Take Action
Research Details
Does shared group membership shape judgments of accountability for gender-based discrimination attributed to implicit bias?, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Abstract
Attributing gender discrimination to implicit bias has become increasingly common. However, research suggests that when discrimination is attributed to implicit rather than explicit bias, the perpetrators are held less accountable and deemed less worthy of punishment. The present work examines (a) whether this effect replicates in the domain of gender discrimination, and (b) whether sharing a group membership with the victim moderates the effect. Four studies revealed that both men and women hold perpetrators of gender discrimination less accountable if their behavior is attributed to implicit rather than explicit bias. Moreover, women held male (Studies 1–3), but not female (Study 4), perpetrators of gender discrimination more accountable than did men. Together, these findings suggest that while shared gender group membership may inform judgments of accountability for gender discrimination, it does not weaken the tendency to hold perpetrators less accountable for discrimination attributed to implicit, compared with explicit, bias.
Type
Article
Author(s)
Natalie M Daumeyer, Ivuoma Ngozi Onyeador, Jennifer Anne Richeson
Date Published
2020
Citations
Daumeyer, Natalie M, Ivuoma Ngozi Onyeador, and Jennifer Anne Richeson. 2020. Does shared group membership shape judgments of accountability for gender-based discrimination attributed to implicit bias?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Online First
LINK