Shaken Confidence

The Effects of an Authority Figure's Flirtatiousness on Women's and Men's Self-Rated Creativity

Bibliographic Data

ID12003294
AuthorsArthur T Satterfield (University of Kansas), Charlene L Muehlenhard (University of Kansas, corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume21
Issue3
Pages395-416
Publication date1997-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychology of Women Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0361-6843 • E-ISSN: 1471-6402
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00121.x
OpenAlexW1999349814
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited32

Anecdotal evidence suggests that sexual harassment may cause women to doubt their abilities, attributing their success to their professor's or supervisor's attraction to them rather than to their qualifications. Two experiments assessed whether a decrease in confidence could result from something as seemingly harmless as flirting. In Experiment 1, a male confederate posing as an advertising executive asked 56 female students to draw an advertisement, which he then praised. He behaved either flirtatiously or neutrally. In Experiment 2, female and male students interacted with a flirtatious or neutral advertisement executive of the other gender. In both experiments, women's self-creativity ratings decreased significantly more from pre-to posttest in the flirtatious condition than in the control condition. Men were affected less than women by the ad executive's flirtatiousness. The results suggest that flirtatiousness by an authority figure may have negative consequences for women's self-confidence

Creativity · Developmental psychology · Flirting · Harassment · Self-confidence · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Psychology · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub