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The More You See It, the More You Know It: Memory Accessibility and Sexual Harassment Judgments

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Abstract

The influence of the availability of personally known and media known sexual harassment victims and harassers on perceptions of social sexual workplace conduct was examined. Male and female full-time workers evaluated two videotapes that depict sexual harassment in the workplace. Results indicated that perceived likelihood of harassment and discrimination increased as participants recalled more examples of harassment victims whom they personally knew. In some instances, recall of victims in the media had a similar influence. As predicted, the influence of availability was stronger for men than for women. Similar findings resulted from the analyses of the unwelcomeness, severity, and pervasiveness of the conduct; however, legal standard, gender, or case often moderated this relationship. The implications of these findings are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska

    Richard L. Wiener, Amy M. Voss, Ryan J. Winter & Lucy Arnot

  2. The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, New York

    Ryan J. Winter & Lucy Arnot

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, 238 Burnett Hall, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68588

    Richard L. Wiener

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  1. Richard L. Wiener
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  2. Amy M. Voss
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  4. Lucy Arnot
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Correspondence to Richard L. Wiener.

Additional information

The psychological literature examining discrimination law uses the language “social sexual conduct” to describe workplace behavior that is often social (e.g., telling jokes, bantering, and horseplay) and always sexual in the sense that it focuses on gender-based issues (e.g., flirting, insulting comments related to gender, sexual attention). If this type of conduct meets the elements of Title VII discrimination law, then it constitutes sexual harassment. If it does not meet that standard, then it does not constitute actionable conduct (Gutek, 1985, 1992; Gutek et al., 1999; Wiener et al., 2002; Wiener & Hurt, 1997, 1999, 2000)

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Wiener, R.L., Voss, A.M., Winter, R.J. et al. The More You See It, the More You Know It: Memory Accessibility and Sexual Harassment Judgments. Sex Roles 53, 807–820 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-8294-2

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