Psychology?s voice in sexual harassment law

A psychologist casts light on the murky area of sexual harassment.

By Bridget Murray
Monitor staff

The woman whose work is still considered the bedrock of psychological research on sexual harassment came to the topic almost accidentally.

In the early 1980s, psychologist Louise Fitzgerald, PhD, noticed that no behavioral researcher had yet studied sexual harassment. So, in a grant proposal to the U.S. Department of Education, she and a colleague, Sandra Schullman, PhD, offered to undertake the task. After reading several articles on harassment, "I wanted to know, ?How do you measure this??" says Fitzgerald, a professor of psychology and women?s studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana?Champaign.

And, after winning the grant, a thrilled (and surprised) Fitzgerald got that chance: She developed her renowned Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ), the measure that has made her one of psychology?s major voices in major sexual harassment litigation, such as Harris v. Forklift and the recent Ellerth v. Burlington Industries, Inc., case.

Using the SEQ in various studies of American companies, Fitzgerald finds that between 40 percent and 60 percent of women have experienced some form of harassing behavior. Although not all such experiences meet legal criteria for sexual harassment, they nonetheless lead to depression, anxiety and stress-related physical problems, particularly when the harassment is frequent and intense.

Fitzgerald draws on those results when she assists attorneys writing amicus court briefs (such as APA?s brief in the Harris case) and when she assesses women for psychological injury. And other psychologists use her research too.

"Louise?s research is considered the gold standard in this area," says forensic psychologist Laura Brown, PhD, who relies heavily on Fitzgerald?s research in her own work with the Seattle courts. Fitzgerald?s large-sample empirical data on harassment "makes for solid science in the courtroom," says Brown.

Courts dealing with sexual harassment frequently call on Fitzgerald for her SEQ insights; the measure differs from legal assessments by including measures of the mental responses of harassment victims in addition to classifying the type of harassment they experienced.

Fitzgerald involves her graduate students in her work too. They help with her research and her assessments of clients?a prime opportunity to learn from a psychologist who?s helped shape sexual harassment law, says her student Linda Collinsworth.

"She has a depth and breadth of understanding of the phenomenon that comes from ?growing up? with the research," says Collinsworth.

Defining the ambiguous

The Anita Hill case in 1991 launched Fitzgerald?s work on prominent cases when Hill?s legal team asked her to serve as their consultant during the Thomas confirmation hearings. She developed a fact sheet summarizing the state of the sexual harassment research, much of it resting on her SEQ-based, scientific understanding of the phenomenon.

First published in 1988 and since revised, the 18-item SEQ measures harassment in what Fitzgerald has defined as the behavioral categories of gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention and sexual coercion. Gender harassment includes crude words, acts and gestures conveying hostile, misogynist attitudes.

Along with gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention is characteristic of the legally defined "hostile working environment." By comparison, sexual coercion is akin to the legal concept of quid pro quo harassment, meaning job rewards in exchange for sexual relations.

Unlike legal inquiries, the SEQ gauges the psychological anguish harassment victims experience?whether, for example, the harassment made them feel incompetent. It also measures outcomes such as anxiety, depression, job satisfaction and work withdrawal.

The complexities of tattling

Aside from teaching the courts about the psychology of harassment, educating them about women?s reporting behaviors is another of Fitzgerald?s priorities. The American public is quick to blame women for not reporting harassment when it happens, says Fitzgerald. But that attitude shows an insensitivity to the price women pay for reporting it, she says.

Her research suggests that most women avoid disclosing harassment for fear of losing their jobs and sabotaging their careers. Although the number appears to be rising, historically less than 5 percent of women have dared to reveal their experiences of it, she says. Those with a lot to lose?single mothers, for example?are especially leery of blowing the whistle, she says.

Another common public criticism of women who claim harassment is "why didn?t she just tell him to stop it?" But Fitzgerald says harassment victims often do tell harassers to stop, usually to no avail. In many cases, the victim?s refusal only spurs further harassment or threats of punishment, she says.

In research cited to the U.S. Supreme Court in the recent, highly publicized case, Ellerth v. Burlington Industries, Fitzgerald and a student investigated whether a supervisor?s threat to penalize a woman if she deflected his sexual advances was sufficient to cause psychological harm. Counsel for the National Employment Lawyers Association asked Fitzgerald whether a threat alone could cause harm to women or whether they would need to be punished as well.

"Our data showed no difference between women who?d been threatened and women who?d been punished as well as threatened," says Fitzgerald. "In other words, the damage was the same. This is where psychology can make a difference."

Indeed, that determination to "always check the data like a good scientist" typifies Fitzgerald?s work, says Nancy Baker, PhD, another forensic psychologist who frequently cites Fitzgerald?s research.

"Her focus on ?what does the data say in the real world?? has made hers the most important work around in terms of the psychology, the law and sexual harassment," Baker says.

Further reading

? Fitzgerald, L.F., Drasgow, F., Hulin, C. L., Gelfand, M.J. & Magley, V.J., "Antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment in organizations: A test of an integrated model." Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 82, p. 578?589, 1997.

? Fitzgerald, L.F., Swann, S. & Magley, V.J. But Was it Really Harassment? Legal, Behavioral and Psychological Definitions of the Workplace Victimization of Women. In W. O?Donohue (Ed.), "Sexual Harassment: Theory, Research and Treatment" (Allyn & Bacon, Boston, 1997).

? Schneider, K.T. Swann, S. & Fitzgerald, L.F. "Job-related and psychological effects of sexual harassment in the workplace: empirical evidence from two organizations." Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 82, p. 401?415, 1997.