Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Towards Gender in the Workplace: A Comparison of Differing Party Affiliations and Political Identities of Allegheny College Students

Deemer, Elizabeth R.

Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Towards Gender in the Workplace: A Comparison of Differing Party Affiliations and Political Identities of Allegheny College Students

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10456/26448

Author(s)

Deemer, Elizabeth R.

Date Issued

April 17, 2012

Abstract

At a small, liberal arts institution, 50 Allegheny College students participated in a study of implicit and explicit attitudes towards gender in the workplace. These measures were analyzed dependent upon each participant’s party affiliations (Democrat, Republican, Independent, Unaffiliated, Unknown, or Other) and political identity (Strongly Liberal, Slightly Liberal, Slightly Conservative, or Strongly Conservative). The Implicit Association Test for Gender scored participants as either having a strong, moderate, slight or little no gender association for Male with Career and Female with Family or Female with Career and Male with Family. Explicit attitudes were evaluated based on six key survey questions that asked the personal importance students place on career and family, along with how strongly they associate males and females with career and family. The hypothesis formed predicted similar results for the implicit measure across all participants, while predicting explicit attitudes to change dependent upon party affiliations and political identity. While implicit attitudes stayed consistent amongst all, the explicit attitudes measure yielded both predicted and unpredicted correlations. An analysis was also done of Allegheny’s student and political life and it’s effect on the students’ displays of their explicit and implicit attitudes.

First Reader(s)

Lockridge, Calion B., Jr.