Overview

• Discrimination of applicants based on their sexual orientation: An experimental research approach
• Voice stereotypes toward women and men differing in sexual orientations: A combination of production-oriented and perceptive approaches
• Media, democracy and citizens (MeDeCi): Fragmented media environments and their impact on political information processing and decisions
• Men who care: The internal route to men’s engagement in communal roles by the example of paternal leave
• “We promise full employment till 2025“ - About the effects of pre-election promises on voter turnout and vote decision
• SERIOR (SEcurity-RIsk-ORientation)
• Interactions between visual and auditive information while perceiving gender and ethnicity
• Social diversity and confidence
• Effects from pre-election promises on trust in politicians and citizens´ vote decision
• Discrimination of women in the case of the appraisal of aptitudes regarding leadership positions: Can social competence be seen as a disadvantage?
• Memory with respect to actions: Are sequences of action remembered better after having them executed than after observation or learning?
• How heterosexual family members deal with a late coming-out in the family
• Discriminated twice or well integrated? About the life situation of lesbians and gays with migration background
• Social discrimination based on relative chronic categorization: The role of in-group projection

Discrimination of applicants based on their sexual orientation: An experimental research approach

Research proposal: During the first funding period it was the overarching aim of the project to understand if discrimination at work can be explained based on sexual orientation, by observing the matching between the perceived masculinity/femininity of professions and applicants. Here the “model of inadequate matching“ should be applied to the social category of sexual orientation. Based on the stereotype that gays and lesbians transgress traditional gender roles they should, other than heterosexuals, be looked at regarding both central dimensions of the stereotype content model. Concretely, it should be attributed more communion (community orientation, friendlyness) to gays than to heterosexual men. Conversely, it should be attributed more agency (task orientation, including professional expertise) to lesbians than to heterosexual women. To pursue this goal there were conducted 19 experiments overall. A large part of the results matched the hypotheses and was replicated repeatedly (e.g. to attribute community orientation to gays). By contrast, other results were unexpected and cannot be explained using existing models; in particular this was the case with results regarding intersections of identities (also labelled as non-prototypical identities, e.g. lesbians of Turkish origin in Germany). These were evaluated as especially positive in many of our experiments, deviating from exisitng stereotypes. The overarching aim of the second funding period consists in examining the processes which underly (positive and negative) discrimination based on intersections of different identity categories in work contexts. Results regarding intersections of identities should be used to revise and extend existing models. Concretely, we will examine under which conditions the assumption that applicants with non prototypical identities had experienced discrimination leads to positive judgements on them (goal 1). These activities should help also to explain the previous results. Goal 2 consists of developing extended research paradigms to test more general under which conditions non prototypical applicants are protected against discrimination and how this relates to qualities of the judging persons. The final goal is the integration of the results into an extended theoretical model (goal 3). 

Funded by: German Research Foundation

Principal investigator: Melanie C. Steffens

Staff: Claudia Niedlich, Sven Kachel, Elena Ball 

Duration: 2014 - 2025

Voice stereotypes toward women and men differing in sexual orientations: A combination of production-oriented and perceptive approaches

