Psychology of Women Chapter 5 Learning Objectives PDF

Psychology of Women Chapter 5 Learning Objectives Describe the history, mission, and benefits of HBCUs, specifically historically Black women’s colleges o Due to slavery, many White people feared that Black people learning to read and write would pose a threat first to the...

Psychology of Women Chapter 5 Learning Objectives Describe the history, mission, and benefits of HBCUs, specifically historically Black women’s colleges o Due to slavery, many White people feared that Black people learning to read and write would pose a threat first to the slave system and then to the power structure controlling free Black people in the United States o HBCUs were the first institutions that formally educated Black people, including Black girls and women ▪ The mission of HBCUs was training and educating Black people ▪ The majority of HBCUs were established from 1865 to 1900 o Black college students choose to attend HBCUs for primarily race-related reasons, such as the racial makeup of the institution and to develop their racial identity ▪ Given the barriers that Black students face at PWIs, such as racial insensitivity and isolation, and the positive academic and career outcomes of HBCU graduates, attending an HBCU is an attractive option for many Black students o Women’s HBCUs were first created to provide Black girls and women with academic opportunities across the educational pipeline ▪ On April 11, 1881, Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, which later become Spelman College, received initial support from the Woman’s American Baptist Home Mission Society ▪ Today, there are two historically Black colleges for women in the United States Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia ▪ Women’s HBCUs have notable success rates such that Black women HBCU graduates are more likely to receive an advanced degree or become a recognized leader in their field compared to Black women at coed HBCUs and PWI’s. o Black women’s colleges provide Black college women with sisterhood, traditions, careers, and leadership opportunities ▪ Noted for creating a culture of traditions that foster a sense of belonging  o Black women’s colleges provide support systems and identity-relevant benefits that increase enrollment and retention for Black women ▪ Women’s HBCUs foster an environment that fuels Black women’s understanding of self and others, cultivates a superior learning environment, provides positive role models, and encourages campus involvement Describe the educational experiences of Black girls relative to discrimination, influence of ability, influence of Black teachers and staff, and the criminalization of Black girls o Discrimination ▪ Many Black girls experience stereotypes and microaggressions (subtle discrimination) that lead them to question their own value and self- worth. May bring out feelings of inadequacy due to gendered racial biases and other forms of oppression ▪ Research has shown that Black girls may be perceived as being a threat to authority, loud, and insufficiently ladylike ▪ Social reproduction theory: Exploring how race and gender oppression are produced by capitalism Suggests that schools solidify or exaggerate the inequalities, children bring with them to school ▪ Black girls at predominantly white k-12 spaces (mentally and emotionally taxing) A 7-year old Black girl in first grade was playing with her hair in class when her elementary teacher asked her to stop and then called her to the front of the class, where she cut one of the little girl’s braids in half and sent her back to her desk ▪ Black girls experience lower academic achievement and harsher school discipline relative to their peer girl counterparts Black girls are perceived as being less innocent and more “adult like” compared to White girls ▪ Black youth may develop oppositional identity: a strong Black identity that is incompatible with pro-achievement behaviors and that opposes anything White  Some Black youth, academic success is associated with Whiteness o Some may see achieving in school as “White” and may engage in other behaviors to refute that association ▪ Social comparison: Comparing certain aspects of ourselves, such as behavior, opinions, status, and success, to other people to have a better assessment of ourselves Emerges in early school years among children ▪ The acting White accusation: The idea that Black adolescent’s ethnic/racial identity is perceived as being not “Black enough” by other adolescents or non-Black adolescents Example: Black girl may be called “an Oreo” or told “you are acting White” or “you dress like a White girl” o Influence of ability ▪ Black girls with disabilities are invisible yet hypervisible due to their triple marginalization due to their race, gender, and disability identities ▪ Still remains an underdiagnosis and under-treatment of ADHD among Black girls due to healthcare inequities and ignorance about symptoms like hyperactivity and impulsivity, which may manifest differently in girls Behaviors may be attributed to their personality style or hormonal changes, which may lead to Black girls being diagnosed later in adolescence or in adulthood ▪ Black girls’ literacies framework: Centers race and gender and foregrounds the use of reading and writing to foster community, with peer collaborations, and to encourage social change Provides Black girls with a learning disability a meaningful experience with learning how to read and write o Influence of Black teachers and staff ▪ Black women educators are deemed