Exploring the Upside of Intersectional and Associated Categories: Two Conceptual Replications in Support of the MOSAIC Hypothesis

Strong emotional expressions can often cause conflict or ease tensions in both political and employment spheres. For women, the public often further prohibits certain emotional behaviors (e.g. dominance), and strongly prescribes others (e.g. smiling). Recent research in intersectionality has suggested that the intensity of these proscriptions and prescriptions decreases for Black women, and the current research investigates the cause of this intersectional advantage. Through an analysis of the MOSAIC model, and two conceptual replications of past intersectionality studies, we show how the association between Black women and the demographic category of men, yield special behavioral advantages for Black women. Implications and future directions are discussed.