Role Models Flashcards
What is a role model?
Individuals who have mastered a given social role and who facilitate a role aspirants acquisition of this or a similar role
What can a role model do for the role aspirant to make it more likely they will achieve the same status?
Make it more likely the aspirant will achieve the task or become the role by inspiring and motivating.
Inspiration
Self efficacy-confidence
Emulation
What is the aim of awarding Australians of the year?
To provide inspiration and positive role models
What makes it more likely that women will join the workforce in traditional male jobs?
Role model interventions
Do role model interventions work?
There is no evidence that same sex role modelling works
What effect did sports stars have on Achievement and attendance for low achieving students?
None
What is a assumption in the literature about role models?
- Assumption that structural positions make role models (successful/celebrities)
- People will mindlessly copy role models
- Underprivileged minority’s need more role models and lack more aspirational people
What we think is possible is very influenced by what?
What we know others can do
Extraordinary people
How do we feel when watching extraordinary people in action?
Inspired
Raises levels of aspirations
What does watching extraordinary people inspire us to do?
Nothing, purely aesthetic
What did Lockwood and Kundalini (2007) find when exploring the impact of exposing participants to high achieving others? Methods results conclusions
Methods: Ps either 1st or 4th year of study asked to read an article describing stellar 4th year student (control no article)
Then asked to rate themselves on positive and negative career success traits
Results: the role model had positive effects for 1st years and negative effects for 4th years
Conclusions: 1st years has more capacity and confidence to to achieve like the role model. Had something to aspire to.
Too late for the 4th year students
But may not be evidence for role modelling
DV is far from what role modelling is. It was an incidental after thought
What did Marx and Roman (2002) find when looking at whether presenting women with a mathematically competent female model could reduce stereotype threat effects? Methods results conclusions
Methods: male and female participants completed a maths test with a female experimenter who was either high (math PhD) or low (English major) in maths competence
Results: when PhD maths experimenter, men and women equal
When with the English major men did much better and women much worse
Conclusions:by being exposed to high achieving women, inoculate against stereotype threat
But not role modelling- may be influenced by experimenter but she wasn’t a role model
Can being exposed to an extraordinary person for a short time be an example of role modelling?
No role models exist over a long period of time to inspire long term goals
What did Taylor Lord McIntyre & Paulson (2011) find when they asked participants to rate how deserving Hilary Clinton was of her success? Methods results conclusions
Methods: asked female Ps to rate how much Hilary Clinton’s deserves her success
1 month later took a maths test under 1 of 3 conditions:
- Test only
- Stereotype threat + bio for business
- Stereotype threat + bio Hilary Clinton
Results: found that women who believed that Hilary Clinton deserved her success performed as well as the Control (HC as role model inoculated against stereotype threat)
Conclusions: not role modelling because no evidence that h.c a role model)
Does the structural approach to role modelling with an emphasis on extraordinary achievers show evidence for role modelling working?
No. Evidence doesn’t speak to role modelling, but may instead be stereotype related processes
What research did Steffens Rees & Peters conduct to determine who our role models are? Methods results conclusions
Methods: Ps nominated a person who was a role model for them in their life
4 possible types :
- Positive- want to be like
- Negative-don’t want to be like
- Ambivalent- be like and not be like
- Neutral - not relevant
Ps described model and relationship
Results:
- people were more likely to nominate family especially positive/ambivalent
- People more likely to characterise models in terms of warmth and assertiveness
- Positive and ambivalent models more likely ingroup members
- Positive and ambivalent models boost self efficacy
- Positive and ambivalent models are emulated
- Positive and ambivalent models inspiring
- Negative models motivate avoidance behaviours
Who did Steffens Rees &Peters (2015) find people categorised models as positive, negative, ambivalent and neutral?
Positive- don’t know personally, admire, inspire and makes me try harder to achieve
Negative- don’t want to be like, resemble or become. Draining relationship which contributes nothing
Ambivalent- close relationship, good role model don’t want to be like them in every way
Neutral- regular sibling relationship, role model growing up but not for future
What did Peters & Steffens find when asking people about Morality and role models as managers?
Do people take into account morals when judging a person?
4 results
Methods: asked working adults to reflect on a manager who matched 1 of 4 descriptions including:
- A competent and moral person
- A competent but immoral person
Results:
- both competence and morality are necessary for a manager role
- for boosting self efficacy
- for emulating the model
- For inspiring
When asked to describe a managers morality and competence, what words did people most use for each condition moral/immoral competent/incompetent?
- Competent-Immoral described as competent
- Moral-incompetent described as moral
(Only 1 positive attribute, people described it)
- Immoral-incompetent & moral-competent most motivating/inspiration words
(How they have affected you)
What kind of role models motivate us?
Very positive to be like them
Very negative to be less like them
What are 2 attributes we look for in role models?
- Extraordinary success
2. Morality
3 things we want from role models?
- Confidence boost (self efficacy)
- Model to emulate
- Inspiration
What did Peters Tee & Paladino find when asking people what’s inspiring about Jean from Street swags?
Inspiration:
- Success
- Hard work
- Transportability (engagement)
Transportability predicts:
- role model
- Inspiring
- Behavioural modelling
What did Peters Tee & Paladino concludes after asking people what’s inspiring about Jean from Street swags?
Success not as important for role modelling
When the story behind the person was transporting high associations with role model
Pathways people follow and barriers overcome lead us to see people as role models
Is exploiting role modelling for good useful?
Not really.
It requires more than presenting images of the extraordinary
