Melissa J Williams
Biographic Data
| ID | 3884875 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melissa J Williams |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melissa J |
| FAMILY NAME | Williams |
| SIGNATURE | WILLIAMS M J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Emory University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5031-0312 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 375 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1990 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Gender Differences in Parents’ Well-Being Reverse During Unemployment
Past research suggests that parenthood tends to predict well-being for men more than women. We propose that during involuntary unemployment, this pattern will reverse, such that parenthood will predict well-being for women more than men. Because breadwinning remains central to societal expectations of fatherhood, employment allows fathers to simultaneously fulfill parental and professional obligations. Typically, this reduces fathers’ role strain…
Looking the Part
This project explores the effects of racial phenotypic stereotypicality, or the degree to which a person’s appearance is perceived as typical of their racial group, on leadership outcomes. Building on research showing that people hold an image of the ideal leader as a White person, we propose that looking more typically White may facilitate leadership attainment. In Study 1, which used a sample of American college football coaches ( N = 1,106), W…
Interdependence and reflected failure
Perspectives on the Implementation of Screening and Treatment for Depression and Alcohol Use Disorder in Primary Care in Colombia
Study protocol
The study was registered retrospectively on 15/05/2019 with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial registry (ACTRN12619000580178)
The face of STEM
Advance online publication. October 15, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000153), the Editor' Note acknowledging Toni Schmader as the action editor for this article was omitted. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Despite strong initial interest, college students-especially those from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds-leave STEM majors at high rates. Here, we explore the role of racial phenotypic stereotypicality, or …
Sexual aggression when power is new
Previous theorists have characterized sexually aggressive behavior as an expression of power, yet evidence that power causes sexual aggression is mixed. We hypothesize that power can indeed create opportunities for sexual aggression-but that it is those who chronically experience low power who will choose to exploit such opportunities. Here, low-power men placed in a high-power role showed the most hostility in response to a denied opportunity wi…
The subtle suspension of backlash
When “mom’s the boss”
Although men are typically considered to have more power than women, women are more likely than men to be primary decision makers in the household domain. We argue that the portrayal of women’s traditional role as representing a form of power, albeit limited in scope, is widespread in popular culture, and that this power is perceived as desirable and providing a subjective sense of control (Study 1). Yet power over household decision making may a…
Culturally based lay beliefs as a tool for understanding intergroup and intercultural relations
Selectively friending
Fundamental(ist) attribution error
Attribution theory has long enjoyed a prominent role in social psychological research, yet religious influences on attribution have not been well studied. We theorized and tested the hypothesis that Protestants would endorse internal attributions to a greater extent than would Catholics, because Protestantism focuses on the inward condition of the soul. In Study 1, Protestants made more internal, but not external, attributions than did Catholics.…
Cultural Differences in Expectations of Change and Tolerance for Contradiction
Since the publication of Peng and Nisbett’s seminal paper on dialectical thinking, a substantial amount of empirical research has replicated and expanded on the core finding that people differ in the degree to which they view the world as inherently contradictory and in constant flux. Dialectical thinkers (who are more often members of East Asian than Western cultures) show greater expectation of change in tasks related to explanation and predict…
The Masculinity of Money
We present the first empirical investigation of why men are assumed to earn higher salaries than women (the salary estimation effect). Although this phenomenon is typically attributed to conscious consideration of the national wage gap (i.e., real inequities in salary), we hypothesize instead that it reflects differential, automatic economic valuing of men and women. In the four studies described here, we demonstrate that the salary estimation ef…
Biological conceptions of race and the motivation to cross racial boundaries
The present studies demonstrate that conceiving of racial group membership as biologically determined increases acceptance of racial inequities (Studies 1 and 2) and cools interest in interacting with racial outgroup members (Studies 3-5). These effects were generally independent of racial prejudice. It is argued that when race is cast as a biological marker of individuals, people perceive racial outgroup members as unrelated to the self and ther…
Not yet human
