“Keeping in mind the gender stereotype". The role of need for closure in the retrieval‑induced forgetting of female managers’ qualities

The present research addressed the question of whether need for closure (NFC; Kruglanski in The psychology of closed mindedness, Psychology Press, New York, 2004) biases individuals’ memory of female leaders. Merging research on role congruity theory of leadership (Koenig et al. in Psychol Bull 4:616–642, 2011. https ://doi.org/10.1037/a0023 557) and research on retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF, Anderson et al. in J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cognit 20:1063–1087, 1994. https ://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.5.861), we hypothesized and found that high-NFC participants show (1) a higher RIF of dimensions commonly associated with the leadership prototype (agentic/masculine) ascribed to female manager targets, when selectively retrieved dimensions commonly associated with the female prototype (communal/feminine) were ascribed to the same target; and (2) a lessened RIF of female stereotypical dimensions ascribed to female manager targets, when selectively retrieved prototypical leadership dimensions were ascribed to the same target. Overall, the present findings suggest that when faced with women leaders, high NfC enhances the accessibility of gender stereotype-congruent memories and reduces the accessibility of prototypical leadership ones, thus reducing the RIF of communal/feminine memories.