Fighting the 400-Year Pandemic: Racism Against Black People in Organizations.

Anti-Black racism is a pernicious problem that has plagued the USA throughout history. In 2020, we saw intense moments that highlighted the stark anti-Black racism and racial inequity in America. Namely, the murder of George Floyd coupled with the disproportionate levels of negative outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic affecting Black people in the USA. These instances called attention to the considerable racial inequality in US society and reminded many people that racism seeps throughout all facets of life. Our first goal with this special issue was to call attention to research within in the organizational sciences that focuses on anti-Black racism. The articles in this issue call attention to some of the manifestations and consequences of anti-Black racism as well as ways to reduce its insidious effects. Our second goal was to intentionally highlight the work of Black scholars in the field of I-O psychology. As such, we engaged in targeted recruiting that allowed us to successfully curate articles from a racially diverse group of scholars, and we are able to highlight the work of Black scholars and practitioners in the field.

The Struggle Is Real: Employee Reactions to Indirect Trauma from Anti-Black Policing.

Despite increased media coverage of police using lethal force against Black civilians, little research aims to understand how such events affect employees, particularly Black employees, at work. We draw on spillover-transferring emotions and/or behaviors from one domain to another-to examine how collective, indirect trauma, or trauma experienced by a large group of people not directly involved in an event, affected employees at work. Across two studies, we investigated Black and White employees' differential cognitive (Study 1), emotional, and interpersonal reactions (Studies 1 & 2) to hearing about police officers' use of lethal force against Black civilians (i.e., collective, indirect racial trauma). Results from a survey with open- and close-ended questions (Study 1) supported our predictions that Black (vs. White) employees would be more upset about police shootings and would think about, talk about, and be more distracted by these incidents while at work. Open-ended responses revealed social support, seeking advice and comfort from our social networks, as a strategy Black and White employees may use to cope with collective, indirect racial trauma at work. Importantly, support communicating mutual understanding-or shared perspective-was particularly important for Black employees. An experiment (Study 2) further probed the emotional and relational consequences of interactions with coworkers and, counter to predictions, found coworkers who expressed pro-police attitudes (i.e., not communicating mutual understanding) in the aftermath of a racially biased shooting were negatively evaluated by Black and White employees. Our findings provide implications for research on spillover and understanding coworker/team dynamics in organizations.

Amplifying Black excellence in industrial-organizational psychology.

This article highlights the work of Black organizational psychologists and their considerable and ongoing contributions to industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology through scholarship, practice, and service. We focus our review on the influence of five Black scholar-practitioners who have earned the distinction of fellow in the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. We discuss how their work has enhanced our understanding of the integral role of diversity and inclusion across the employment cycle. We also highlight their contributions to service, mentorship, and the field more broadly to provide a holistic picture of their collective influence beyond their scholarship. Further, we offer recommendations for how their work can inform other subfields within psychology and elevate teaching and training beyond I-O. By amplifying the voices of these Black psychologists, we provide a guide for scholars and practitioners in I-O and related areas interested in incorporating diversity into their scholarship, teaching, and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The importance of being "me": The relation between authentic identity expression and transgender employees' work-related attitudes and experiences.

The present research examined the relation between authentic identity expression and transgender employees' work-related attitudes and experiences. Drawing on Kernis' (2003) theoretical conceptualization of authenticity and expanding on current workplace identity management research, we predicted that employees who had taken steps to reduce the discrepancy between their inner gender identities and their outward manifestations of gender would report more positive job attitudes and workplace experiences, in part because the reduction of this discrepancy is related to greater feelings of authenticity. In Study 1, we found that the extent to which one has transitioned was related to higher job satisfaction and perceived person-organization (P-O) fit and lower perceived discrimination. In Study 2, we replicate and extend these results by showing that the extent to which employees felt that others at work perceived them in a manner consistent with how they perceived themselves (relational authenticity) mediated the relations between extent of transition and all 3 of these outcomes. However, perceptions of alignment between one's felt and expressed identity (action authenticity) only mediated this link for job satisfaction. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our results, as well as avenues for future research on authenticity in the workplace. (PsycINFO Database Record

Weight isn't selling: The insidious effects of weight stigmatization in retail settings.

