Sriya Neelam
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Ariana Munoz-Salgado
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Psychology / LSA
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Oral5
Session: Session 2 – 11am – 11:50am
Room: Breakout Room 1
Authors: Sriya Neelam, Ariana Munoz-Salgado, Denise Sekaquaptewa
Presenter: 6
Abstract
Despite the vast research examining the role and consequences for targets of gender microaggressions, little is known about the perspective of the witnesses, and their opinions toward the incident and the target. This begs the question, do witnesses often sympathize with the target of gender microaggressions, or do they become critical of the target’s response after a microaggression? Moreover, if they criticize the target’s response, are they likely to say the target did too much, or not enough? To answer this question, our study uses a mixed-methods, within-subjects design in which psychology subject pool participants (N=196) watched three college student interactions, two of which had gender microaggressions against a woman and one that was neutral. Every interaction had the same man perpetrator, same woman target, and a man bystander. After each scene, participants answered questions about the overall interaction and the woman target’s response. We predict that although some witnesses of the gender microaggression will support the target’s behavior after the microaggression, others may criticize her response as doing too much or not enough, compared to a neutral interaction. Secondly, we predict that women participants may be more likely to say that the woman target did not do enough (e.g., should have defended herself better), while men participants may think the woman target did too much (e.g., took things personally or overreacted). This research will help us gain a better understanding of the way that targets of microaggressions are criticized by others, demonstrating that the consequences for targets are bigger than just the negative effects they may experience from the microaggression (e.g., lower confidence and sense of belonging). Additionally, it can highlight a catch-22 problem for targets where there is no “right way†to respond to microaggressions: they either do too much or not enough.
Social Sciences
