On Intersectionality: How Complex Patterns of Discrimination Can Emerge From Simple Stereotypes

Effects of age-based stereotype threat on time-based prospective memory

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of a blatant activation of age-based stereotype threats (ABST) on time-based prospective memory (TBPM) in older adults. A sample of 74 adults from Hong Kong was randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions: the stereotyped condition (n = 36) or the neutral condition (n = 38). Participants were asked to read fictitious news reports related to dementia (stereotyped condition) or the importance of English oral skills (neutral condition). After, all participants performed a TBPM task using the Chinese lexical decision task as an ongoing task block. The results indicate a main effect of ABST on TBPM accuracy. Specifically, older adults under a blatant activation of ABST demonstrated lower TBPM accuracy (p < 0.05, ηp2 = 0.08). Further analyses based on age groups demonstrated that TBPM accuracy was only impaired in older participants (aged 70-80 years) (p < 0.05, ηp2 = 0.19). The study, for the first time, provides evidence that ABST can disrupt TBPM performance in older adults, especially when cues are blatantly activated.

Extracting intersectional stereotypes from embeddings: Developing and validating the Flexible Intersectional Stereotype Extraction procedure

Social group-based identities intersect. The meaning of "woman" is modulated by adding social class as in "rich woman" or "poor woman." How does such intersectionality operate at-scale in everyday language? Which intersections dominate (are most frequent)? What qualities (positivity, competence, warmth) are ascribed to each intersection? In this study, we make it possible to address such questions by developing a stepwise procedure, Flexible Intersectional Stereotype Extraction (FISE), applied to word embeddings (GloVe; BERT) trained on billions of words of English Internet text, revealing insights into intersectional stereotypes. First, applying FISE to occupation stereotypes across intersections of gender, race, and class showed alignment with ground-truth data on occupation demographics, providing initial validation. Second, applying FISE to trait adjectives showed strong androcentrism (Men) and ethnocentrism (White) in dominating everyday English language (e.g. White + Men are associated with 59% of traits; Black + Women with 5%). Associated traits also revealed intersectional differences: advantaged intersectional groups, especially intersections involving Rich, had more common, positive, warm, competent, and dominant trait associates. Together, the empirical insights from FISE illustrate its utility for transparently and efficiently quantifying intersectional stereotypes in existing large text corpora, with potential to expand intersectionality research across unprecedented time and place. This project further sets up the infrastructure necessary to pursue new research on the emergent properties of intersectional identities.

How Much Bullying and Discrimination Are Reported by Sexual and Gender Minorities in Orthopaedics?

BACKGROUND

Discriminatory practices against minority populations are prominent, especially in the workplace. In particular, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) individuals experience several barriers and stressors more often than individuals who do not identify as LGBTQ+. Mistreatment is common among these individuals in their personal and professional lives. However, representation and perceptions of discrimination and bullying among attendings, residents, medical students, and other professionals who identify as LGBTQ+ and are "out" (openly acknowledging and expressing one's sexual orientation or gender identity) is seldom studied in orthopaedic surgery.

QUESTIONS/PURPOSES

(1) How often are orthopaedic trainees and professionals who identify as LGBTQ+ out in their workplaces? (2) What proportion of these individuals report experiencing discrimination, bullying, or differential treatment? (3) Is there regional variation in these reported experiences of bullying and discriminatory behaviors by orthopaedic trainees and professionals in the LGBTQ+ community?

METHODS

Individuals registering for Pride Ortho, a community of LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies established in 2021 to provide mentorship, networking, and a sense of community among its members, completed an internet-based survey developed by organization leadership. A total of 156 individuals registering for the Pride Ortho community were eligible to participate in the internet-based survey. In all, 92% (144 of 156) fully completed the survey, 6% (10 of 156) partially completed it, and 1% (2 of 156) did not complete any part of the survey. Most respondents (64% [100 of 156]) identified as being LGBTQ+, with 77 members at the attending level of their careers. More than half of LGBTQ+ members (56% [56 of 100]) identified as cisgender women (individuals who identify as women and who were born female). Demographic information was privately collected and deidentified, and included sex assigned at birth, gender expression or identity (the social constructed role that an individual chooses to inhabit, regardless of that individual's assigned sex at birth), sexual orientation, self-identified race, location, level of training, and orthopaedic subspecialty.

