Individual differences
The current study did not examine the role individual differences might play in objectification’s effect on cognitive performance. In particular, sexual orientation could influence the extent to which a woman experiences an anticipated male gaze as sexual objectification. However, in their original formulation of objectification theory, Fredrickson and Roberts [Though researchers have documented many ways in which women have similar experiences with objectification regardless of racial/ethnic background (see Moradi & Huang [In addition to race/ethnicity and sexual orientation, individual differences in trait self-objectification, or the degree to which one chronically self-objectifies, are important to consider. For example, Kahalon et al. (Study 1, [Overall, the role of trait self-objectification as an important moderator of the effects of objectification on cognitive performance is unclear. Among studies reviewed that did include a measure of trait self-objectification or similar trait-level variable, results are mixed. Five studies [There are strong theoretical reasons to predict that objectification would have a negative effect on women’s thought processes and cognitive performance. It is well established that attention is a limited resource (for a review, see Scalf et al. [