Year of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

Clinical Psychology

Department or School/College

Psychology

Committee Chair

Dr. Caitlin Martin-Wagar

Commitee Members

Dr. Caitlin Martin-Wagar, Dr. Hillary Powell, Dr. Meghan Cullinan

Keywords

objectification, dehumanization, sense of power, desire for power

Subject Categories

Clinical Psychology | Social Psychology

Abstract

Objectification Theory (OT) states that women’s humanity is reduced to being a physical object whose sole purpose is to give men physical pleasure; OT explains why men objectify women, and why women objectify themselves, but does not explain why women objectify other women (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Research has found that participants primed to experience high- or low-power objectified others in a work relationship more than those primed to experience equal-power (Schaerer et al., 2018). The current study aimed to examine if this finding would replicate to women engaging in sexual and beauty objectification and dehumanization towards other women. 330 cisgender, heterosexual college women were primed to experience high-, equal-, or low-power via a writing prompt. After being primed to a power condition, participants filled out measures of sexual objectification, beauty objectification, dehumanization, sense of power, and desire for power. A multivariate analysis of covariance was used to determine if beauty objectification, sexual objectification, or dehumanization varied by power condition. No significant differences were detected. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to examine if a continuous sense of power variable could predict women’s beauty objectification, sexual objectification, or dehumanization of others. Results indicated that sense of power is related to objectification and dehumanization, but their relationships with sense of power differ. Sexual objectification has a curvilinear relationship with sense of power, dehumanization has a linear positive association with sense of power, and beauty objectification has no relationship with sense of power. If we understand what levels of power lead to the greatest objectification and dehumanization, we can identify who to target when creating prevention methods for objectification and dehumanization. Objectification and dehumanization were not related to the primed power condition but were related to a continuous self-report measure of sense of power. This finding indicates that there may be some limitations of priming participants to a temporary (state) power condition rather than assessing the impact of trait power levels. Future research should work to identify what trait power levels are associated with objectification and dehumanization. Those findings can then be used in objectification and dehumanization prevention and intervention efforts.

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© Copyright 2024 Sarah E. Attaway