Research proposal: Voice stereotypes with regard to sexual orientations are widespread and are perpetuated for instance by representations in the media (e.g., gay lisp). Studies within the framework of production-oriented approaches examine the accuracy of voice stereotypes by focussing on acoustic differences between speakers. They attempt to answer the question whether and in which voice characteristics gay and straight men differ – less frequently these studies focus on women. So far, the evidence of these studies is inconsistent. In our own preliminary work we could show evidence for the importance of context factors. Aim 1 of the present research proposal is to clarify the inconsistent findings by examining systematically language related (e.g., topic of the text) and situational context factors (e.g.,  gender of the interlocutor) and relating these to characteristics of female and male speakers (e.g., self-ascribed masculinity/femininity). Studies within the framework of perceptive approaches examine the content of voice stereotypes by correlating listeners' sexual orientation ratings with speakers' vocal characteristics. To illuminate the as well inconsistent findings of these studies, aim 2 is to use an experimental design for the auditive perception of sexual orientation. Therebey, voice morphing as a new method is introduced into this research area. We will examine which voice parameters contribute to the classification of sexual orientation. For instance, selected acoustic parameters (e.g., fundamental frequency) of straight voices are transferred to those of lesbian/gay voices to different degrees whereby the remaining acoustic parameters are kept constant. Afterwards, a sample of listenters rate the sexual orientation and masculinity/femininity of the generated stimuli. By combining production-oriented and perceptive approaches, possible discrepancies between the expression (speakers) and perception (listeners) of sexual oreintation can be identified. Additionally, the auditive perception of sexual orientation is actually conceptualized as a communicative act. Based on this, aim 3 is to conduct a comprehensive meta-analysis of all relevant studies in this area and to refine and expand the Expression and Perception of Sexual Orientation Model which was developed by the PI during his PhD. The overaching purpose of the present research project is to explain under which conditions stereotypical speech is used to mark sexual orientation and which voice parameters will cause the impression of a certain sexual orientation. Thereby, starting points for evidence-based anti-discrimination work as well as for speech therapy interventions can be established in practice.

Funded by: German Research Foundation

Principal investigator: Sven Kachel

In cooperation with: Melanie C. Steffens 

Duration: 2019-2021

Media, democracy and citizens (MeDeCi): Fragmented media environments and their impact on political information processing and decisions

The interdisciplinary research group unifies scientists from communication sciences, political sciences, and psychology: B. Hilbig, J. Maier, M. Maier, G. Reese, S. Rudert, M. Steffens, C. von Sikorski, S. Winter, E. Bytzek, F. Ehrke, K. Knop, C. Oschatz, and I. Thielmann.

Men who care: The internal route to men’s engagement in communal roles by the example of paternal leave

Research proposal: Men remain underrepresented in traditionally female care roles such as paternal leave. This underrepresentation causes men as well as their families to miss out on the benefits associated with men's increased engagement in such roles. The project identifies currently understudied internal contributors to men's interest in paternal leave and other care roles. First, we examine the effect of male prototypes and the degree to which agency and communion are integrated in such on drawing men towards care roles. Second, we propose that men being drawn towards such roles can be observed in their possible selves, the self-concepts they have for their future. These future-oriented self-concepts are in turn likely to impact men's paternal leave-taking. Third, we examine barriers and facilitators in men’s normative environment for developing and realizing their communal intentions across the transition to parenthood. Lastly, we examine how the transition to parenthood and men’s leave-taking decision can in turn shape their internalization of communion in male (and father) prototypes. With this project, we aim to increase our understanding of internal barriers to men's engagement in care roles such as paternal leave and to provide broader insights into processes that can maintain or challenge gender inequality.

Funded by: FWO (Research Foundation Flanders)

Attrivuted to: Carolin Scheifele

Project management: Colette Van Laar, Melanie C. Steffens

Duration: 2019-2023

“We promise full employment till 2025“ - About the effects of pre-election promises on voter turnout and vote decision

Research proposal: Pre-election promises are one of the most important instruments of electoral campaigns, however, their effects on voter turnout and vote decisions are unexplored until now. This is astonishing because pre-election promises fulfil an important democratic function: they give information about the political offer and determine the scale with which the government´s action over the last years can be evaluated. Thus, pre-election promises play an important role during electoral campaigns and can influence voters in two different ways: On the one hand the decision to vote because pre-electoral promises can uncover programmatic differences between parties which has a mobilizing effect. On the other hand by means of pre-electoral promises it should be easier for voters to choose a party which matches their political wantings. The research questions of the present project are as follows: Which effects do pre-electoral promises made by parties have on voter turnout and vote decision? To answer these questions we use an interdisciplinary approach by combining political science and psychological approaches. In the foreground there are experimental studies, additionally, one study is conducted over a longer time period which reflects the dynamic information context  during an electoral campaign. 

