Abstract
The present research addressed the question of whether need for closure (NFC; Kruglanski in The psychology of closed mindedness, Psychology Press, New York, 2004) biases individuals’ memory of female leaders. Merging research on role congruity theory of leadership (Koenig et al. in Psychol Bull 4:616–642, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023557) and research on retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF, Anderson et al. in J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cognit 20:1063–1087, 1994. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.5.861), we hypothesized and found that high-NFC participants show (1) a higher RIF of dimensions commonly associated with the leadership prototype (agentic/masculine) ascribed to female manager targets, when selectively retrieved dimensions commonly associated with the female prototype (communal/feminine) were ascribed to the same target; and (2) a lessened RIF of female stereotypical dimensions ascribed to female manager targets, when selectively retrieved prototypical leadership dimensions were ascribed to the same target. Overall, the present findings suggest that when faced with women leaders, high NfC enhances the accessibility of gender stereotype-congruent memories and reduces the accessibility of prototypical leadership ones, thus reducing the RIF of communal/feminine memories.
Notes
In Italian: sicura di sè, ambiziosa, assertiva, competente, energica, decisa, efficiente, tenace, dominante e razionale (agency dimensions); and gentile, disponibile, calorosa, empatica, socievole, premurosa, sensibile, leale, accogliente, e supportiva (communal dimensions).
To exclude the possibility that the RIF effect did not depend on a decreased recall of the Rp− items (i.e., the items expected to be forgotten within the RIF paradigm), we performed re-analysis of the data entering Rp− items recall rate as dependent variable. As before, gender did not influence the interaction and was removed from the analysis. This analysis revealed no significant main effect of NfC (b = −0.72, SE = 3.13, t = −0.23, p = 0.82). As expected, the main effect of dimensions recall was significant (b = −8.79, SE = 3.21, t = 2.74, p = 0.007), suggesting that the recall of Rp− items was lower for agentic than communal dimensions, indicating more forgetting of agentic (vs. communal) Rp− items. More importantly, the interaction between NfC and dimensions recall was significant (b = −17.98, SE = 6.18 t = −2.91, p = 0.005). As we found for the RIF effect, the recall of Rp− items was lower for agentic than communal dimensions (1 SD above the mean: b = −18.43, SE = 4.61, t = −4.00, p < 0.001), whereas no difference was found for low-NfC participants (1 SD below the mean: b = 0.85, SE = 4.62, t = 0.18, p = 0.85). Furthermore, the same analysis was performed entering Nrp items as dependent variable and, as expected, neither the main nor the two-way interaction effects among our independent variables were significant (all ps > 0.46). The above analyses confirmed that high-NFC followers show an higher forgetting of agentic (vs. communal) Rp− items (RIF effect) ascribed to the female manager target.
In Italian: sicura di sè, energica, dominante, vigorosa, aggressiva, ambiziosa, attiva, razionale, competitiva e potente (masculine dimensions); and premurosa, sensibile, empatica, affettuosa, tenera, buona, solidale, accogliente, supportiva e calorosa (feminine dimensions).
If we run simple slope analyses to further understand the two-way interaction between NfC and dimensions recall in the male manager target condition, consistent with our hypotheses, we found that high-NfC participants showed a higher RIF effect of feminine items than masculine items (1 SD above the mean: b = −19.35, SE = 5.87, t = −3.30, p = 0.001), whereas no difference was found for low-NfC participants (1 SD below the mean: b = −8.09, SE = 7.41, t = −1.09, p = 0.28).
Again, as for Study 1, also in the present study the recall of Nrp items did not differ as a function of our variables and their two and three interactions (all p > 0.10). As expected, this analysis revealed that the RIF effect was not due to fluctuations in the recall of Nrp items, but on the decreased recall of the Rp− items.
