Main research interests

I mainly do research on gender and/or language. By gender, I think about all its different facets, from gender identity and gender-role self-concept, via gender-role stereotypes and norms, to threats to one's gender identity and discrimination based on gender-related characteristics. I do not necessarily understand gender-related characteristics as naturally given or biologically grounded but as performatively produced and socially constructed. I am particularly curious about sexual orientation. Some of my recent research questions:

• What are the implications of threats to men's masculinity (e.g., use of sexist humor)?
• What are the effects of gender stereotypes (e.g., with regard to hiring a manager)?
• How is one's gender experience affected by the use of certain linguistic means?

Regarding language, I am not only interested in language per se on its various levels, for example, how two groups differ in their use of acoustic or morpho-syntactic features. I understand language more broadly as a sign system, namely as any codes that are used to convey information and are therefore charged with meaning. This can be the written image, but also the clothing or the face. Some exemplary research questions:

• What signals do people use to express social characteristics intentionally or unintentionally?
• How do other people interpret these signals?
• Is there a fit between what is meant to be expressed and understood?
• And what are the implications for shaping social interactions?

Collaboration in research projects

Vocal stereotypes toward women and men diverging in sexual orientations: A combination of production-related and perceptive approaches 

Discrimination of applicants due to sexual orientation: An experimental approach

Gender, society, and language use: Evidence from Mexico and Spain

Papers with peer review

* shared first-authorship

*Posio, P., *Kachel, S., & Uclés, G. (in press). Morphosyntactic stereotypes of speakers with different genders and sexual orientations: An experimental investigation. Linguistics.

Büttner, C. M., Rudert, S. C., & Kachel, S. (2024). Ostracism experiences of sexual minorities: Integrating target perspective and perception by others.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, online first. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672241240675

*Posio, P., *Kachel, S., & Uclés, G. (in press). Morphosyntactic stereotypes of speakers with different genders and sexual orientations: An experimental investigation. Linguistics.

Kachel, S., Bloch, T., Bosson, J. K., Lorenz, L. L., & Steffens, M. C. (2024). Gaining masculine power through guns? The impact of masculinity threat on attitudes towards guns. Frontiers in Psychology. 15:1296261. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1296261

Kachel, S., Simpson, A. P., & Steffens, M. C. (2024). Speakers’ vocal expression of sexual orientation depends on experimenter gender. Speech Communication, 156, 103023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2023.103023

*Landmann, H., *Kachel, S., Kommerscheidt, L., Lange, F., Richter, I. (2023). Assessing diversity dimensions in environmental psychology: Challenges and recommendations. Umweltpsychologie, 27(1), 8–33.

Gruber, R., Häfner, M. & Kachel, S. (2023). Dressing up social psychology: Empirically investigating the psychological functions of clothing using the example of symbolic protection. British Journal of Social Psychology, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12700 REGISTERED REPORT, OPEN ACCESS

Kachel, S., Nussbaum, C., & Pöhlmann, M. (2023). Queer events, relationships, and sports: Does topic influence speakers’ acoustic expression of sexual orientation? INTERSPEECH 2023, 4269–4273. https://doi.org/10.21437/Interspeech.2023-2087

Niedlich, C., Kachel, S., & Steffens, M. C. (2022). Sexual orientation information and hiring: Can individualizing information lead to negative stereotyping of sexual minority group members? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 52(5), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12859

Kachel, S., Steffens, M. C., Preuß, S., & Simpson, A. P. (2020). Gender (conformity) matters: Cross-dimensional and cross-modal associations in sexual orientation perception. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(1), 40–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19883902

Preuß, S., Ottenstein, C., Steffens, M. C., & Kachel, S. (2020). Using scenarios for measuring the affective and behavioral components of attitudes toward lesbians and gay men: Validation of the SABA-scale. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(5), 1645–1669.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01653-7

Kachel, S., Radtke, A., Skuk, V. G., Zäske, R., Simpson, A. P., & Steffens, M. C. (2018). Investigating the common set of acoustic parameters in sexual orientation groups: A voice averaging approach. PLoS ONE, 13(12): e0208686. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208686

