Structure of gender stereotypes: Interrelationships among components and gender label.

Assessed the extent to which gender label and various types of component information influenced the judgments made by 458 undergraduates in 3 experiments regarding the existence of other gender-related characteristics not specifically implied by the provided information. In Exp I, 42 male and 65 female undergraduates were given gender and role information about a person and asked to estimate the probability that the person had a number of other characteristics or engaged in a number of other behaviors. In Exp II, 84 male and 92 female Ss followed the previous procedure but were given traits rather than roles of the person. Results show that gender stereotypes consisted of a number of separate components. In Exp III, each of 4 gender stereotype components was presented in a within-Ss design, and 83 male and 88 female Ss made judgments about each component. Results show that information about one stereotype component can implicate other components; specific component information may outweigh gender identification; and components differ in their ability to implicate other components of gender stereotypes, with physical appearance playing a dominant role. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Illusory correlation and the maintenance of stereotypic beliefs.

Investigated the role of cognitive processes in the maintenance of social stereotypes in 3 experiments with 73 male and 77 female high school and undergraduate students and adults. Ss read sets of sentences in which the members of different occupational groups were described by pairs of trait adjectives. In 2 experiments, the trait adjectives were either consistent (CT) with stereotypic beliefs about one of the occupational groups or unrelated to the group's stereotype; in the 3rd study, traits were either inconsistent (ICT) with or unrelated to a group's stereotype. Different correlational relationships between the traits and occupational groups were built into the sets of sentences, but, in each case, the CT or ICT traits described the members of each occupational group as often as matched traits unrelated to the groups' stereotypes. Ss estimated how frequently each of the trait adjectives had described members of each of the occupational groups. Each study revealed systematic biases in the Ss' judgments so that the perceived correlation between traits and occupations was more congruent with existing stereotypic beliefs than the actual correlation. Findings indicate a cognitive bias in the processing of new information about social groups that is mediated by existing stereotypes and that provides a basis for explaining the persistence of stereotypes in the absence of confirming evidence. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traits and social stereotypes: Efficiency differences in social information processing.

Research on the associative structure of social stereotypes and trait-defined categories has shown that stereotypes are associatively richer, more visual, and more distinctive (S. M. Andersen and R. L. Klatzky; see record 1987-34370-001). We hypothesized that stereotypes might also operate more efficiently than trait-defined categories in social information processing. Participants were presented with sentences pairing either a stereotype or a trait label with an overt act or an internal state. Participants judged whether or not the designated target person would be likely to do or to experience what was described in the sentence. As predicted, participants judged the stereotype sentences more quickly than the trait sentences. An incidental recall test of memory for the target terms, cued by the acts and states, showed that participants were also better able to remember the stereotypes than the traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Girls' math performance under stereotype threat: The moderating role of mothers' gender stereotypes.

Previous research on stereotype threat in children suggests that making gender identity salient disrupts girls' math performance at as early as 5 to 7 years of age. The present study (n = 124) tested the hypothesis that parents' endorsement of gender stereotypes about math moderates girls' susceptibility to stereotype threat. Results confirmed that stereotype threat impaired girls' performance on math tasks among students from kindergarten through 2nd grade. Moreover, mothers' but not fathers' endorsement of gender stereotypes about math moderated girls' vulnerability to stereotype threat: Performance of girls whose mothers strongly rejected the gender stereotype about math did not decrease under stereotype threat. These findings are important because they point to the role of mothers' beliefs in the development of girls' vulnerability to the negative effects of gender stereotypes about math. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Input and central processing expressed in ERP and heart rate changes to rare target and rare nontarget stimuli

Whether late positive components of event-related potentials (ERPs) parallel changes in heart rate (HR) indicative of attention/orienting to rare stimuli has been debated. In the present study, a three-stimulus design was used, with rare target, rare nontarget, and frequent standard stimuli delivered under identical conditions except that instructions to subjects described the targets to which subjects should respond but did not describe the nontargets. In Experiment 1, stimuli varied among modalities; in Experiment 2, auditory stimuli were employed. Both ERPs and HR were consistent with automatic processing preceding two stages of controlled processing. Rare stimuli evoked larger parietal P300 and initial HR deceleration than standards. Presumably because of load-reducing effects of long interstimulus intervals, targets and nontargets were not distinguished before a late slow wave and a late phase of HR acceleration. Neither rare stimulus elicited a recognizable frontal P3a.     

