Date of Award

Fall 12-1-1995

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Virgil Sheets

Second Advisor

Veanne Anderson

Third Advisor

Thomas Cadwallader

Abstract

Sexual harassment is a continual problem in the workplace; however, most sexual harassment research focuses on problems associated with sexual harassment rather than evaluating the potential for training programs to resolve such problems. This study examined two training programs to evaluate the potential effects of training on the differences between the perspectives of women and men on sexually harassing behaviors. The first training program served as a control group, and the second emphasized the discrepancies between female and male experiences of sexually harassing behaviors. It was predicted that women and men who become aware of the psychological pain experienced by women as a result of unwanted sexual advances would reduce their tolerance for sexual harassment. It was also predicted that women would have less tolerance for sexual harassment than men both before and after training. The results of this study found that neither women nor men reduced their tolerance for sexual harassment after training emphasizing the psychology pain experienced by women; however, control group participants did reduce tolerance for sexual harassment after training. Consistent with previous research, women did report less tolerance for sexual harassment before and after training.

Download

Share

COinS