| Dr. Nancy Henley |
Dr. Nancy Henley is a Professor Emerita of Cognitive and Social Psychology at the UCLA Psychology Department. She earned her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology in 1968 at John Hopkins University. Also, she participated in a post-doctoral study at Harvard University from 1971 - 1972. Dr. Henley has had a very distinguished career as Director of Women's Studies at UCLA and Editor of Psychology of Women Quarterly (1980-1986). Even more remarkable is her book, Body Politics: Power, Sex, and Nonverbal Communication (1977), which won the Distinguished Publication Award.
Dr. Henley's major research areas encompass power, gender, and communication skills. Her research has explored power and gender differences within nonverbal communication, such as gestures and expressions. An example is Dr. Henley's work in both language comprehension and the lack of communication between women and men. She focuses on how male-biased language could influence people to think more positively towards men than women. A scale to measure attitudes towards women, the Feminist Perspectives Scale, has been constructed by Dr. Henley and her research team. Her work also intertwines race and ethnicity with the perspectives on women.
Dr. Henley has recently studied the use of language in groups of different power and privilege with her research team. One major focus is how language is used to depict violence against women, lesbians, and gay men. Some of the results were startling. Passive voice writing in newspaper articles was more likely than active voice writing to inspire readers to believe that women provoked acts of violence against them. Other newspapers dealt with violence against lesbians and gay men in a light and avoidant manner. Articles were written as though violence against these groups was not a problem or a threat.
Another area involves how men have traditionally held the upper hand in power issues over women. Gestures have been a main way that men seem to relay their power and control over women. Yet this concept is only the beginning of Dr. Henley's investigations. These ideas in turn help unfold the problem that women have traditionally been submissive to men.
Dr. Nancy Henley's work in the fields of Cognitive and Social Psychology will aid in the empowerment and advancement of women in today's and the future's society. Her studies and research provide a great deal to the Psychology of Women overall. This is just one of many reasons her contributions should be displayed for the month of March in honor of Women's History Month.
Henley, N. (1977). Body politics: Power sex, and nonverbal communication. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.