The Role of Prototypes and Same-Gender Bias in Attributions to Gender Discrimination in Hiring

The present research (N = 841) investigated attributions to gender discrimination in hiring with four overall aims in mind: contrasting the two explanations of prototypes vs. same-gender bias; estimating accuracy in perceived discrimination; looking into the consequences for the observer's work-seeking discouragement; and examining whether prototype effects and their consequences are resistant to change. Across several experiments with varied methods of direct and indirect estimations, men and women alike attributed declined job interviews to gender discrimination when the applicant was female rather than male. Whether the occupation was male-typed, female-typed, or gender neutral moderated this effect, as did individual differences in discrimination prototypes. Further, merely learning about a person being rejected in the hiring process was enough to activate the discrimination prototype and assume that the applicant was female. We also found that perceived discrimination was overestimated, particularly in cases with prototypical discrimination victims. Moreover, observing a woman being declined job interviews in male-typed domains caused discouragement from seeking work (mediated by discrimination attributions). The prototype effect appears robust, as providing accurate base rates on the likelihood of being invited to job interviews did not alter prototype activation. Similarly, contemplating alternative reasons for not getting a job (besides discrimination) reduced the impact of discrimination attributions on discouragement, but not discrimination attributions per se. Overall, our findings provide clear evidence for the prototype rather than same-gender bias explanation for gender discrimination attributions in hiring. Discrimination Prototypes and Same-Gender Bias 3 Imagine that a friend of yours was looking for work but failed to be invited to hiring interviews. How likely would you be to attribute this situation to gender discrimination? One line of research would suggest that you would be more likely to do so if your friend was a woman rather than a man, because your perceptions would be dependent upon whether the individual fits the preconception of a typical discrimination victim. In other words, there would be a discrimination prototype effect In contrast, other researchers have emphasized that people have a tendency to detect discrimination for members of their own gender: a same-lack of studies simultaneously considering both explanations makes it hard to ascertain their relative importance for hiring discrimination attributions. Importantly, the lack of such studies leaves open a third possibility: that the two mechanisms in fact operate simultaneously, complementing each other. The overall aim of the present research is to simultaneously examine the importance of prototypes and …