Multiple social identities and stereotype threat: Imbalance, accessibility, and working memory.

In 4 experiments, the authors showed that concurrently making positive and negative self-relevant stereotypes available about performance in the same ability domain can eliminate stereotype threat effects. Replicating past work, the authors demonstrated that introducing negative stereotypes about women’s math performance activated participants’ female social identity and hurt their math performance (i.e., stereotype threat) by reducing working memory. Moving beyond past work, it was also demonstrated that concomitantly presenting a positive self-relevant stereotype (e.g., college students are good at math) increased the relative accessibility of females’ college student identity and inhibited their gender identity, eliminating attendant working memory deficits and contingent math performance decrements. Furthermore, subtle manipulations in questions presented in the demographic section of a math test eliminated stereotype threat effects that result from women reporting their gender before completing the test. This work identifies the motivated processes through which people’s social identities became active in situations in which self-relevant stereotypes about a stigmatized group membership and a nonstigmatized group membership were available. In addition, it demonstrates the downstream consequences of this pattern of activation on working memory and performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender schema, gender constancy, and gender-role knowledge: The roles of cognitive factors in preschoolers' gender-role stereotype attributions.

Investigated the influence of several cognitive components of children's gender-role development on their attributions of gender-role stereotypes to a particular sex. A total of 83 children (44 boys and 39 girls) completed a 2-part interview that assessed degree of gender schematization, gender-role knowledge, flexibility, and stage of gender constancy. Children also completed tasks assessing attributions of gender-role stereotypes to male and female figures. Results indicated that children's gender schematization and other cognitive gender schema factors were significantly associated with children's accuracy in attributing gender-role stereotypes to both males and females. In contrast, stage of gender constancy per se was not significantly correlated with any of children's gender-role stereotype attributions. The patterns of results offer further evidence of the importance of gender schemata in early gender-role development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal structure of syntactic parsing: Early and late event-related brain potential effects.

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from participants listening to or reading sentences that were correct, contained a violation of the required syntactic category, or contained a syntactic-category ambiguity. When sentences were presented auditorily (Experiment 1), there was an early left anterior negativity for syntactic-category violations, but not for syntactic-category ambiguities. Both anomaly types elicited a late centroparietally distributed positivity. When sentences were presented visually word by word (Experiment 2), again an early left anterior negativity was found only for syntactic-category violations, and both types of anomalies elicited a late positivity. The combined data are taken to be consistent with a 2-stage model of parsing, including a 1st stage, during which an initial phrase structure is built and a 2nd stage, during which thematic role assignment and, if necessary, reanalysis takes place. Disruptions to the 1st stage of syntactic parsing appear to be correlated with an early left anterior negativity, whereas disruptions to the 2nd stage might be correlated with a late posterior distributed positivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What mediates sex discrimination in hiring decisions?

Bogus resumes were evaluated by 212 business professionals to discover what mediates sex discrimination in hiring decisions. We hypothesized that discrimination against women and men who applied for stereotypically "masculine" and "feminine" jobs, respectively, could be reduced by providing individuating information suggesting that the applicant was an exception to his or her gender stereotype and possessed traits usually associated with the opposite gender. We also hypothesized that individuating information consistent with stereotypes about an applicant's gender would decrease the probability that an applicant would be evaluated favorably for a job usually considered appropriate for the other gender. We found that individuating information eliminated sex-typed personality inferences about male and female applicants and affected applicants' perceived job suitability; however, sex discrimination was not eliminated. We suggest that sex discrimination is mediated by occupation stereotypes that specify both the personality traits and the gender appropriate for each occupation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Awareness and expression of sex stereotypes in young children.

