Exposure to Sexist Comments, Emotional Synchrony, and Team Performance

What is it about?

This study examined how sexism, a highly common form of harassment, impedes team performance by undermining the collaborative benefits of emotional synchrony in teams. In a controlled experiment, 177 dyads of women completed a joint cognitive task over Zoom after being exposed to either neutral or sexist comments from an authority figure. Results revealed that exposure to sexism heightened emotional synchrony—as reflected in increased alignment of facial expressions among team members. Nevertheless, this form of synchrony no longer predicted team performance. In contrast, and in line with previous research, under neutral conditions (when sexism was absent), emotional synchrony significantly enhanced team performance. These findings indicate that while synchrony typically fosters cooperation, its positive effects on team outcomes are suppressed in the context of a social threat, such as sexism. In other words, sexism shifted the function of synchrony from supporting task engagement to signaling social bonding. In conclusion, this research illuminates the dire effects of exposure to sexism on team performance. As more of us engage in teamwork and as an increasing number of organizations rely on teams, it is essential to maintain a hassle-free work environment.

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