Kachel, S., Simpson, A. P., & Steffens, M. C. (2018). “Do I sound straight?”: Acoustic correlates of actual and perceived sexual orientation and masculinity/femininity in men’s speech. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 61(7), 1560–1578. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_JSLHR-S-17-0125

Kachel, S., Simpson, A. P., & Steffens, M. C. (2017). Acoustic correlates of sexual orientation and gender-role self-concept in women's speech. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 141(6), 4793–2809. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4988684

Kachel, S., Steffens, M. C., & Niedlich, C. (2016). Traditional masculinity and femininity: Validation of a new scale assessing gender roles. Frontiers in Personality and Social Psychology, 7:956. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00956

Book chapters

Gruber, R., & Kachel, S. (2023). Dressing through crisis: Examining clothing’s symbolic protection from the psychological consequences of existential threats using the example of the COVID-19 pandemic. In I. Henzler, H. Hues, S. Sonnleitner & U. Wilkens (Eds.), Extended Views. Gesellschafts- und wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die Covid 19-Pandemie. Böhlau.

Steffens, M. C., Niedlich, C., Kachel, S., & Methner, N. (2016). Impression formation of applicants differing in sexual orientation: An attempt to integrate theoretical models and a review of the empirical evidence. F. Earley (Ed.), Sexual orientation: Perceptions, discrimination and acceptance (pp. 51–80). New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Conference presentations

Talks (5 most recent)

Menzel, C., Wedekind, J., Niedlich, C., & Kachel, S. (2023, October 19–20). Connectedness to what? Associations with and definitions of nature in relation to reported nature connectedness [Accepted Talk]. Society for Environmental Population & Conservation Psychology, Online.

Nieber, L., Kachel, S., & Scharinger, M. (2023, October5–7).Representing diversity in phonetic gender research: An acoustic analysis [Accepted Talk]. Phonetik & Phonologie 18, Bern, Switzerland.

Kachel, S., & Gruber, R. (2023, September 11–13). Beyond hanky codes: Clothing as a marker of sexual orientation in women and men [Talk]. 18^th Conference of the Social Psychology Section of the German Psychological Society, Graz, Austria.

Gruber, R., & Kachel, S. (2023, September 11–13). Dressing up social psychology: Empirically investigating the psychological function of clothing using the example of symbolic protection [Talk]. 18^thConference of the Social Psychology Section of the German Psychological Society, Graz, Austria.

Weber, S., Kachel, S., Bindal, Z., & Görsch, P. (2023, September 11–13). Not funny? Female- and male-disparaging jokes as a source of threat [Talk]. 18^th Conference of the Social Psychology Section of the German Psychological Society, Graz, Austria.

Poster presentations (5 most recent)

Kachel, S., Pöhlmann, M., & Nussbaum, T. (2023, August 20–24). Queer events, relationships, and sports: Does topic influence speakers’ acoustic expression of sexual orientation? [Poster presentation]. 24^th INTERSPEECH Conference, Dublin, Ireland.

Kachel, S., Gaisbauer, N., Niedlich, S., Gruber, R., & Steffens, M.C. (2023, July 1–4). The intersecting impact of sexual orientation and gender on leadership perception: Investigating the differences between person-related signals [Poster presentation]. General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology, Krakow, Poland.

Gruber, R.,Kachel, S., Loy, L., & Menke, S. (2023, July 1-4). Vestimentary manifestations of group stereotypes: Expression and perception of clothing-based stereotypes using the example of climate activists [Poster presentation]. General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology, Krakow, Poland.

Bindal, Z., Kachel, S., & Roth, J. (2023, January 8). The influence of gender stereotypes on eating habits and alcohol consumption: A mixed methods approach [Poster presentation]. 1^st Gender & Diversity Research Day of the Rhineland-Palatine Technical University, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany.

Kachel, S.,& Nieber, L. (2022, Oktober 6–7). Establishing a critical perspective on phonetic gender research [Poster presentation]. Phonetik & Phonologie 18, Bielefeld, Deutschland.