Aversive sexism and emotion regulation in a masculine organization

This study explores aversive sexism as an extension of Dovidio and Gaertner's (2004) recent notion of aversive racism. Aversive racism is considered to be a subtle type of prejudice in which members of a dominant group may be more likely to show pro similar individual bias (e.g. favoritism towards similar members) than anti dissimilar bias (e.g. discrediting dissimilar members). In this study, we investigate the presence of aversive sexism by examining relationships between emotional experience and emotion regulation in a masculine organization, an Australian Police Force ('APF'). One hundred and fifty-nine male participants answered a workplace feelings and behavior survey designed to examine whether men experience higher negative and positive emotions in the presence of males than females, to examine the extent to which emotion regulation is directly associated with the intensity of negative and positive emotions, and whether or not the experience of negative and positive emotions mediates a proposed positive association between the regulation of emotions and the intensity of negative and positive emotions. Implications for research into emotion and emotional intelligence are discussed, as are implications for training and emotion management in the workplace.