Professor Sarah Gervais' research examines power and subtle prejudice. Examining behaviors like the objectifying gaze, flattery, patronization, and interpersonal confrontation, she has found that the discriminatory acts of powerful people are often more subtle and nuanced than previously thought, but they still have negative consequences for recipients from negatively stereotyped groups (like women, racial minorities, and people from poor and working class backgrounds). Professor Gervais also examines the relationship between subtle prejudice and public policy and law.
Allen, J., & Gervais, S. J. (in press). The drive to be sexy: Core motivations and consequences of women’s self-sexualization. Advances in Psychology. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Bernard, P., Gervais, S. J., Allen, J., Campomizzi, S., & Klein, O. (in press). Integrating sexual objectification with object versus person recognition: The sexualized body-inversion hypothesis. Psychological Science.
Gervais, S. J., & Vescio, T. K. (in press). Patronizing behavior and gender differences in personal control and performance. Sex Roles.
Gervais, S. J., Vescio, T. K., & Allen, J. (2011). A test of the fungibility hypothesis from sexual objectification theory. British Journal of Social Psychology.
Gervais, S. J., Vescio, T. K., & Allen, J. (2011). When what you see is what you get: The consequences of the objectifying gaze for men and women. Psychology of Women Quarterly. [Winner of the 2010-2011 Georgia Babladelis Best Paper Award, Division 35 of the American Psychological Association]
Vescio, T. K., Gervais, S. J., Snyder, M., & Hoover, A. (2005). Power and the creation of patronizing environments: The stereotype-based behaviors of the powerful and their effects on female performance in masculine domains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
[Winner of the 2005-2006 Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Division 9 of the American Psychological Association]
Other Publications:
Gervais, S. J. (2010). Disability, discrimination, and law. In R. Wiener (Ed.), Disability and Age Discrimination: Perspectives in Law and Psychology. New York: Springer.
Swim, J. K., Gervais, S. J., Pearson, N., & Stangor, S. J. (2009). Managing the message: Strategic self-presentation of confrontation to interpersonal discrimination. In F. Butera (Ed.), Coping with Minority Status: Responses to Exclusion and Inclusion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Vescio, T. K., Gervais, S. J., Heipheitz, L., & Bloodhart, B. (2009). Stereotyping and power. In Handbook of Prejudice. New York: Psychology Press.
Courses Taught:
Applied Social Psychology
Psychology of Gender
Social Cognition
Social Psychology
Applied Social Psychology
Psychology of Gender
Social Cognition
Social Psychology
Sarah J. Gervais Department of Psychology
338 Burnett Hall
University of Nebraska--Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588 United States
Phone: (402) 472-3793
Last edited by profile holder: April 19, 2012
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