title: Hostile and benevolent reactions toward pregnant women: complementary interpersonal punishments and rewards that maintain traditional roles.
abstract: A naturalistic field study investigated behavior toward pregnant (vs. nonpregnant) women in nontraditional (job applicant) and traditional (store customer) roles. Female confederates, who sometimes wore a pregnancy prosthesis, posed as job applicants or customers at retail stores. Store employees exhibited more hostile behavior (e.g., rudeness) toward pregnant (vs. nonpregnant) applicants and more benevolent behavior (e.g., touching, overfriendliness) toward pregnant (vs. nonpregnant) customers. A second experiment revealed that pregnant women are especially likely to encounter hostility (from both men and women) when applying for masculine as compared with feminine jobs. The combination of benevolence toward pregnant women in traditional roles and hostility toward those who seek nontraditional roles suggests a system of complementary interpersonal rewards and punishments that may discourage pregnant women from pursuing work that violates gender norms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA. hebl@rice.edu
authors.forename: Michelle R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hebl
authors.forename: Eden B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Glick
authors.forename: Sarah L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Singletary
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kazama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011287:Prejudice; D012201:Reward; D012380:Role; D012919:Social Behavior