly becoming recognized by researchers. This study is the first in-depth longitudinal qualitative investigation of identity change processes among smokers who intend to quit. Participants' accounts of smoking, attempts to quit and sense of identity were explored over time to examine identity continuity and change. Ten smokers with a quit intention were interviewed three times, approximat…
Daily Coping With Social Identity Threat in Outgroup-Dominated Contexts: Self-Group Distancing Among Female Soldiers
We examine the degree to which women in a male-dominated field cope with daily experiences of social identity threat by distancing themselves from other women. A daily experience-sampling study among female soldiers ( N = 345 data points nested in 61 participants) showed women to self-group distance more on days in which they experienced more identity threat. This was mediated by daily concerns about belonging but not achievement in the military,…
Psychometric Properties and Correlates of Precarious Manhood Beliefs in 62 Nations
Precarious manhood beliefs portray manhood, relative to womanhood, as a social status that is hard to earn, easy to lose, and proven via public action. Here, we present cross-cultural data on a brief measure of precarious manhood beliefs (the Precarious Manhood Beliefs scale [PMB]) that covaries meaningfully with other cross-culturally validated gender ideologies and with country-level indices of gender equality and human development. Using data …
Psychology (28 works) · Social Psychology (26 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (19 works) · Sociology (19 works) · Social group (12 works) · Social identity theory (12 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Developmental psychology (10 works) · Political science (9 works) · Gender Diversity and Inequality (8 works)