On the basis of male and female sex stereotypes defined in a study of young adults, a children's picture-story technique known as the Sex Stereotype Measure was developed and administered to 284 Euro-American kindergartners and 2nd and 4th graders. Principal findings were (a) Kindergartners show an appreciable degree of knowledge of adult sex stereotypes. (b) This knowledge increases to the Grade 2 level but shows no further increase during the next 2 yrs. (c) Knowledge of sex stereotypes appears to develop in a similar manner among both boys and girls. (c) The male stereotype is learned at an earlier age than the female stereotype. (e) Expression of stereotypic responses sometimes is influenced by the sex of the examiner. It is concluded that this method represents a promising approach to the assessment of sex stereotypes in preschool and early school-age children. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotypes of college students toward the average man's and woman's attitudes toward women.

Investigated stereotypes of females held by 49 male and 53 female college students using role playing. Approximately 1/2 of the male and 1/2 of the female Ss responded to attitudinal items about the role of females in society as they believed the average male would respond; the remaining Ss responded as they believed the average female would respond. Results show a significant difference between the sex stereotype centroids of males and females and an interaction between sex of respondent and sex stereotype. The interaction indicates that females perceive a greater gulf between the stereotypes of females held by members of the different sexes than do males. The method employed is considered useful in identifying the loci of false perceptions of belief dissimilarity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Battle of the sexes: Gender stereotype confirmation and reactance in negotiations.

The authors examined how gender stereotypes affect negotiation performance. Men outperformed women when the negotiation was perceived as diagnostic of ability (Experiment 1) or the negotiation was linked to gender-specific traits (Experiment 2), suggesting the threat of negative stereotype confirmation hurt women's performance relative to men. The authors hypothesized that men and women confirm gender stereotypes when they are activated implicitly, but when stereotypes are explicitly activated, people exhibit stereotype reactance, or the tendency to behave in a manner inconsistent with a stereotype. Experiment 3 confirmed this hypothesis. In Experiment 4, the authors examined the cognitive processes involved in stereotype reactance and the conditions under which cooperative behaviors between men and women can be promoted at the bargaining table (by activating a shared identity that transcends gender). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of professor ethnicity and gender on student evaluations: Judged before met.

Ethnic minority academicians face a number of challenges in the “ivory tower.” One set of challenges arises from the racial stereotypes that others hold, and the current research investigates the stereotypes held by students before they even meet such professors. After providing college preparatory students with a CV of a professor (differing in their race—White, Black, or Asian; their gender—male or female; and their academic discipline—Science or Humanities), students evaluated the professor on measures of competence, legitimacy, and interpersonal skills. We found that students evaluated Black professors to be significantly less competent and legitimate than their White and Asian counterparts. Both Black and Asian professors were judged to have significantly less interpersonal skills than White professors. No gender main effects emerged. Professors in science were judged to be more competent and legitimate than professors in humanities. Very few interactions surfaced. We discuss our results in terms of previous stereotype research and the implications our results have for further compounding the challenges that Black professors face in academia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traits and social stereotypes: Levels of categorization in person perception.

A theoretical distinction is made between trait categorization in person perception and categorization by means of well-articulated, concrete social stereotypes. Three studies test the prediction that social stereotypes are both more associatively rich and more distinctive than are trait-defined categories. In Study 1, subjects sorted adjectives related to extraversion and introversion. A cluster analysis using similarity measures derived from the sorting indicated that distinct social stereotypes were associated with each trait. This supports and extends earlier findings (Cantor & Mischel, 1979). In Study 2, subjects generated attributes of the trait categories and stereotypes that emerged in Study 1. More nonredundant attributes, especially visible features, were listed for the stereotypes than for the trait categories. Study 3 elicited the explicit associative structure of traits and related stereotypes by having subjects rate the association between a series of attributes (derived from the responses in Study 2) and each category label. Results showed that social stereotypes have distinctive features that are not shared with the related trait category, whereas trait categories share virtually all of their features with related stereotypes. The implications of the trait/stereotype distinction for social information processing are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood and the correction of positive versus negative stereotypes.

