Biographical Information

I joined the Psychology Department at Western in October 2016. Previously I was Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Kent (UKC) in England and remain an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at UKC. I am also an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Women's Studies and Feminist Research. Details on my degrees and previous posts can be found in my CV.

My academic training is in experimental and applied social psychology; but I also have clinical training from the scientific and clinical posts held at the Renfrew Center in Philadelphia between my MA and PhD, which is a residential treatment facility for women with eating disorders where I co-developed and implemented an exercise program to facilitate eating disorders treatment. Over the years, my work has spanned and integrated the areas of social, applied, political, and clinical psychology.

I am a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Society for the Psychology of Women, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and the Academy for Eating Disorders. Currently I am an Associate Editor for Body Image and the Journal for Theoretical Social Psychology, and previously served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Psychology of Women Quarterly. I am senior editor of Self-Objectification in Women: Causes, Consequences, and Counteractions, published by the American Psychological Association. My research on self-objectification, gender, exercise, and body image has been featured in a variety of media outlets (The Washington Post, Fox News, Good Housekeeping).

Selected Publications

Calogero, R.M. Tylka, T.L., *Siegel, J.A., Pina, A., & Roberts, T-A. (2020). Smile pretty and watch your back: Personal safety anxiety and vigilance in objectification theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000344

Osa, M. & Calogero, R.M. (2020). Orthorexic eating in women who are physically active in sport: A test of an objectification theory model. Body Image. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.08.012

Huellemann, K., & Calogero, R.M. (2020). Self-compassion and body checking behavior: A multiple mediation model of stigma. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01420-8

Hopkins-Doyle, A., Sutton, R.M., Douglas, K.M., & Calogero, R.M. (2018). Flattering to deceive: The warmth of benevolent sexism masks its ideological functions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/pspa0000135

Calogero, R.M., Tylka, T.L., Mensinger, J.L., Meadows, A., & Danielsdottir, S. (2018). Recognizing the fundamental right to be fat: A weight-inclusive approach to size acceptance and healing from sizeism. Women & Therapy. DOI: 10.1080/02703149.2018.1524067

Spinner, L., Cameron, L., & Calogero, R.M. (2018). Peer toy play as a gateway to children’s gender flexibility: The effect of (counter)stereotypic portrayals of peers in children’s magazines. Sex Roles, 79, 314-328.

Donnelly, L.C., & Calogero, R.M. (2018). The role of sexually objectifying experiences in college women’s perceived possibility of gender crimes happening to them. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 48, 165-173. DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12497

Schaefer, L.M., Burke, N.L., Calogero, R.M., Menzel, J., Krawczyk, R., & Thompson, J.K. (2018). Self-objectification, body shame, and disordered eating: Testing a core mediational model of objectification theory among White, Black, and Hispanic women. Body Image, 24, 5-12.

Roberts, T.-A., Calogero, R.M., & Gervais, S. (2018). Objectification theory: Continuing contributions to feminist psychology. In C.Travis & J.White (Eds.), APA Handbook of the Psychology of Women (Vol. 1: History, theory, and battlegrounds, pp. 249-272). American Psychological Association.

Calogero, R.M., Tylka, T.L., *Donnelly, L.C., *McGetrick, A., & *Medrano Leger, A. (2017). Trappings of femininity: A test of the “beauty as currency” hypothesis in shaping college women’s gender activism. Body Image, 21, 66-70.

Calogero, R.M. (2017). Political consciousness and gender collective action: A case and place for self-objectification. In A.L. Bos & M.C. Schneider (Eds.), The Political Psychology of Women in U.S. Politics (pp. 93-110). New York: Routledge.

Mensinger, J.L., Calogero, R.M., & Tylka, T.L. (2016). Internalized weight stigma moderates eating behaviour outcomes in high BMI women participating in a healthy living program. Appetite, 102, 32-43. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2016.01.033

Calogero, R.M., & Tylka, T.L. (2014). Sanctioning resistance to sexual objectification: An integrative system justification perspective. Journal of Social Issues, 70, 763-778.

Calogero, R.M. (2013). On objects and actions: Situating self-objectification in a system justification context. In S. Gervais (Ed.), Nebraska Motivation Symposium: Vol. 60. Perspectives on motivation (pp. 97-126). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Calogero, R.M. (2013). Objects don’t object: Evidence that self-objectification disrupts women’s social activism. Psychological Science, 24, 312-318.

Calogero, R.M., & Jost, J.T. (2011). Self-subjugation among women: Sexist ideology, self-objectification, and the buffering function of the need to avoid closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 11-228.

Calogero, R.M., Tantleff-Dunn, S., & Thompson, J.K. (2011). Self-objectification in women: Causes, consequences, and counteractions. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Calogero, R.M., & Pedrotty, K.N. (2010). Incorporating exercise into the treatment and recovery of eating disorders: Cultivating a mindful approach. In M.Maine, D.Bunnell, & B.H. McGilley (Eds.), Treatment of eating disorders: Bridging the research-practice gap (pp. 425-441). New York: Elsevier.

Calogero, R.M., Bardi, A., & Sutton, R.M. (2009). A need basis for values: Associations between the need for cognitive closure and people’s value priorities. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 154-159.

Calogero, R.M. & Pedrotty, K.N. (2004). The practice and process of healthy exercise: An investigation of the treatment of exercise abuse in women with eating disorders. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, 12, 273-291.

Research

For the past 15 years, my research has been guided by an interest in understanding why disadvantaged and marginalized groups may resist (or not) the status quo and under what conditions they do so. In particular, my work has focused on the effects of sexist ideologies and environments on women's lived experiences, how sexism stays entrenched, and how people resist these forces.

I have published work on a range of interrelated topics, including social appearance-based ideologies, sexual and self-objectification, benevolent and hostile sexism, gender roles and social stereotypes, weight stigma, motivated social cognition, values, prejudice and discrimination, collective action and resistance, and disordered eating and exercise through a sociocultural and resistance lens.

In the SOBR Lab (Stigma, Objectification, Bodies, and Resistance) our research falls within two main streams: social-political and social-clinical. Both streams of research consider how sociocultural contexts and varieties of everyday stigmatisation affect social and self-perceptions, how we treat ourselves and others, and how we engage with social change.