RESULTS

Ninety-four percent (94 of 100) of LGBTQ+ respondents reported being out at their workplace, with nearly one-third of respondents indicating they were only partially out. Most (74% [74 of 100]) respondents reported either "yes" or "maybe" to perceived experiences of bullying, discrimination, or being treated differently. All individuals who partially completed the survey were straight or heterosexual and did not answer or answered "not applicable" to being out in their workplace. These individuals also all answered "no" to experiencing bullying, discrimination, or being treated differently. There was no geographic variation in reported experiences of bullying and discriminatory behaviors by orthopaedic trainees and professionals.

CONCLUSION

Most LGBTQ+ orthopaedic trainees and professionals are out in their workplaces, although they report experiencing discrimination and bullying more than do non-LGBTQ+ individuals. Bullying and discrimination can deter individuals from beginning and completing their training in orthopaedic surgery. We recommend that orthopaedic institutions not only enforce existing antidiscrimination legal mandates but also increase the visibility of LGBTQ+ faculty and residents. This effort should include the implementation of diversity and sensitivity training programs, strengthened by a structured process of monitoring, reporting, and integrating feedback from all members in the workplace to continuously refine policy adherence and identify the root cause of the reported perceptions of bullying and discrimination.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

To deepen our understanding of the experiences faced by sexual and gender minorities in orthopaedic surgery settings, it is crucial to quantify reports of perceived bullying and discrimination. Addressing these issues is key to creating a more diverse and empathetic workforce within orthopaedic institutions, which in turn can lead to improved patient care and a better work environment. Recognizing and understanding the specific contexts of these experiences is an essential starting point for developing a truly inclusive environment for both trainees and attending physicians.

An intersectional lens on young leaders: bias toward young women and young men in leadership positions

Research has recognized age biases against young leaders, yet understanding of how gender, the most frequently studied demographic leader characteristic, influences this bias remains limited. In this study, we examine the gender-specific age bias toward young female and young male leaders through an intersectional lens. By integrating intersectionality theory with insights on status beliefs associated with age and gender, we test whether young female and male leaders face an interactive rather than an additive form of bias. We conducted two preregistered experimental studies (N1 = 918 and N2 = 985), where participants evaluated leaders based on age, gender, or a combination of both. Our analysis reveals a negative age bias in leader status ascriptions toward young leaders compared to middle-aged and older leaders. This bias persists when gender information is added, as demonstrated in both intersectional categories of young female and young male leaders. This bias pattern does not extend to middle-aged or older female and male leaders, thereby supporting the age bias against young leaders specifically. Interestingly, we also examined whether social dominance orientation strengthens the bias against young (male) leaders, but our results (reported in the SOM) are not as hypothesized. In sum, our results emphasize the importance of young age as a crucial demographic characteristic in leadership perceptions that can even overshadow the role of gender.

Social Safety Theory: Conceptual foundation, underlying mechanisms, and future directions

Classic theories of stress and health are largely based on assumptions regarding how different psychosocial stressors influence biological processes that, in turn, affect human health and behavior. Although theoretically rich, this work has yielded little consensus and led to numerous conceptual, measurement, and reproducibility issues. Social Safety Theory aims to address these issues by using the primary goal and regulatory logic of the human brain and immune system as the basis for specifying the social-environmental situations to which these systems should respond most strongly to maximize reproductive success and survival. This analysis gave rise to the integrated, multi-level formulation described herein, which transforms thinking about stress biology and provides a biologically based, evolutionary account for how and why experiences of social safety and social threat are strongly related to health, well-being, aging, and longevity. In doing so, the theory advances a testable framework for investigating the biopsychosocial roots of health disparities as well as how health-relevant biopsychosocial processes crystalize over time and how perceptions of the social environment interact with childhood microbial environment, birth cohort, culture, air pollution, genetics, sleep, diet, personality, and self-harm to affect health. The theory also highlights several interventions for reducing social threat and promoting resilience.

