My current research is part of a longstanding program of investigation concerning women in work settings. At present there are three specific areas of research interest.

The first concerns the way in which women are perceived when they are successful in areas typically reserved for men. Building upon the idea that gender stereotypes have a prescriptive as well as a descriptive component, we have posited that female managers will be penalized when they are successful in traditionally male domains. Our preliminary research demonstrates that there are indeed penalties for women when their success violates gender stereotypic prescriptions. These penalties take the form of interpersonal rejection and negative social characterizations. Current research explores the conditions that regulate when such penalties occur, and which women are most vulnerable to them. Additionally, we are interested in determining whether men are similarly penalized for violating gender stereotypic prescriptions by succeeding in traditionally female domains.

The second research area concerns the unintended negative effects of preferential selection on those who have been targeted to benefit from it. To date, we have demonstrated that a stigma of incompetence is attached to individuals perceived to have obtained their positions through a preferential selection procedure, namely affirmative action. We also have demonstrated that preferential selection on the basis of sex can result in a more negative view of oneself and one's performance, a greater desire to relinquish a leadership role, a greater incidence of mistreatment of similar others, and an increased choice of undemanding and routine tasks. Currently, we are investigating the conditions under which people presume that preferential selection has taken place and the potential negative consequences of diversity initiatives in organizations.

The third research area is only at the starting stage. It concerns women's self-limiting behavior and how it may result from the perceptions women hold both about how others regard them and the type of behavior they expect from them. It is our thesis that women's perceptions of the ""shoulds"" others hold for them can produce a hesitancy to be assertive, competitive, or self-promoting even when these behaviors are required for success. This suggests that the frequently observed absence of these behaviors in women as compared to men in work settings is a result of self-presentational concerns rather than of behavioral proclivity. A series of studies is planned to investigate these issues and their implications for women seeking to advance their careers.