Page 46 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

DOVIDIO AND HEBL
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symbolic challenge to one's cherished values, or personal peril (Stephan
& Stephan, 2000). For example, overweight people disrupt normative val­
ues for thinness: They are seen as aesthetically displeasing, deviant from
accepted standards, and viewed to possess a condition that is controllable
(Weiner, 1995). Not surprisingly, then, overweight people face discrimi­
nation throughout all stages of the employment cycle (for a review, see
Roehling, 1999). An example involving personal peril involves avoiding
gay men or lesbians for fear that one will get AIDS or be recruited "over
to the other side."
Stigma has negative consequences not only for stigmatized targets but
also for nonstigmatized targets who are associated with stigmatized people
(Neuberg, Smith, Hoffman, & Russell, 1994). This stigma-by-association
effect applies to stigmatizing conditions, such as being gay and lesbian and
overweight, and this generalization extends to others who may simply be
physically close but not personally associated with a stigmatized person
(Hebl & Mannix, 2003).

Motivations of the Individual

Another moderator (see Fig. 2.1) involves individuals' motivations toward
members of socially stigmatized groups. In addition to individual- and
group-level motivations that promote bias (e.g., through competition), peo­
ple may also possess internal motivations to respond without prejudice
(Devine, Plant, & Bus well, 2000). People who are high on this dimension
consciously attempt to override the use of implicit, automatically activated
stereotypes, engaging in a number of compensating strategies such as
stereotype suppression (Monteith, Sherman, & Devine, 1998). Although
this strategy is sometimes effective, it is also shown to have paradoxi­
cal "rebound" effects in which, after efforts to suppress stereotypes have
been relaxed, increases in stereotyping and prejudicial responding occur
(Macrae, Bodenhausen, Milne, & Jetten, 1994). Furthermore, Crandall and
Eshleman (2003) suggest that rather than being motivated to suppress prej­
udice, individuals may frequently be motivated to justify their expressions
of prejudice against certain groups (e.g., gay and lesbian or obese individ­
uals).

Target Responses and Strategies

A fifth moderator is the way in which the target responds during interac­
tions (see Fig. 2.1), such as differentially perceiving or strategically reacting
to discrimination. Targets may adopt perceptual strategies of either deny­
ing or overestimating discrimination. Potential victims of discrimination