A recent study conducted by MSU researchers determined that women’s perceptions of men changes during the menstruation cycle. Women give their varying opinions on how they’re affected by their menstrual cycle.
During their highest levels of fertility, women feel more threatened by men, particularly those from differing backgrounds, according to a recent study conducted by MSU psychological researchers.
After assistant psychology professor Carlos Navarrete finished a study in which Caucasian women tended to be more biased against black men during stages of their menstrual cycle, he began to wonder if his findings were extendable across other group contexts.
With the help of graduate student Melissa McDonald, Navarrete and his team of researchers began conducting case studies of 337 women in an attempt to gain greater perspective on women’s prejudices.
“Our research attempts to research prejudice from an evolutionary perspective,” she said. “I think it provides some preliminary evidence that women may be equipped with psychological systems to protect their reproductive choice and, as a by-product of this choice, it may produce racial prejudice in part.”
In the first of the two studies, women reported their menstrual cycles and then went through a series of implicit tests in which they were asked to categorize images of black men as “physical” and Caucasian men as “mental” then alternating the categories and going through the test again, McDonald said.
Whichever classification took longer for the participant to classify under the specified category represented a bias against men of that racial group.
The second study divided participants into groups by color, such as red and blue, and then had them complete the same series of implicit tests, replacing race with color groups.
Tellingly, the biases presented in the study of racial groups also were present among the color groups, demonstrating an underlying instinct to protect against outside groups regardless of race, McDonald said.
“(Prejudice) is extremely pervasive in modern society,” she said. “It’s extremely difficult to eradicate prejudice because it might be part of our biology.”
Kinesiology senior Aubrey Jabour said she isn’t aware of being prejudiced against men of differing races, but said it might be something she doesn’t recognize.
“I could see where that would be something that has evolved with us, but I don’t think we’re as aware of it today,” Jabour said.
The study hasn’t produced sufficient information to offer a solution in gender relations, but Navarrete said a greater understanding of biological dysfunction is valuable.
“We live together in this world and we’re separated into different groups for better or worse,” he said. “Understanding the things that affect (prejudice) is pretty important.”
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