Historical representations explicitly depicting Blacks as apelike have largely disappeared in the United States, yet a mental association between Blacks and apes remains. Here, the authors demonstrate that U.S. citizens implicitly associate Blacks and apes. In a series of laboratory studies, the authors reveal how this association influences study participants' basic cognitive processes and significantly alters their judgments in criminal justice…
Culture and group perception
In 3 studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that Chinese participants would view social groups as more entitative than would Americans and, as a result, would be more likely to infer personality traits on the basis of group membership--that is, to stereotype. In Study 1, Chinese participants made stronger stereotypic trait inferences than Americans did on the basis of a target's membership in a fictitious group. Studies 2 and 3 showed that Ch…
Personality and Emotional Reactivity
Casting the Net
Not yet human
Historical representations explicitly depicting Blacks as apelike have largely disappeared in the United States, yet a mental association between Blacks and apes remains. Here, the authors demonstrate that U.S. citizens implicitly associate Blacks and apes. In a series of laboratory studies, the authors reveal how this association influences study participants' basic cognitive processes and significantly alters their judgments in criminal justice…
Biological conceptions of race and the motivation to cross racial boundaries
The present studies demonstrate that conceiving of racial group membership as biologically determined increases acceptance of racial inequities (Studies 1 and 2) and cools interest in interacting with racial outgroup members (Studies 3-5). These effects were generally independent of racial prejudice. It is argued that when race is cast as a biological marker of individuals, people perceive racial outgroup members as unrelated to the self and ther…
Selectively friending
The subtle suspension of backlash
Fundamental(ist) attribution error
Attribution theory has long enjoyed a prominent role in social psychological research, yet religious influences on attribution have not been well studied. We theorized and tested the hypothesis that Protestants would endorse internal attributions to a greater extent than would Catholics, because Protestantism focuses on the inward condition of the soul. In Study 1, Protestants made more internal, but not external, attributions than did Catholics.…
Culture and group perception
In 3 studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that Chinese participants would view social groups as more entitative than would Americans and, as a result, would be more likely to infer personality traits on the basis of group membership--that is, to stereotype. In Study 1, Chinese participants made stronger stereotypic trait inferences than Americans did on the basis of a target's membership in a fictitious group. Studies 2 and 3 showed that Ch…
Sexual aggression when power is new
Previous theorists have characterized sexually aggressive behavior as an expression of power, yet evidence that power causes sexual aggression is mixed. We hypothesize that power can indeed create opportunities for sexual aggression-but that it is those who chronically experience low power who will choose to exploit such opportunities. Here, low-power men placed in a high-power role showed the most hostility in response to a denied opportunity wi…
The Masculinity of Money
We present the first empirical investigation of why men are assumed to earn higher salaries than women (the salary estimation effect). Although this phenomenon is typically attributed to conscious consideration of the national wage gap (i.e., real inequities in salary), we hypothesize instead that it reflects differential, automatic economic valuing of men and women. In the four studies described here, we demonstrate that the salary estimation ef…
When “mom’s the boss”
Although men are typically considered to have more power than women, women are more likely than men to be primary decision makers in the household domain. We argue that the portrayal of women’s traditional role as representing a form of power, albeit limited in scope, is widespread in popular culture, and that this power is perceived as desirable and providing a subjective sense of control (Study 1). Yet power over household decision making may a…
Culturally based lay beliefs as a tool for understanding intergroup and intercultural relations
The face of STEM
Advance online publication. October 15, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000153), the Editor' Note acknowledging Toni Schmader as the action editor for this article was omitted. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Despite strong initial interest, college students-especially those from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds-leave STEM majors at high rates. Here, we explore the role of racial phenotypic stereotypicality, or …
Personality and Emotional Reactivity
Casting the Net
Personality and Emotional Reactivity
Culture and group perception
In 3 studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that Chinese participants would view social groups as more entitative than would Americans and, as a result, would be more likely to infer personality traits on the basis of group membership--that is, to stereotype. In Study 1, Chinese participants made stronger stereotypic trait inferences than Americans did on the basis of a target's membership in a fictitious group. Studies 2 and 3 showed that Ch…
Biological conceptions of race and the motivation to cross racial boundaries
