Research Interview with Dr. Arleigh Reichl
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Synapse
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2012
1) Where did you acquire your education? I earned my Bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1982; my Master’s (1989) and PhD (1994) from the University of Iowa.
2) What was your original interest in Psychology? My interest in understanding the reasons for people’s behaviour goes back farther than I can remember, and when I took a course in social psychology as an undergraduate I was thrilled to discover there was a field of psychology devoted to my interests (such as attraction, behaviour in groups, prejudice, and attitudes).
3) What areas have you researched in Psychology? In graduate school I conducted research on attraction and impressions of others, as well as research on differences between liberals and conservatives. For my doctoral dissertation I used the minimal group paradigm to determine when members of low status groups favour the higher status outgroup and when they show ingroup favouritism despite their lower status.
4) In your current area of expertise, what do you research? What are your current projects? My current research focuses on the effects of subtle, unrecognized forms of sexism (i.e., latent sexism) in print advertisements. Together with my IMAGe lab, I am now working on three projects along these lines. The first is a research article I am preparing for publication, along with Kwantlen Psychology honours graduates Jordan Ali and Jamie Rich, reporting the effects of viewing ads depicting abuse/victimization of women and messages that women should remain silent. The second project will determine if the types of latent sexism identified by Goffman (1979) actually have the effects that he predicted. The third will determine if ads with latent sexism prime stereotypes of women. I am also working on two projects arising from ideas presented by members of the lab. We are completing data collection on a project originated by Jordan Ali to determine if sexist ads promote expressions of homophobia. (We will be presenting this research at the conference of the Western Psychological Association.) Jordan and I are also working with Nicole Weiss on her research into the effects of man-bashing jokes on women’s perceptions of men.
5) In your most recent research presentation watch your mouth young lady: The effects of latent silencing messages in print ads, what did you hypothesize? What did you conclude? Our purpose was to test the claim made by media critic Jean Kilbourne (of the Killing us Softly video series) that advertising images of women with their mouths covered have a silencing effect on women. We found that women reported less extreme attitudes than men after viewing silencing images (and overtly sexist images), however this was a result of men feeling more emboldened after viewing the images, rather than women becoming more reticent.
6) Provided your research on media and gender, what message is important for the public to realize? Our results suggest that the blatant sexism we recognize in ads may not be the only, or even the worst, sexist content in ads. The subtle, unrecognized sexist messages present in many ads may have even more insidious effects.
7) What research would you like to pursue in the future? I would like to continue with my current research by looking at the effects of other types of latent sexism (e.g., messages that sexualize young girls). My other interests for future research include the effects of language that has both feminine and negative connotations (e.g., “suck”, “boob”), and whether vampire stories, such as Twilight, promote unsafe sex with the message that if you are truly in love, you will take a risk with your partner.
8) If readers are interested in knowing more, where can they find more information about your research? For more information, check out our IMAGe lab website at reichllab.com, or email me at arleigh.reichl@kwantlen.ca
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightjournal.com.
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