Advancing Feminist Psychology: The Trailblazing Work of Alice H. Eagly in Shaping Gender Equality

Alice H. Eagly, born in 1938 in Los Angeles to Harold and Josara Hendrickson, is the James Padilla Chair of Arts and Sciences Emerita and emerita professor of psychology at Northwestern University. Additionally, she is a fellow at the Institute of Policy Research at Northwestern University. Eagly's primary research focus spans social psychology, personality psychology, and Industrial Organizational Psychology. Notably, she was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.

1 Education

Eagly completed her undergraduate degree in Social Relations at Harvard University in 1960 before earning her M.A. in psychology and Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan. She also holds two honorary doctorates from the University of Bern in Switzerland and Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
In 1962, Eagly married Robert Eagly, whom she had met while studying in Norway. Although they had not initially planned to reverse their social roles, they ultimately embraced this lifestyle after Eagly's career success, with Robert taking on the role of the stay-at-home parent. This shift exemplifies the social role studies that Eagly actively engaged in.

2 Career

Throughout her career, Eagly has held teaching positions at various universities, including Northwestern University, Michigan State University, University of Massachusetts, and Purdue University. She has also served in visiting positions at the University of Illinois, Harvard University, University of Tübingen, University of Amsterdam, and University of Southern California. Eagly has authored or contributed to 7 books and over 100 journal articles.

3 Current Research

Eagly's development of the social role theory has been significant in understanding current sex differences, attributing them to the division of labor between men and women. Within this theory, Eagly compares gender differences and stereotypes, which have the potential to give rise to prejudice.
Her theory on role congruity suggests that prejudice emerges when stereotypes about a social group do not align with the expected success of individuals from that group in other social roles, particularly between men and women. In other words, society tends to associate certain roles exclusively with particular social groups, believing that stepping outside those roles would not lead to successful outcomes. This creates prejudiced attitudes. Eagly explores this concept in her research, highlighting that the attributes assigned to a group are not necessarily negative but simply different from what is typically assumed of that group.

Women and Leadership.

Eagly's book on gender and leadership, Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders, was published in 2007 by Harvard Business School Press. Some of her findings appear in a 2007 article in Psychology of Women Quarterly, "Female leadership advantage and disadvantage: Resolving the contradictions" and a 2002 article in Psychological Review, "Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders," co-authored with Steven Karau at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. In 2011, she published a meta-analysis on stereotypes of leaders in Psychological Bulletin that focuses on the extent to which leadership roles are perceived in feminine or masculine terms and on differences in these perceptions between nations and across time periods.

Stereotype Content

Another focus of Eagly's work is the examination of stereotype content, specifically regarding social groups. Her research explores the theory that stereotype content arises from observations of the behaviors associated with the social roles commonly occupied by members of these groups. In a 2014 article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, co-authored with Anne Koenig from the University of San Diego, she presents a test of this theory. Additionally, a 2019 article in Social Psychology Quarterly further contributes to this line of research. Eagly is currently engaged in a project that investigates gender stereotypes across different time periods and nations, utilizing nationally representative public opinion data

Feminism and Psychology

Eagly's work delves into the relationship between feminism and psychology, particularly examining the emergence of a diverse field of research on gender and women. In collaboration with colleagues, a 2012 article published in the American Psychologist explores the content and dissemination of this research. She, along with Stephanie Riger from the University of Illinois at Chicago, addresses the relation between feminist methodological and epistemological critiques of psychology and contemporary psychological science in a 2014 article. Furthermore, in a 2018 article in the Journal of Social Issues, Eagly analyzes the impact of feminist ideology on sex and gender research, arguing for a focus on various influences rather than solely external factors causing female disadvantage.

The Magnitude of Psychological Differences Between Women and Men

In an upcoming article in Perspectives in Psychological Science, co-authored with William Revelle from Northwestern University, Eagly demonstrates that the magnitude of psychological differences between women and men can vary based on how the data is organized. Larger differences emerge when multiple indicators that differ by sex/gender are averaged to create scales representing the overall typicality of a construct for women versus men. These broad-scale variables exhibit larger differences compared to their component indicators. Moreover, in domains such as vocational interests composed of multiple variables that differ by sex/gender, the multivariate distance between women and men is typically larger than the differences observed on individual component variables. These analyses highlight the interdependence of sex/gender similarity and difference in psychological data.Awards
She has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association and the Gold Medal from the American Psychological Foundation Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology, Interamerican Psychologist Award for contributions to psychology as a science and profession in the Americas; and the Carolyn Wood Sherif Award for contributions to the psychology of women as scholar, mentor, teacher, and leader. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was also awarded honorary doctoral degrees from Erasmus University, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the University of Bern, and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

4 Selected Publications

Books

Eagly, A. H., & Carli, L. L. (2007). Through the labyrinth: The truth about how women become leaders. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Eagly, A. H., & Sczesny, S. (Eds.). (2019). Gender roles in the future? Theoretical foundations and future research directions. Research topic in Frontiers in Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01965

Articles

Miller, D. I., Nolla, K. M., Eagly, A. H., & Uttal, D. H. (2018). The development of children's gender‐science stereotypes: A meta‐analysis of 5 decades of us draw‐a‐scientist studies. Child Development, 89, 1943-1955.
Koenig, A. M., & Eagly, A. H. (2019). Typical roles and intergroup relations shape stereotypes: How understanding social structure clarifies the origins of stereotype content. Social Psychology Quarterly, 82, 205–230
Eagly, A. H., & Koenig, A. M. (2021). The vicious cycle linking stereotypes and social roles. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30(4), 343-350.
Eagly, A. H., & Revelle, W. (2022). Understanding the magnitude of psychological differences between women and men requires seeing the forest and the trees. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(5), 1339–1358.

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