The present studies demonstrate that conceiving of racial group membership as biologically determined increases acceptance of racial inequities (Studies 1 and 2) and cools interest in interacting with racial outgroup members (Studies 3-5). These effects were generally independent of racial prejudice. It is argued that when race is cast as a biological marker of individuals, people perceive racial outgroup members as unrelated to the self and ther…
Not yet human
Historical representations explicitly depicting Blacks as apelike have largely disappeared in the United States, yet a mental association between Blacks and apes remains. Here, the authors demonstrate that U.S. citizens implicitly associate Blacks and apes. In a series of laboratory studies, the authors reveal how this association influences study participants' basic cognitive processes and significantly alters their judgments in criminal justice…
Cultural Differences in Expectations of Change and Tolerance for Contradiction
Since the publication of Peng and Nisbett’s seminal paper on dialectical thinking, a substantial amount of empirical research has replicated and expanded on the core finding that people differ in the degree to which they view the world as inherently contradictory and in constant flux. Dialectical thinkers (who are more often members of East Asian than Western cultures) show greater expectation of change in tasks related to explanation and predict…
The Masculinity of Money
We present the first empirical investigation of why men are assumed to earn higher salaries than women (the salary estimation effect). Although this phenomenon is typically attributed to conscious consideration of the national wage gap (i.e., real inequities in salary), we hypothesize instead that it reflects differential, automatic economic valuing of men and women. In the four studies described here, we demonstrate that the salary estimation ef…
Culturally based lay beliefs as a tool for understanding intergroup and intercultural relations
Selectively friending
Fundamental(ist) attribution error
Attribution theory has long enjoyed a prominent role in social psychological research, yet religious influences on attribution have not been well studied. We theorized and tested the hypothesis that Protestants would endorse internal attributions to a greater extent than would Catholics, because Protestantism focuses on the inward condition of the soul. In Study 1, Protestants made more internal, but not external, attributions than did Catholics.…
When “mom’s the boss”
Although men are typically considered to have more power than women, women are more likely than men to be primary decision makers in the household domain. We argue that the portrayal of women’s traditional role as representing a form of power, albeit limited in scope, is widespread in popular culture, and that this power is perceived as desirable and providing a subjective sense of control (Study 1). Yet power over household decision making may a…
The subtle suspension of backlash
Sexual aggression when power is new
Previous theorists have characterized sexually aggressive behavior as an expression of power, yet evidence that power causes sexual aggression is mixed. We hypothesize that power can indeed create opportunities for sexual aggression-but that it is those who chronically experience low power who will choose to exploit such opportunities. Here, low-power men placed in a high-power role showed the most hostility in response to a denied opportunity wi…
Study protocol
The study was registered retrospectively on 15/05/2019 with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial registry (ACTRN12619000580178)
The face of STEM
Advance online publication. October 15, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000153), the Editor' Note acknowledging Toni Schmader as the action editor for this article was omitted. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Despite strong initial interest, college students-especially those from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds-leave STEM majors at high rates. Here, we explore the role of racial phenotypic stereotypicality, or …
Interdependence and reflected failure
Perspectives on the Implementation of Screening and Treatment for Depression and Alcohol Use Disorder in Primary Care in Colombia
Looking the Part
This project explores the effects of racial phenotypic stereotypicality, or the degree to which a person’s appearance is perceived as typical of their racial group, on leadership outcomes. Building on research showing that people hold an image of the ideal leader as a White person, we propose that looking more typically White may facilitate leadership attainment. In Study 1, which used a sample of American college football coaches ( N = 1,106), W…
Gender Differences in Parents’ Well-Being Reverse During Unemployment
Past research suggests that parenthood tends to predict well-being for men more than women. We propose that during involuntary unemployment, this pattern will reverse, such that parenthood will predict well-being for women more than men. Because breadwinning remains central to societal expectations of fatherhood, employment allows fathers to simultaneously fulfill parental and professional obligations. Typically, this reduces fathers’ role strain…
Psychology (14 works) · Social Psychology (14 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (13 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (6 works) · Developmental psychology (5 works) · Perception (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Medicine (4 works)