as mothers and can have a positive impact on their students  Black women teachers took on an “other-mother identity,” taking on the role of mother, having honest dialogue with their students, and recognizing the importance of creating strong connections to the community. ▪ Studies have found that perceiving higher levels of racial discrimination from teachers was associated with greater reports of depressive symptomatology among Black girls Educators express more interest in promoting the social, rather than academic, skills of Black girls relative to their White girl and body, and Black boy peers ▪ Psychological safety: The belief one will not be punished or rejected for speaking up or making a mistake Outcome of care-centered and culturally relevant pedagogies in urban classrooms that serve Black children Psychologically safe classrooms can be described as those where students feel cared for and heard; they promote academic achievement, stigma consciousness, and cultural competence o Criminalization of Black girls ▪ Black girls experience harsher school discipline compared to their girl peers from other racial/ethnic groups ▪ Gendered racial socialization messages communicated to Black girls from their families indicate that Black femininity requires Black girls to obtain academic achievement and education to be self-sufficient ▪ Black girls who experienced racial discrimination, it was associated with less engagement in academic and more negative psychological adjustment outcomes (e.g., stress) ▪ More research on Black girls places the blame on school punishment as the reason for the alarming rates of school-to-prison pipeline Identify the experiences of gifted Black adolescent girls o o Despite the criminalization of Black girls in school, Black girls are excelling academically, though it often may go unnoticed  ▪ Black girls are under-referred for gifted programming in their public schools Observational research in mixed-race classrooms showed that teachers did not describe Black girls as among the top students Only 10.8% of Black girls identified as gifted and talented, compared to 57.3% of White peers o Underrepresentation of Black students in gifted education is a national issue and can be attributed to inadequate access to gifted education placement and programming as well as teachers’ misperceptions of and biases against Black students ▪ Black girls’ academic achievement is often met with suspicion ▪ Gifted Black girls often have to fight for others, such as their non-Black teachers, to see their talents and gifts as achievements of success and not coincidental o When Black women’s and girls’ achievement is mentioned in research, it is often framed in reference to how Black boys are doing worse, rather than focusing on the academic success of Black girls ▪ High-achieving Black girls have a strong positive gender identity and are committed to social justice by centering issues of race, class, and gender in the Black community ▪ Black girls and women receive messages about making educational and career choices to the degree that education should be prioritized over other life choices Understand and describe Black women’s experiences of colorism in higher education o Colorism: A phenomenon deeply rooted in the United States that reinforces a hierarchy based on preference for lighter-skinned Black people ▪ Black college women perceived their dating experiences to be connected to their skin color, as their potential partners ascribed personality traits, attractiveness, and dating sustainability based on skin tone ▪ Black college women recognized a persistent preference for light skin in Black and White college contexts → negatively influenced how they thought of themselves and were treated by others Melanin message received early in life about lighter skin being more valued, beautiful, and favored over darker skin  o In an HBCU context, colorism is also perpetuated throughout the student body culture ▪ Example: Sororities and fraternities and homecoming courts (served as a space for skin-tone discrimination on HBCU campuses) Historically, HBCU homecoming courts were lighter-skinned ▪ HBCU Homecoming Queens, though the queens ranged in skin color, few women wore their hair in a non straightened style, which is an example of texturism, a preference for a certain type of hair Understand factors that promote retention and departure of Black girls and women in STEM o Black women in STEM experience double jeopardy and have lower representation than other groups including Black men o Academic preparation alone does not ensure the retention of Black women in STEM fields ▪ Factors that influence Black women’s persistence in STEM Lack of self-efficacy (“beliefs about personal capabilities”) o White men have higher levels of self-efficacy in STEM and are more likely to choose a STEM major, compared to women and men who belong to other racial/ethnic and gender groups Identity incompatibility with being a Black woman and a scientist o Greater identity incompatibility among women was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms o Identity interference: The pressures of one identity interfere with the performance of another identity ▪ Example: A Black woman chemist who feels like she must minimize her race and gender in her chemistry classes to fit in with her non-Black woman peers Lower levels of sense of belonging  o Sense of belonging, college students’ perception of support on campus, and feelings of connectedness to the campus community are shown to positively impact Black women’s