Psychology

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/9892

This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of Psychology.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

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Blinded From the Truth? Perceptions of Racial Discrimination During COVID-19
(University of Waterloo, 2021-08-27) Mitrovic, Igor; Bobocel, Ramona
Despite current efforts to reduce the occurrence of racial discrimination in North America, the recent Black Lives Matter movement suggests that the issue continues to exist. Given that prior research suggests a link between perceptions of discrimination and behaviours and attitudes that perpetuate discrimination, a correlational study was conducted with the purpose of examining whether a current social/global crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, is associated with such perceptions, thus contributing to the continued existence of racial discrimination. It is predicted that heightened feelings of threat associated with the various repercussions of the COVID pandemic would be associated with heightened justification of the United States social system, and in turn negatively associated with perceptions of racial discrimination towards Black Americans. Furthermore, it is predicted that this indirect effect would be more pronounced in political conservatives than in liberals. An online survey study was conducted on 528 American participants to test these hypotheses. Initial hierarchical regression analyses indicated that COVID threat was not significantly associated with system justification, but that both COVID threat and system justification were significantly associated with perceived racial discrimination (although COVID threat was positively associated with perceived discrimination). Mediation analyses indicated that there was no significant indirect effect of COVID threat on perceived racial discrimination through system justification. Finally, although there were no significant moderated-mediation effects, there were significant interaction effects between COVID threat and political orientation on perceived discrimination, with a more pronounced effect in political conservatives than in liberals. The limitations and implications of the study are discussed.
Don’t Ask, I’ll Tell: Investigating Strategy Use During Disability Disclosure at Work
(University of Waterloo, 2022-08-31) Merkand, Roxy (Rukhsana) Merkand; Michela, John; Bobocel, Ramona
The nature and effects of workplace disability disclosure—sharing disability-relevant information with others at work—is of great interest to researchers and human resources professionals. In this dissertation, I investigate the various strategies individuals with disabilities use while disclosing their disabilities in work-related contexts, and the effects of employing these strategies. In Study 1, I qualitatively gathered strategies used by individuals with disabilities and coded them using thematic analysis—towards developing a scale that measures the extent to which these behaviours are used. In Studies 2 and 3, I refine the items generated in Study 1 and confirm the factor structure of the resultant scale for assessing individuals’ use of strategies. In Study 4, I provide convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity for my scale. Finally, in Study 5, I experimentally demonstrate the effects of using disclosure strategies in a job search context. It is my hope that this work stimulates further research on this important topic. As such, I discuss multiple future directions and implications for my findings in this dissertation.
When our co-workers share their unfair experiences, do we believe them? Perceptions of workplace fairness are negatively related to perceived credibility of coworkers’ claims of injustice
(University of Waterloo, 2022-08-23) Nishioka, Midori; Bobocel, Ramona; Beck, James
Prior research shows that when observing a co-worker being treated unfairly, employees who are third parties to the incident feel angry and want to punish the perpetrator. However, research has focused on situations in which third parties have unambiguous information about the unfair incident, such as when they witnessed the incident directly. I argue that in many situations, third parties merely hear a co-worker’s claim about an unfair experience, which often provides ambiguous information about the incident. To compensate for ambiguity, I argue that third parties rely on their perceptions of their organization’s overall fairness when interpreting a claim, such that the more they perceive the organization to be fair, the less credible they perceive the claim to be. Across five studies using correlational and experimental designs, I found that third parties’ overall justice perceptions negatively affected their perceptions of claim credibility. In turn, perceived claim credibility was positively related to subsequent reactions, including anger and intentions to punish the accused and support the claimant. Consequently, the more third parties perceived their organization to be fair, the less they reacted to a claim of unfairness. However, the negative effect of overall justice on perceived claim credibility was reduced when third parties had unambiguous information about the incident. Although prior research has focused on beneficial effects of employees’ justice perceptions, I show that there can also be harmful effects. Thus, even if an organization is generally fair, its leaders must remain vigilant to ensure that victims of injustice receive proper support.

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Browsing Psychology by Author "Bobocel, Ramona"