References
Abele AE, Uchronski M, Suitner C, Wojciszke B (2008) Towards an operationalization of the fundamental dimensions of agency and communion: trait content ratings in five countries considering valence and frequency of word occurrence. Eur J Soc Psychol 38:1202–1217. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.575
Aiken LS, West SG (1991) Multiple regression: testing and interpreting interactions. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Altemeyer B (1981) Right-wing authoritarianism. University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg
Anderson MC (2003) Rethinking interference theory: executive control and the mechanisms of forgetting. J Mem Lang 49:415–445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2003.08.006
Anderson MC, Bjork RA, Bjork EL (1994) Remembering can cause forgetting: retrieval dynamics in long-term memory. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cognit 20:1063–1087. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.20.5.1063
Bakan D (1966) The duality of human existence: an essay on psychology and religion. Rand McNally, Chicago
Bem S (1974) The psychological measurement of androgyny. J Consult Clin Psychol 42:155–162. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0036215
Camp G, Pecher D, Schmidt HG (2007) No retrieval-induced forgetting using item-specific independent cues: evidence against a general inhibitory account. J Exp Psych Learn Mem Cognit 33:950–958. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.33.5.950
Dijksterhuis A, vanKnippenberg A, Kruglanski AW, Schaper C (1996) Motivated social cognition: need for closure effects on memory and judgment. J Exp Soc Psychol 32:254–270. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.1996.0012
Eagly AH (1987) Sex differences in social behavior: a social role interpretation. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale
Eagly AH, Karau SJ (2002) Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychol Rev 109:573–598. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.109.3.573
Eagly AH, Makhijani MG, Klonsky BG (1992) Gender and the evaluation of leaders: a meta analysis. Psychol Bull 111:3–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.111.1.3
Eagly AH, Johannesen-Schmidt MC, van Engen ML (2003) Transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles: a meta-analysis comparing women and men. Psychol Bull 129:569–591. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.4.569
Glick P, Fiske ST (2007) Sex discrimination: the psychological approach. In: Crosby FJ, Stockdale MS, Ropp SA (eds) Sex discrimination in the workplace: multidisciplinary perspectives. Blackwell, Malden, pp 155–187
Glick P, Fiske ST, Masser B, Manganelli AM, Huang L, Castro YR et al (2004) Bad but bold: ambivalent attitudes toward men predict gender inequality in 16 nations. J Pers Soc Psychol 86:713–728. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.86.5.713
Hayes AF (2013) Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: a regression-based approach. Guilford Press, New York
Heilman ME (1983) Sex bias in work settings: the lack of fit model. In: Staw B, Cummings L (eds) Research in organizational behavior, vol 5. JAI Press, Greenwich, pp 269–298
Heilman ME, Block CJ, Martell RF, Simon MC (1989) Has anything changed? Current characterizations of men, women, and managers. J Appl Psychol 74:935–942. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.74.6.935
Jakab E, Raaijmakers JGW (2009) The role of item strength in retrieval-induced forgetting. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cognit 35:607–617. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015264
Johnson SK, Murphy SE, Zedwdie S, Reichard RJ (2008) The strong, sensitive type: effects of gender stereotypes and leadership prototypes on the evaluation of male and female leaders. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 106:39–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2007.12.002
Koenig AM, Eagly AH, Mitchell AA, Ristikari T (2011) Are leader stereotypes masculine? A meta-analysis of three research paradigms. Psychol Bull 4:616–642. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023557
Kossowska M, Bar-Tal Y (2013) Need for closure and heuristic information processing: the moderating role of the ability to achieve the need for closure. Br J Psychol 104:457–480. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12001
Kruglanski AW (2004) The psychology of closed mindedness. Psychology Press, New York
Kruglanski AW, Freund T (1983) The freezing and unfreezing of lay-inferences: effects on impressional primacy, ethnic stereotyping, and numerical anchoring. J Exp Soc Psychol 19:448–468. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(83)90022-7
Kruglanski AW, Webster DM, Klem A (1993) Motivated resistance and openness to persuasion in the presence or absence of prior information. J Pers Soc Psychol 65:861–877. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.5.861
Lord RG, Foti RJ, DeVader CL (1984) A test of leadership categorization theory: internal structure, information processing, and leadership perceptions. Organ Behav Hum Perform 34:343–378. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-5073(84)90043-6
Lyness KS, Heilman ME (2006) When fit is fundamental: performance evaluations and promotions of upper-level female and male managers. J Appl Psychol 91:777–785. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.4.777