In recent years, the literature on the stigma of obesity has grown but there still remains a paucity of research examining specific issues associated with its impact in the workplace. In the current study, we examine 3 such issues related to the influence of weight-based stigmatization in retail settings. First, we highlight research on the impact of obesity in men often is minimized or altogether excluded, and we examine whether weight-based stigmatization influences men in authentic retail settings (Study 1). Across retail contexts, Study 1 reveals that heavy (vs. nonheavy) men do experience significantly more interpersonal (subtle) discrimination. Second, we examine the "why" of weight-based stigmatization and find that weight-related negative stereotypes compound to produce indirect but strong effects of stigmatization in retail settings (Study 2). Third and finally, we examine whether weight-based stigmatization against men and women in retail also influences ratings of associated products and the organizations for which heavy individuals work (also Study 2). Results from Study 2 show that stereotypes work similarly for men and women and that a stigma-by-association effect occurs in which evaluators rate products and organizations associated with heavy (vs. nonheavy) retail personnel more negatively. Finally, we discuss the importance of these findings in gaining a more holistic look at the influence of weight stigmatization in the workplace.

Increasing colonoscopies? A psychological perspective on opting in versus opting out.

OBJECTIVE: A growing strategy to enhancing healthy decision making is to modify behavioral options to an "opt out" (i.e., if you do not want to participate, you must act) as opposed to an "opt in" (i.e., if you want to participate, you must act) default system (Choi, Laibson, Madrian, & Metrick). The current study, however, proposes that this growing trend may not always be strategic and examines these default systems in colonoscopy appointment show-up rates. METHODS: Participants in an opt-in condition received instructions to call and schedule their colonoscopy appointment, whereas participants in an opt-out condition were mailed the date and time of an already scheduled appointment. We then assessed colonoscopy appointment show-up rates. RESULTS: As predicted, results revealed significant decrements in the show-up rates of those in the opt-out (63%) versus opt-in condition, 85%; χ² (1) = 5.51, p = .02. Furthermore, when looking at patients who confirmed their appointment in both conditions, only 3% of opt-in (vs. 21% of opt-outpatients) no-showed, χ² (1) = 4.51, p = .03. CONCLUSION: Although modifying the default to an opt-out system has been shown to be effective in some health care procedures, the current results reveal this system is not always effective in producing the healthiest medical behaviors. Our research, then, suggests that opt-out paradigms are not an overall panacea for increasing participation in preventive health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessment of weight stigma.

The purpose of this review article is to familiarize readers with the common methodologies used to assess weight stigma. This article explores the most frequent ways weight stigma is assessed, offers relevant empirical examples of each methodology, examines the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and offers recommendations for strengthening research assessment of weight stigma for the future. Furthermore, this article highlights 4 dimensions that are important to consider when assessing weight stigma, regardless of the research methodology used.

Perceptions of obesity across the lifespan.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research on obesity stereotyping has almost extensively involved looking at the perceptions that 5-21-year-old individuals have toward members of their own age in-group. Very little research has examined how people perceive obesity across the lifespan. The current research begins to address this gap by examining the extent to which individuals between 18 and 77 years of age stereotype obesity in 20, 40, and 60-year-old targets. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A total of 106 male and 102 female white participants viewed nine standardized Adobe- cropped photos that depicted 20, 40, and 60-year-old faces on slender, large, and very large-sized bodies. After viewing each photo, participants evaluated the targets on six dimensions used in previous obesity stereotyping research. RESULTS: As predicted, heavier women were rated more negatively than thinner women on every dimension we examined. In addition, older women were rated more negatively than younger women on attractiveness, but more positively on every other dimension. Other main effects revealed that female (relative to male) and older (relative to younger) participants were more lenient in their ratings. Several two-way interactions revealed that the obesity stereotype for attractiveness is exaggerated when targets are younger, that males (compared to females) levy a greater penalty for increasing weight, and that this pattern is exaggerated more for younger men. DISCUSSION: This research shows a consistency across the lifespan in the extent to which participants, varying in weight, age, and sex, stereotype obesity. It also appears that, at least with respect to attractiveness, younger obese individuals are denigrated to a larger degree than older. In sum, this research shows prevalent and consistent patterns of obesity stereotyping across the lifespan.