Breaking the silence: how male and female bystanders influence victims of gender prejudice

Purpose: This study aims to explore the specific psychological mechanisms of female victims coping with gender bias in bystander intervention (Study 1) and bystander neglect (Study 2), as well as the influence of bystander gender. Methodology: Two experiments recruited 208 participants who, after wa...

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Main Authors: Yang, Wanting, Duan, Yuanni, Liao, Zongqing
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BioMed Central Ltd 2025
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118383/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118383/1/118383.pdf
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author Yang, Wanting
Duan, Yuanni
Liao, Zongqing
author_facet Yang, Wanting
Duan, Yuanni
Liao, Zongqing
author_sort Yang, Wanting
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Purpose: This study aims to explore the specific psychological mechanisms of female victims coping with gender bias in bystander intervention (Study 1) and bystander neglect (Study 2), as well as the influence of bystander gender. Methodology: Two experiments recruited 208 participants who, after watching a first-person video of their experience of gender prejudice, filled out questionnaires measuring emotions, feelings of power, evaluation of the perpetrator and willingness to confront. A moderated mediation model was set up, and the bootstrapping method were applied. Findings: We found that the victim's feeling of power significantly mediated the relationship between anger and confrontation intention in bystander intervention. The victim's negative evaluation of the perpetrator significantly mediated between anger and confrontation intention in bystander neglect. Notably, both mediation models could be constructed only when the bystander was male rather than female. Implications: This study has important implications for gender bias. The results reveal the psychological mechanism of victims coping with gender bias, and call for groups of all genders to join in the anti-gender bias alliance.
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spelling upm-1183832025-07-09T03:04:17Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118383/ Breaking the silence: how male and female bystanders influence victims of gender prejudice Yang, Wanting Duan, Yuanni Liao, Zongqing Purpose: This study aims to explore the specific psychological mechanisms of female victims coping with gender bias in bystander intervention (Study 1) and bystander neglect (Study 2), as well as the influence of bystander gender. Methodology: Two experiments recruited 208 participants who, after watching a first-person video of their experience of gender prejudice, filled out questionnaires measuring emotions, feelings of power, evaluation of the perpetrator and willingness to confront. A moderated mediation model was set up, and the bootstrapping method were applied. Findings: We found that the victim's feeling of power significantly mediated the relationship between anger and confrontation intention in bystander intervention. The victim's negative evaluation of the perpetrator significantly mediated between anger and confrontation intention in bystander neglect. Notably, both mediation models could be constructed only when the bystander was male rather than female. Implications: This study has important implications for gender bias. The results reveal the psychological mechanism of victims coping with gender bias, and call for groups of all genders to join in the anti-gender bias alliance. BioMed Central Ltd 2025-02-27 Article PeerReviewed text en cc_by_nc_nd_4 http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118383/1/118383.pdf Yang, Wanting and Duan, Yuanni and Liao, Zongqing (2025) Breaking the silence: how male and female bystanders influence victims of gender prejudice. BMC Psychology, 13 (1). art. no. 168. pp. 1-16. ISSN 2050-7283; eISSN: 2050-7283 https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-025-02515-4 10.1186/s40359-025-02515-4
spellingShingle Yang, Wanting
Duan, Yuanni
Liao, Zongqing
Breaking the silence: how male and female bystanders influence victims of gender prejudice
title Breaking the silence: how male and female bystanders influence victims of gender prejudice
title_full Breaking the silence: how male and female bystanders influence victims of gender prejudice
title_fullStr Breaking the silence: how male and female bystanders influence victims of gender prejudice
title_full_unstemmed Breaking the silence: how male and female bystanders influence victims of gender prejudice
title_short Breaking the silence: how male and female bystanders influence victims of gender prejudice
title_sort breaking the silence: how male and female bystanders influence victims of gender prejudice
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118383/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118383/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118383/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118383/1/118383.pdf