persistence in STEM o Black college women having Black women and Black men role models in STEM positively related to belonging at their institution ▪ Role models served as Identity safety ques (A signal suggesting that one’s identity is valued in a given space) Stereotype threat Describe the college experiences of Black women with a disability, and LGBTQ+ Black women o Black College Women with a Disability ▪ Black college with a disability could include: Physical impairments that may make it difficult to walk upstairs Learning disability (e.g., auditory processing disorder [APD]; patients have difficulty processing sounds) Mental disorder (e.g., depression) o Experiences can add pressure and stress among Black college women and lead to negative self-talk ▪ Loewen (1993) Barriers to degree completion for college students with disabilities include: o Side effects of medication o Lack of faculty support o Stigmatization against their disability identity o Low self-esteem o Difficulty with focus and concentration  ▪ Scholars suggest that Black women with disabilities are the worst affected, as they face a triple burden of oppression based on their race, gender, and disability identities Black college women with disabilities may also experience discrimination by peers, staff, and professors Akin and Huang (2019) o Explored perceptions of nondisabled college students in a university setting of their peers with hidden (i.e., nonvisible) disabilities o Found that participants perceived students with nonvisible disabilities as less sociable, having less academic ability, and performing worse academically than students with nonhidden disabilities o Black LGBTQ College Women’s Experiences ▪ The climate of a campus plays a critical role in the psychosocial development of Black lesbian students due to racism, sexism, homophobia, and heterosexism on campus Lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Black women students often feel marginalized in higher education o Black LGBTQ women may struggle with coming out to their peers, faculty, and family, along with meeting societal norms on their college campuses ▪ Many college campus environments are not prepared to meet the needs of their LGBTQ students, especially Black women LGBTQ students, which is further impacted by acts of violence directed at these students Wall and Washington (1991) o Argue that students who are racial, gender, and sexual minorities may feel forced to select which identity they will prioritize above all others ▪ Particularly in predominantly Black friend groups or at HBCUs, receiving acceptance of Black women’s sexual or stigmatized transgender  identities within their racial group may pose difficulty as they are expected to deny or hide their sexual orientation or trans identity ▪ 22 historical women’s colleges, including Bennett College and Spelman College, have revised their admissions policies to include various gender identities that fall outside the gender binary Sparked by the rejection of a trans women applicant at Smith College, whose application was rejected because her gender on her application did not match the sex assigned at birth ▪ Nicolazzo (2016) Explored the experiences of Black nonbinary trans college students o Found these students could not separate their nonbinary trans identities from their Black racial identity; thus they had to carefully navigate between those identities ▪ Examples of college programs to support LGBTQ+ individuals: Living-learning communities focused on sexual orientation, gender identity, and social justice Affirming events to address mental health needs, among others Resources about LGBTQ+ issues shared with campus leaders Explain the ways in which Black women leaders in higher education experience discrimination and navigate academia. o Black women college presidents perceived that they had social perceptions and expectations of more strict standards of performance compared to their White woman counterparts o Women are rated lower than their male counterparts, and women falculty of color, rated worse than White women Identify some Black women who have been or are currently college presidents o Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune: Bethune Cookman University; 1923 (founder) o Dr. Johnetta B. Cole: Spelman College; 1987, Spelman College (first Black woman); 2002, Bennett College  o Dr. Ruth J. Simmons: Bennett College, Brown University, Smith College, Prairie View A&M University; 1995 Smith; 2001 Brown; 2017 Prairie View A&M University o Dr. Portia Holmes Shields: Albany State University; 1996 o Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum: Spelman College, 2002; Mount Holyoke College, 2022 o Dr. Carolyn Meyers: Jackson State University; 2010 o Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice: Morehouse School of Medicine; 2011 o Dr. Glenda Baskin Glover: Tennessee State University; 2013 o Dr. Elmira Mangum: Florida A&M University; 2014 o Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell: Spelman College; 2015 o Dr. Paula A. Johnson: Wellesley College; 2016 (first Black and Black woman) o Dr. LaVerne Harmon: Wilmington University; 2017 (first Black woman) o Dr. Lily D. McNair: Tuskegee University; 2018 o Dr. Lynn Perry Wooten: Simmons University; 2020 (first Black and Black woman) o Dr. Helene D. Gayle: Spelman College; 2022 o Dr. Jackie Jenkins-Scott: Roxbury Community College; 2022 o Dr. Claudine Gay: Harvard University; 2023 Describe the ways in which Black women are stereotyped in academia and how it might impact student course