Sarah J. Gervais - US grants

This research applies a scientific framework to examine the effects of actions that male workers direct toward female coworkers on judgments of harassment, emotional reactions, and work performance for people who experience the action (e.g., potential complainants). In addition, it tests differences between those who experience the alleged harassment, those who observe the alleged harassment (e.g., co-workers and witnesses), and those who predict the potential impact of the action from indirect evidence of it (e.g., judges and juries). Preliminary work by the PIs has shown that predictors expect those who experience the action to report more harassment, more negative emotions, and more performance decrements than experiencers of actions actually report. The research relies on a model of legal decision-making to better understand the influence of interpersonal interaction, affective forecasting, and the roles of pervasiveness and severity of the misconduct. Specifically, the research addresses: 1) How severe or pervasive must misconduct be to trigger reactions among complainants, witnesses, and judges and juries to satisfy the legal requirements of hostile work environment harassment? 2) Do different levels of experienced and anticipated emotion explain these reactions? And, 3) what are the differences in reactions between potential complainants, witnesses, and juries/judges? To examine these questions, the PIs will conduct a coordinated set of 3 experimental studies in which student and community participants experience, observe, and predict the impact of actions, which vary in severity and pervasiveness, to test the effects on harassment judgments, emotions, and work performance.

This work has the potential to generate new knowledge with theoretical and practical significance. The findings will explain how certain forms of interpersonal interaction affect harassment perceptions, emotions, and work performance from the perspectives of complainants, potential witness, and judges, jurors, and mediators. It also provides a model and potential intervention to explain and reduce the differences between these entities.

Abstract It is well established that sexual violence causes varied and severe health problems for women, including PTSD, depression, substance use, and suicidal ideation. Furthermore, alcohol use is inextricably linked to sexual violence, with the majority of sexual assaults occurring when the perpetrator, victim, or both have been drinking. This public health problem has generated a tremendous amount of research interest in recent years, focused mostly on identifying broad risk factors associated with this phenomenon. Yet, it remains unclear when, why, and for whom alcohol causes sexual assault perpetration or victimization. Developing new etiological models of alcohol-involved sexual violence is critical for the creation of effective programs to reduce sexual assault risk. In response to this significant need, the present project integrates previous research on factors associated with alcohol-involved sexual assault, with research on how intoxication alters attention and social perceptions in ways that increase the risk of sexual aggression and victimization. Specifically, this project examines how alcohol intoxication on the part of a male perpetrator impairs attentional capacity and leads to a narrowing of the perceptual field causing a dehumanizing perspective of women as sexual objects for men's pleasure rather than individuals with thoughts and feelings, thereby increasing the propensity for sexual aggression. The present research also examines whether women's responses to this sexual objectification from men interfere with risk perception in sexual situations, particularly when women are drinking, increasing the likelihood of sexual victimization. These propositions will be tested in the context of two carefully controlled laboratory studies. Together, these studies will provide a comprehensive test of our proposed model of alcohol-involved sexual assault that includes situation-specific mechanisms and key moderators of sexual violence. Findings from this project will inform prevention programs that can reduce the deleterious health problems associated with alcohol-involved sexual violence.