The present research examined the effects of sadness on the correction of social stereotypes. Participants who either were or were not induced to feel sad were asked to form an impression of a single individual who belonged to a group that had either stereotypically positive or negative implications. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that sad people corrected for their negative, but not for their positive stereotypes. Experiment 3 demonstrated that this asymmetry was not due to stereotype valence per se but to whether the stereotype was perceived as an inappropriate basis for judgment. A model is presented that suggests that sad people do not simply ignore category-based information, but rather correct for their stereotypes only when they are perceived as inappropriate, which tends to be more often the case if the stereotype is negative than if it is positive. The implications of the present results for 4 extant models of mood and information processing are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender stereotypes during adolescence: Developmental changes and the transition to junior high school.

Although much evidence suggests that gender stereotyping becomes less flexible during adolescence, results of the present study indicate that gender stereotypes may actually become more flexible at some point during certain adolescent school transitions. The authors measured the flexibility of gender stereotypes in adolescents in Grades 4 through 11, using a combined cross-sectional and longitudinal design. Results indicated that flexibility increased for stereotypes concerning the psychological attributes of men and women after the transition into junior high school, regardless of whether this transition occurred during the 7th or 8th grade. Over the remaining years of junior high and high school, stereotype flexibility decreased. These results help resolve previous inconsistencies found in the literature by suggesting when and why changes in gender stereotype flexibility versus rigidity occur during adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accuracy of attitude stereotypes: The case of inferences based on gender.

Three studies were undertaken to assess the accuracy of people's estimates of the attitudes of men and women. In Exp 1, attitudes of male and female college students were assessed on a broad range of social and political issues. In Exp 2, 30 male and 30 female college students estimated the attitudes of typical males and females on the same statements. These estimates were used to select a set of stereotypic male statements and a set of stereotypic female statements. In Exp 3, 44 male and 53 female college students estimated the attitudes of male and female students on the 2 sets of statements. Results of the 1st 2 studies indicated that both men and women expected larger gender differences in attitudes than actually exist. In the 3rd study, this result was confirmed and it was found that people were least accurate in their estimates of the attitudes of men. Partial support was obtained for the hypothesis that in-group stereotypes would be more accurate than out-group stereotypes. Men were more accurate than women in estimating the attitudes of men but men and women were equally accurate in estimating the attitudes of women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype Threat and Performance: How Self-Stereotypes Influence Processing by Inducing Regulatory Foci.

The authors hypothesized that activated self-stereotypes can influence the strategies of task solution by inducing regulatory foci. More specifically, positive self-stereotypes should induce a promotion focus state of eagerness, whereas negative stereotypes should induce a prevention focus state of vigilance. Study 1 showed that a negative ascribed stereotype with regard to task performance leads to better recall for avoidance-related statements whereas a positive stereotype leads to better recall for approach-related statements. In Studies 2 and 3, both an experimental manipulation of group performance expectation and the preexisting stereotype of better verbal skills in women than in men led to faster and less accurate performance in the positive as compared with the negative stereotype group. Studies 4 and 5 showed that positive in-group stereotypes led to more creative performance whereas negative stereotypes led to better analytical performance. These results point to a possible mechanism for stereotype-threat effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype performance boosts: The impact of self-relevance and the manner of stereotype activation.

The activation of positive stereotypes has been shown to produce academic performance boosts. Evidence regarding the role of self-relevance in producing such effects has been mixed. The authors propose that the subtlety of stereotype activation plays a key role in creating performance boosts among targets and nontargets of stereotypes. Study 1 found that subtle stereotype activation boosted performance in targets, but blatant activation did not. Study 2 was conducted on both targets and nontargets using different methods of stereotype activation. Again, targets showed performance boosts when stereotypes were subtly activated but not when they were blatantly activated. Nontargets, however, showed boosts in performance only when stereotypes were blatantly activated. The role of self-relevance in mediating sensitivity to stimuli is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)