Feminist Perspectives on Building a Better Psychological Science of Gender

Tomi-Ann Roberts Tomi-Ann Roberts is Professor and Chair of Psychology at Colorado College, where she teaches courses on gender, feminist research methodologies, personality and emotions. Her research focuses on the psychological consequences of the sexualization and objectification of girls and women. The first paper she co-authored on this topic is the most cited article in the 35-year history of the journal Psychology of Women Quarterly. She served on the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, is coauthor of the Sexualization of Girls and Girlhood: Causes, Consequences and Resistance (Oxford), and continues to work on both empirical research, applied consulting work, and advocacy efforts to improve the lives of girls and women by enhancing their relationship to their embodied selves. Nicola Curtin Nicola Curtin is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Clark University and Visiting Research Associate at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. Her primary line of research examines the roles of life experiences, individual differences, and social identities in commitments to creating social change, with a particular emphasis on ally and coalitional activism. She explores the development of social change attitudes and behaviors across different social contexts, with a focus on United States identity-based rights activism. In a secondary line of research, she examines perceptions of fit and success in academia, focusing on the role of marginal statuses (such as being a working class or international student), advisor support, and academic and professional experiences among graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. In both lines of research she is concerned with how one's social group membership can combine with other features of the social context to generate positive outcomes. Lauren E. Duncan Lauren E. Duncan is Professor of Psychology at Smith College. She earned degrees in Personality Psychology and Women's Studies and teaches courses in the Psychology of Women and Gender, Political Psychology, and the Psychology of Political Activism. Her research interests include understanding how social events shape people's life outcomes and how individuals become motivated to change society or maintain the status quo. She is teaching a free MOOC (massive open online course) called Psychology of Political Activism: Women Changing the World on the edX platform and is currently working on a psychobiography of Gloria Steinem for an Oxford series on Inner Lives. She is a Fellow of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (APA Division 9). Lilia M. Cortina Lilia M. Cortina is Professor of Psychology, Women's Studies, and (by courtesy) Management & Organizations at the University of Michigan. Her research revolves around workplace victimization, which can range from subtle social slights to general disrespect to blatant harassment and violence. One line of this work addresses harassment based on sex, sexuality, and gender - focusing on the contours and consequences of harassing experiences. In another research stream, Lilia investigates workplace incivility: everyday rude, condescending, and ostracizing acts that violate social norms of respect. In addition, she periodically serves as an expert witness, translating findings from science to inform policy and legal decision-making surrounding sexual harassment. In recognition of unusual and outstanding contributions to the field, Professor Cortina has been named Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

Foreword: Feminist Psychological Science and the Future of Gender Research.- Chapter 1: Introduction: Building a Better Psychological Science of Gender: Reflections on Theory, Research and Action.- Section I: Theory and Research Taking Gender Beyond Difference.- Chapter 2: Scientific Weightism: A View of Mainstream Weight Stigma Research Through a Feminist Lens.- Chapter 3: Death and the Real Girl: The Impact of Mortality Salience on Men's Attraction to Women as Objects.- Chapter 4: Embodiment and Well Being: The Embodied Journeys of Girls and Women.- Chapter 5: Feminist Perspectives on Gender Development: Contributions to Theory and Practice.- Chapter 6: Feminism and the Study of Masculinity: Unlikely Bedfellows?.- Chapter 7: Gendered Autobiographical Memory: Feminist Approaches to Theory and Method.- Chapter 8: The Development of Other-Gender Interactions: Behavioral, Biological, Cognitive, and Contextual Influences.- Section II: Feminist Psychologists Reflect on Research in Their Subdisciplines.- Chapter 9: Digging Deeper: Research Practices and Recommendations for Exploring Intersectionality and Social and Cultural Influences on Personality, Identity, and Well-Being.- Chapter 10: Adventures in Feminist Health Psychology: Teaching About and Conducting Feminist Psychological Science.- Chapter 11: Intersectionality: Infusing I-O Psychology with Feminist Thought.- Chapter 12: Voicing Academia: Developmental Psychology and the Loss of Voice.- Chapter 13: New Perspectives on Gender and Emotion.- Chapter 14: Beyond Difference: Gender as a Quality of Social Settings.- Section III: From Theory and Research to Action: Best Practices in Feminist Psychological Science.- Chapter 15: Replacing Sexy and Skinny with Strong and Powerful: How Feminist Research on Media Depictions of Women can Effect Change.- Chapter 16: Mind the Thigh Gap? Bringing Feminist Psychological Science to the Masses.- Chapter 17: Transnational Feminism in Psychology: Moving Beyond Difference to Investigate Processes of Power at the Intersection of the Global and Local.- Chapter 18: Feminist Psychologists and Institutional Change in Universities.- Chapter 19: Walking The Walk: Conducting Feminist Community-Based Research.- Chapter 20: The Benefits and Risks of Feminist Practice as Early Career Scholars in Social Psychology.- Chapter 21: Conclusion: Adventures in Feminist Psychological Science: Lessons Learned and a Look to What Lies Ahead.