Incorporating Intersectionality in Neuropsychology: Moving the Discipline Forward

OBJECTIVE

Intersectionality is the interface between a person's identities in relation to social systems and institutional discrimination. The concept has generated much interest in psychology for understanding societal inequities and providing culturally informed services to minoritized patients but has yet to be incorporated in clinical neuropsychology. This omission is unfortunate as it is argued that appreciating the impact of institutional discrimination on minoritized groups can enhance our understanding of brain organization and functioning and bolster access to competent neuropsychological services to minoritized patients. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how intersectionality is germane to the discipline of clinical neuropsychology and to make recommendations for infusing it into the practice.

METHOD

Theories and findings in cultural neuroscience are summarized to provide a theoretical background for understanding how the environment can impact brain development and organization. The literature on disparities in education, economics, and health disparities between Whites and minoritized groups was reviewed for institutional biases that place minoritized groups at a disadvantage. These topics were selected due to their known impact on brain organization and cognition. This was followed by a similar review for access to competent neuropsychological assessments for minoritized patients.

RESULTS

There is a confluence of institutional discriminatory processes that contribute to disparities in education attainment, economic status, health disparities, and accessibility to culturally informed neuropsychological services. Perceived discrimination has significant health and cognitive ramifications.

CONCLUSIONS

Intersectionality is germane to appreciating brain functioning and providing competent services to minoritized patients. Recommendations were made to incorporate intersectionality in clinical neuropsychology.

Effect of the Lights4Violence intervention on the sexism of adolescents in European countries

Background

Sexism results in a number of attitudes and behaviors that contribute to gender inequalities in social structure and interpersonal relationships. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Lights4Violence, an intervention program based on promoting health assets to reduce sexist attitudes in young European people.

Methods

We carried out a quasi-experimental study in a non-probabilistic population of 1146 students, aged 12–17 years. The dependent variables were the difference in the wave 1 and wave 2 values in the subscales of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: benevolent sexism (BS) and hostile sexism (HS). The effect of the intervention was evaluated through linear regression analyses stratified by sex. The models were adjusted by baseline subscales scores, socio-demographic and psychological variables.

Results

In girls, we observed a decrease in BS in the intervention group compared to the control group (β = − 0.101; p = 0.006). In the wave2,, BS decreased more in the intervention group compared to the control group in girls with mothers with a low level of education (β = − 0.338; p = 0.001), with a high level of social support (β = − 0.251; p < 0.001), with greater capacity for conflict resolution (β = − 0.201; p < 0.001) and lower levels of aggressiveness (β = − 0.232, p < 0.001). In boys, the mean levels of HS and BH decreased in wave 2 in both the control and intervention groups. The changes observed after the wave 2 were the same in the control group and in the intervention group. No significant differences were identified between both groups.

Conclusions

The implementation of the Lights4Violence was associated with a significant reduction in BS in girls, which highlights the potential of interventions aimed at supporting the personal competencies and social support. It is necessary to reinforce the inclusion of educational contents that promote reflection among boys about the role of gender and the meaning of the attributes of masculinity.

Trial registration

Clinicaltrials.gov : NCT03411564. Unique Protocol ID: 776905. Date registered: 26-01-2018.

A Legacy of Scientific Racism: William Osler's "An Alabama Student"

William Osler's essay "An Alabama Student" made John Young Bassett (1804-1851) a widely admired avatar of idealism in medicine. However, Bassett fiercely attacked the idea that all humans are members of the same species (known as monogenesis) and asserted that Black inferiority was a justification for slavery. Antebellum physician-anthropologists bequeathed a legacy of scientific racism that in subtler forms still runs deep in American society, including in the field of medicine.