Federica Case

Mentorship plays a significant role in shaping an individual's career in the workplace. Agency and communion are key dimensions that reflect personal values and workplace norms, both of which strongly influence the mentoring experience. Across four studies, we examined the type of mentoring that potential mentees want depending on their own values, workplace norms, and the interplay between the two. In each study, we investigated if potential mentees prefer mentors similar to themselves on agency and communion and who fit agentic and communal workplace norms. We analyzed perceived workplace norms in Study 1, manipulated prescriptive workplace norms in Study 2, and descriptive workplace norms in Study 3. Finally, Study 4 experimentally investigated if the similarity with the mentor and the perceived workplace requirements affects the preference for a potential mentor. Across all studies, we investigated if women preferred more communion (i.e., communal values in the mentor, psychosocial support) in their ideal mentors than men. The results indicated that people prefer mentors who share the same values and that women prefer more communion than men. Workplace norms did not influence mentoring preferences and did not interact with individuals' values.

This research examined age stereotyping of male individuals displaying intersectional memberships stemming from the combination of age (Young vs. Elderly) and sexual orientation categories (Gay vs. Heterosexual). We found that the age stereotypes of ‘Elderly gay men’ were blurred: ‘Elderly gay men’ were stereotyped less on elderly‐ and more on young‐stereotypical traits than both ‘Elderly heterosexual men’ (Study 1) and ‘Elderly men’ (Studies 2–4). These findings did not occur with any subtype, as was also not the case for ‘Elderly right‐handed men’ (Study 3), but replicate only withatypicalsubtypes (Study 4). Indeed, the blurring of the age stereotypes for ‘Elderly gay men’ was replicated for an additional atypical subtype, ‘Elderly Atheist men’, and amplified when the atypical subtype involved ‘Elderly men’ in combination with ‘Athlete men’, whose stereotypes implied youthful traits (Study 4). The results informed cognitive models of multiple category stereotyping.