Macrae CN, Bodenhausen GV (2000) Social cognition: thinking categorically about others. Ann Rev Psychol 51:93–120. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.93
Offermann LR, Kennedy JK, Wirtz PW (1994) Implicit leadership theories: content, structure, and generalizability. Leadersh Q 5:43–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/1048-9843(94)90005-1
Pica G, Pierro A, Bélanger J, Kruglanski AW (2013) The motivational dynamics of retrieval induced forgetting: a test for cognitive energetics theory. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 39:1530–1541. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213499237
Pica G, Pierro A, Bélanger J, Kruglanski AW (2014) The role of need for cognitive closure in retrieval-induced forgetting and misinformation effects in eyewitness memory. Soc Cognit 34:337–359. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2014.32.4.337
Pica G, Bélanger J, Pantaleo G, Pierro A, Kruglanski AW (2016) Prejudice in person memory: self-threat biases memories of stigmatized group members. Eur J Soc Psychol 46:124–131. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2140
Pica G, Sciara S, Livi S, Pantaleo G (2017) Ethnic prejudice in person memory: lessened retrieval-induced forgetting of negative traits ascribed to an African-American target. Psicol Soc 3:351–362. https://doi.org/10.1482/87890
Pierro A, Kruglanski AW (2005) Revised need for cognitive closure scale. Unpublished manuscript, Universita di Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy
Powell GN, Butterfield DA (1979) The “good manager”: masculine or androgynous? Acad Manag J 22:395–403. https://doi.org/10.2307/255597
Pratto F, Sidanius J, Stallworth LM, Malle BF (1994) Social dominance orientation: a personality variable predicting social and political attitudes. J Pers Soc Psychol 67:741–763. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.741
Roets A, Van Hiel A, Dhont K (2012) Is sexism a gender issue? A motivated social cognition perspective on men’s and women’s sexist attitudes toward the own and other gender. Eur J Pers 26:350–359. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.843
Roets A, Kruglanski AW, Kossowska M, Pierro A, Hong Y-Y (2015) The motivated gatekeeper of our minds: new directions in need for closure theory and research. Adv Exp Soc Psychol 52:221–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aesp.2015.01.001
Rosette AS, Tost LP (2010) Agentic women and communal leadership: How role prescriptions confer advantage to top women leaders. J Appl Psychol 2:221–235. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018204
Rudman LA, Greenwald AG, McGhee DE (2001) Implicit self-concept and evaluative implicit gender stereotypes: self and ingroup share desirable traits. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 9:1164–1178. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167201279009
Schein VE (1973a) The relationship between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics. J Appl Psychol 57:95–100. https://doi.org/10.1097/h0037128
Schein VE (1973b) The relationship between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics. J Appl Psychol 57:95–100. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0037128
Scott KA, Brown DJ (2006) Female first, leader second? Gender bias in the encoding of leadership behavior. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 101:230–242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2006.06.002
Shah JY, Kruglanski AW, Thompson EP (1998) Membership has its (epistemic) rewards: need for closure effects on ingroup bias. J Pers Soc Psychol 75:383–393. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.2.383
Shinar EH (1975) Sexual stereotypes of occupations. J Vocat Behav 7:99–111
Skowronski JJ, McCarthy RJ, Wells BM (2013) Person memory: past, perspectives, and prospects. In: Carlston DE (ed) The Oxford handbook of social cognition. Oxford University Press, NewYork, pp 352–374
Storm BC, Levy BJ (2012) A progress report on the inhibitory account of retrieval-induced forgetting. Mem Cognit 40:827–843. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-012-0211-7
Strojny P, Kossoswka M, Strojny A (2016) Search for expectancy-inconsistent information reduces uncertainty better: the role of cognitive capacity. Front Psychol 7:395. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00395
Webster DM, Kruglanski AW (1994) Individual differences in need for cognitive closure. J Pers Soc Psychol 67:1049–1062. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.6.1049
Webster DM, Richter L, Kruglanski AW (1996) On leaping to conclusions when feeling tired: mental fatigue effects on impressional primacy. J Exp Soc Psychol 32:181–195. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.1996.0009
Funding
This study was funded by the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Grant Number RM116154AECAB067).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Handling editor: Don Ross (University of Cape Town); Reviewers: three anonymous reviewers.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pica, G., Pierro, A., Pellegrini, V. et al. “Keeping in mind the gender stereotype”: the role of need for closure in the retrieval-induced forgetting of female managers’ qualities. Cogn Process 19, 363–373 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-018-0864-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-018-0864-7