evaluations and tenure and promotion o Dr. Claudine Gay became the first Black and first Black woman college president in Harvard University’s history but was forced to resign after six months ▪ One example of anti-Blackness and White supremacy attacks in higher education and of the scrutiny that Black women face in higher education o Jean-Marie and Normore (2006)  ▪ Examined the experiences of Black women leaders at HBCUs and found that these leaders engaged in practices associated with social justice, understood the importance of community and racial uplift, and had a commitment to student success o Oikelome (2017) ▪ Conducted interviews to explore the perceived impact of race, gender, and other identity structures on the journey experiences of White and Black College women presidents Results showed that Black women college presidents perceived that they had social perceptions and expectations of more strict standards of performance compared to their White women counterparts o The double bind of racial and gender discrimination of Black women faculty leads other faculty, staff, and students to perceive Black women faculty as being less intelligent, less capable, and more aggressive, which consequently impacts ratings on student course evaluations and tenure and promotion (T&P) decisions ▪ T&P decisions are made after an assistant professor has been at the institution for about five or six years (depending on the institution) and are evaluated by other professors in their field (external reviewers), tenured department colleagues, tenured colleagues at institution (outside of their department), senior administrators (e.g., provost, dean, college president), and the board of Trustees on teaching, scholarship, and service activities ▪ If faculty are denied tenure or promotion, they will have to leave the institution. o Students and staff expect Black women faculty to be more caring, less strict, and act as “mothers.” ▪ Black women oftentimes are confronted with the dilemma of whether they should be warmer and change course policies to ensure that they get positive student course evaluations or proceed with being more of their authentic selves and possibly risk receiving less favorable evaluations ▪ Research has shown that when women’s faculty have strict course policies (e.g., on tardiness or attendance), they are met with more pushback than a male professor with strict course policies Several studies have shown that women are rated lower than their male counterparts, and women faculty of color, such as Black women, are rated worse than White instructors.  o Mammy stereotype → students and colleagues may expect Black women faculty members to engage in more service to others and comfort others who may question their abilities ▪ Due to these stereotypes, Black women faculty are often pressured to mentor all students of color and work twice as hard to be deemed equal to their non-Black woman counterparts, which ultimately could lead to burnout Explain the unique experiences of Black women faculty at HBCUs o An educational community can provide Black women faculty with strong support, in spite of the history of systemic racism and sexism that exists within higher education in the United States o An authenticity exists for Black women faculty at HBCUs, also known as safe spaces for excellence, innovation, collaboration, teaching, and affirming authentic relationships between faculty members. o Black women faculty are the backbones of these institutions through safeguarding student achievement by providing HBCU students extra support, even beyond basic curricular and educational needs. ▪ Example: Many HBCU Black women faculty often will intentionally mentor their students and reach out to their students if they notice a shift in the student’s behavior o Del Priore (2022) ▪ In some instances, Black women faculty may not feel they have a place on campus to feel safe from any form of discrimination, such as racism by their White colleagues, or other forms of oppression, such as sexism, ageism, or heterosexism, by Black men and non-Black colleagues. Some participants expressed that, in its entirety, the HBCU is a safe space; thus, no safe spaces are needed. Understand how academic culture perpetuates frenemies among Black women. o In general, academia is characteristically competitive, and scholars are warned to “publish or perish” and are rewarded for engaging in self-promotion to ensure they are recognized for their work.  ▪ When there are few Black women faculty people → greater potential for pitting Black women against one another despite the potential for them to support one another o “Frenemy”: A woman or girl who engages in relational aggressive behaviors (experiences of rejection and of others spreading gossip and rumors) to advance her social or professional position ▪ Scholars argue that frenemies among Black women in institutions of higher education may arise because some Black women academics seek proximity to the properties of Whiteness and smartness that are typically afforded to White heterosexual, able-bodied men. o Williams and Packer-Williams (2019) ▪ Collected data through personal narratives in the form of journaling to explore Black women’s experiences of frenemies in academia Participants discussed how they experienced relational aggression from their senior and junior colleagues when they became sough- after speakers, guest lecturers, and committee members across the campus and nationwide. Describe the main findings on the experiences of Black women graduate students. o Black women