We ’re More Willing To Engage With Sexists If We Think They Are Intelligent

By Emily Reynolds For many readers, the idea of interacting with an overtly sexist person probably doesn’t sound particularly appealing — yet in many instances we do continue to engage with those who espouse sexist views. A new study, authored by Elena Agadullina from Russia’s National Research University Higher School of Economics, finds one factor that could determine whether we are likely to want to interact with a perpetrator of sexism: their intelligence. Participants preferred to interact with intelligent people — even those who had engaged in sexist behaviour. Participants, 348 Russian students, were sorted into three conditions. All read descriptions of a man named Peter; in one condition, Peter was described as having an IQ of 130; in another, Peter had a below average IQ of 100; and in the control condition participants received no information about his intelligence. They were then separated into further conditions. In the sexist condition, Peter was described as someone who believes that women are not as intelligent as men, and that they should therefore work only on household chores, while participants in the non-sexist condition read that Peter believed women should have equal rights and opportunities. Finally, participants indicated how willing they would be to develop a relationship with Peter, be friends with him, or interact with him in everyday life (these were combined into a single measure of willingness to interact with Peter in the ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Intelligence Misogyny Social Source Type: blogs