Funded by: Fritz Thyssen Stiftung

Principal investigators: Evelyn Bytzek, Melanie C. Steffens

Duration: 07/2018 to 06/2021

SERIOR (Security-RIsk-ORientation)

Funded by: European Fund for Regional Development (EFRE) & Interreg Oberrhein

Staff: Franziska Ehrke

Duration: 2016-2018

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Interactions between visual and auditive information while perceiving gender and ethnicity

(as part of the DFG research group “Person Perception“)

Research proposal: General postulates with regard to the perception of gender and ethnicity are often made based on very simplifying stimuli, static faces or only group labels. Often is postulated that gender, ethnicity, and age are fundamental social categories which are processed automatically. It is the aim of the requested project to test if typical results regarding the automaticity with respect to perceptions of gender and ethnicity can be generalized to more complex and ecological valid multimodal stimuli. As we assume certain modalities are privileged to process certain social categories. Further we examine if social categorization is depending on the egalitarian attitudes of the participants. First we compare the categorization regarding gender and ethnicity with respect to different conditions of presentation (e.g. visual vs. visual + auditive) and examine relationships with the attitudes of the participants. Second, using the more complex visual-auditive stimuli we examine if typical in-group and out-group differentiationes (e.g. Germans vs. Foreigners) can be replicated when regional dialects facilitate a more subtle social categorization. Third, we additionally use event correlated potentials to examine the neuronal correlates with respect to gender and ethnicity categorizations. Finally, we examine the role of olfactoric stimuli besides the visual and auditive ones. As outcome we expect that models regarding the perception of persons have to be specified with respect to the early integration of social informartion from different modalities.

Funded by: German Research Foundation

Principal Investigator: Melanie C. Steffens

Staff: Tamara Rakic (Lancaster University), Adrian P. Simpson (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena), Sven Kachel

Duration: 2009-2017 (two funding periods)

Social diversity and trust

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Funded by: Ministry for Education, Science, Further Education, and Culture in the State of Rhineland-Palatinate

Principal Investigators: Melanie C. Steffens, Susanne Bruckmüller

Staff: Franziska Ehrke

Duration: 2014-2016

Effects from pre-election promises on trust in politicians and citizens´ vote decision

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Funded by: Ministry for Education, Science, Further Education, and Culture in the State of Rhineland-Palatinate

Principal Investigators: Melanie C. Steffens, Evelyn Bytzek

Staff: Julia Dupont, Frank M. Schneider (University of Mannheim)

Duration: 2014-2016

Memory with respect to actions: Are sequences of action remembered better after having them executed than after observation or learning?

Research proposal: Subject matter of the project is the systematic comparison of the learning conditions execution of action, observation and verbal learning regarding the memory with respect to sequences of action. Actions which are executed by oneself are remembered especially well. To have a stringent experimental control over potentially falsifying boundary conditions in the numerous research papers regarding the advantage of action (Do-effect, enactment effect, SPT effect) there have been applied nearly exclusively lists of very simplified “actions“ (verb-object-phrases as “breaking the matchstick“). Up to now there is no evidence that even the execution of more complex sequences of action causes better learning performance. Also the memory processes  which underly the advantage of action seem to justify doubts that it is generalizable to sequences of action. We postulate that the execution of action increases the item-specific processing of particular parts of action, at an expense of the relations between them and at an expense of inferences regarding the target structure of sequences. The representation of the target structure should be critical for the reproduction of a sequence of action. With regard to different sequences of action under different learning conditions the memory performance and underlying processes are tested. The desired outcome is the clarification of the question in what way the execution of structured goal-driven sequences of action changes their mental representation.