doctoral students face a unique set of barriers that can impact their success and how they navigate their graduate experiences. ▪ Research shows that Black women on the path to a doctorate degree often have to contend with a chilly reception from peers and faculty who assume that their admission was due to affirmative action or lowered standards. Scholars argue that Black women graduate students in doctoral programs must navigate a hidden curriculum, which is a curriculum of unwritten rules on how to act and thrive in graduate school. ▪ Black women graduate students often deal with invisibility, isolation, marginalization, exclusion, lack of resources, tokenism, and poor mentorship. Explain how motivation, mentorship, religion/spirituality, and the imposter phenomenon influence the academic adjustment for Black women. o Motivation  ▪ Intrinsic motivation: Engaging in a behavior as a personal reward One factor that has been shown to influence this motivation among Black women is confidence (an individual’s belief in their ability to perform a task, also known as self-efficacy) ▪ Thomas et al. (2009) Conducted research on Black women attending two HBCUs and two PWIs o Found that Black college women who had great confidence in their ability to succeed in school tended to be motivated for intrinsic reasons and reported higher levels of academic adjustment ▪ Phenomenon of psychological competence theory: The ability to have control over one’s life to cope with specific problems effectively and make changes to one’s behavior and one’s environment o Mentorship ▪ Mentoring: A relationship in which a more experienced professional provides guidance, teaches, trains, and offers counsel to a less skilled student or professional Example: A professor mentoring their students during an undergraduate research experience ▪ Formal mentoring: A relationship between the mentor and mentee in which the mentor may provide social capital needed for career advancement, while informal mentoring relationships provide encouragement ▪ Informal mentoring: Mentoring that occurs when mentors and mentees connect through casual contexts such as providing emotional support and guidance May develop when there is a scarcity of Black women in academic settings or when Black women may have competing demands and not have time to develop more formal mentor relationships with other Black women o Religion/spirituality ▪ Walker and Dixon (2002)  Quantitatively examined religious participation in Black and White college students. Findings showed a positive relationship between religious participation and academic performance for both groups, where greater involvement in religious activities was associated with higher grades in school. o Imposter phenomemon ▪ Imposter phenomenon (IP): A psychological experience of feeling intellectually inadequate and attributing success to external factors, such as luck IP is feeling that you “don’t belong” or fit in within a given space, such as college. ▪ Black college students are more prone to experience IP because they are expected to confront stereotypes about being unintellectual and negotiate experiences of discrimination and isolation. The idea of being “other” and inferior may leave a Black woman feeling the need to prove her ability. ▪ There are negative psychological outcomes associated with experiences of IP, as those who experience IP may be at greater risk for poor psychological adjustment and negative mental health outcomes beyond minority-status stress Explain how race and gender impact mentoring outcomes for Black women. ▪ Some scholars argue that not all same-race-and-gender mentoring relationships between Black women in psychology will be effective or beneficial Jernigan et al. (2010) o Found that having a same-race mentor/supervisor does not necessarily guarantee a positive mentorship relationship. Rather, congruence between the mentor and mentee in terms of their racial identity stage may be more relevant to the effectiveness of the relationship. o The level of Black racial identity development (i.e., whether and how being Black is an important part of one’s  self-concept) of the mentor and mentee may affect the quality of the mentoring relationship between Black women in psychology. ▪ Similarities among mentoring, including race/ethnicity and gender, have been shown to foster effective communication and a trusting relationship. Black women attending HBCUs, and more specifically, women’s HBCUs (who typically employ more Black women faculty than PWIs), viewed their relationships with their professors as positive compared to their peers at PWIs ▪ Patton and Harper (2003) Mentoring relationships with Black women provided academic guidance, career advice, nurturing, mothering, and counsel on the complexities of race and gender. Describe how a womanist approach can be used to counteract the effects of the imposter phenomenon on Black women in higher education. o A womanist approach: How the history and everyday experiences of Black women can be connected with experiences of marginalization and mental health concerns ▪ May help validate Black women’s experiences of oppression and simultaneously dismantle the IP narrative by empowering Black women to rewrite the narrative of controlling stereotypical images ▪ Using a womanist approach to addressing IP for Black college women may include: Cultivating validating connections to other Black women Encouraging reflection on experiences of empowerment Social justice activism through acts of serving and honoring others and the environment