Here you find a summary of the project´s outcomes

Funded by: German Research Foundation

Principal Investigator: Melanie C. Steffens

Staff: Janette Schult, Rul von Stülpnagel

Duration: 2007-2015 (two funding periods)

How heterosexual family members deal with a late coming-out in the family

Here you find a report regarding the outcomes of the project

Funded by: German Association of Lesbians and Gays

Principal Investigators: Melanie C. Steffens, Janine Dieckmann

Duration: 2013-2014

Discrimination of women in the case of the appraisal of aptitudes regarding leadership positions: Can social competence be seen as a disadvantage?

Research proposal: As striking the underrepresentation of women at the highest management levels may be, as difficult is it to prove concrete reasons for this. We focus on gender stereotypes and institutional parameters. Studies regarding selection decisions with respect to parallelized qualification have shown that womens´ competence generally is evaluated equally compared to that of men; by contrast there is still a social competence stereotype with respect to women. The change of gender stereotypes in that direction that women generally are seen as equally competent regarding professional expertise but as more socially competent than men has threatening implications for the societal position of men as the social dominant group. Compliant with the theory of social dominance subtle mechanisms to maintain social hierarchies should keep away women from ascending to leadership positions. The mechanism postulated by us is that higher social competence can be a disadvantage with respect to success in application situations. We test under which circumstances women are evaluated worse than men in fictitious job interviews and if this gender gap can be ascribed to differences regarding social competence.

Funded by: Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Principal Investigators: Melanie C. Steffens, Irena Ebert

Duration: 2010-2013 

Discriminated twice or well integrated? About the life situation of lesbians and gays with migration background

Research proposal: Lesbians and gays with migration background are a stigmatized minority in two different ways, which is why they are confronted with specific problems and have to find solution processes regarding these difficulties. With respect to Germany until now there are no comprehensive empirical studies related to life situation, problems and their consequences for the psychological health regarding lesbians and gays with migration background. Within the framework of the project which is presented here after having done a qualitative study (i.e. interviews) a quantitative survey study was conducted, participants were lesbians and gays with migration background and as reference group lesbians and gays without migration background.

Here you find a report regarding the outcomes

Funded by: German Association of Lesbians and Gays

Principal Investigators: Melanie C. Steffens

Staff: Michael Bergert

Duration: 2009-2010

Social discrimination based on relative chronic categorization: The role of in-group projection

(as part of the DFG research group “Discrimination and Tolerance in Intergroup Relations“)

Research proposal: The aim of the project is the examination of evaluations in a intergroup context and how discrimination and tolerance arise from these. For this purpose the in-group projection model (IPM) should be tested in a structurally new intergroup context to obtain critical evidence which is informative with regard to the scope of the model. The context which is targeted here is the intergroup relationship between the heterosexual majority and the homosexual minority. Characteristics of these intergroup relationships are (i) high relevant relatively chronic and salient in-groups (biological sex), crossed with majority and minority; (ii) between the groups can be observed tolerance as well as discrimination. From this one can derive not yet tested predictions about projection processes which should be moderated by the activation of different superordinate categories. Due to this intergroup situation our planned activities are beyond the scope of existing research regarding the IPM in two additional ways. The processes postulated in the model are automatic processes whose result not necessarily is conscious and expressed directly. Thus, in addition to the explicit measures which until now have been applied to test models implicit ones should be used. Moreover, the self´s projection onto the in-group should be considered as a moderating factor of the relationship between in-group projection and out-group discrimination. As part of the targeted model tests open questions from the research area of attitudes toward lesbians and gays can be clarified as an additional desirable benefit: The theoretical incorporation of many outcomes on this is poor and the intergroup perspective is lacking completely. Thus, the perspective of the IPM should be very productive.

Here you find a summary of the outcomes from the research group "Discrimination and Tolerance in Intergroup Relations"

Funded by: German Research Community 

Principal Investigators: Melanie C. Steffens. Kai J. Jonas

Staff: Gerhard Reese

Duration: 2005-2008 (first funding period), 2008-2010 (second funding period)