Chapter 3- Gender Stereotypes

Question 1

Gender Stereotypes

Answer 1

Generalized beliefs and attitudes about masculinity and femininity

• including psychological traits and characteristics
• as well as the activities appropriate to men or women

Question 2

The Doctrine of the Two Spheres

Answer 2

the belief that men and women have different interest and roles that do not overlap (opposities)
-arose during the industrial revolution (19th C) when there was the shift from agriculture to industrial and men took jobs outside the family home and women became responsible for the home and childcare

Question 3

The cult of true womanhood

Answer 3

1820-1860
-combination of piety (religious), Purity (sexually uninterested), submissiveness (weak, dependent and timid), domesticity (home)
- promised happiness and power to the victorian women
believed without these aspects, no woman’s life could have real meaning

Question 4

4 Themes that defined the male sex role identity

Answer 4

1. no sissy stuff
2. the big wheel (success and status)
3. Give em Hell (aggression, daring and violence)
4. The Sturdy Oak (toughness, confidence and self reliance)
   (Prohibits close relationships and requires persistent competition and striving for achievement)

Question 5

Gender Role Strain Paradigm

Answer 5

results of the 60s and 70s where men and women started to make a departure from traditional gender

• gender roles for men are contradictory and stressful
• violating gender roles has worse consequences for men than women

Question 6

Hegemonic Masculinity

Answer 6

Attempts to subordinate women and less accepted versions of masculinity (dominant)
(against anything that is not the traditional masculine gender identity?)

Question 7

Terman’s Attitude Interest Analysis Survey

Answer 7

• masculine and feminine on one dimensions (m-f)

- scores differentiated men from women

Question 8

Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory

Answer 8

-Unidimensional and bipolar scale
- interested in measuring male homosexual tendencies
(tested on 13 homosexual men yet became a measure of femininity)

Question 9

Unidimensional Approach of Measurement

Answer 9

Masculinity———————– Femininity

Spectrum

Question 10

Two-Dimensional Approach of Measurement

Answer 10

Masculinity
High———————-Low
Femininity
High———————–Low

Question 11

Androgyny

Answer 11

-Having a mixture of both masculine and feminine characteristics

Question 12

Bem Sex Role Inventory

Answer 12

• Measures femininity and masculinity
• Two dimensional (one scale is masculine and one is feminine)
• not universally accepted but proves that women and men are not polar opposites

Question 13

Implicit Measures of Stereotyping

Answer 13

Two Attitudes:
-Explicit: consciously aware (evaluations or opinions)
-implicit: not consciously aware of biases
Assessment of attitudes
- Implicit Association Test: measure how long it takes for participants to react to similarity of word pairs.
-stereotypical associations are faster
(man and doctor vs women and doctor)

Question 14

Advantage of Stereotypes

Answer 14

Streamlining cognitive processes

Question 15

Disadvantages of stereotypes

Answer 15

creates distortions and incorrect generalizations

• stereotyping places limits on allowable behaviours (some norms)
• Prejudice and discrimination

Question 16

Prejudice

Answer 16

• Disadvantage of stereotyping

- negative evaluation of an entire group (Attitude)

Question 17

Discrimination

Answer 17

• Disadvantage of Stereotyping

- differential treatment (Behaviour)

Question 18

Perception

Answer 18

-Basis for cognitive processing that can become a stereotype

Question 19

Stereotypes Affect ?

Answer 19

-traits
-behaviours
-physical appearance
-occupations
we apply stereotypes more strongly to other than to ourselves.

Question 20

How have stereotypes changed over the recent decades

Answer 20

• greater change towards more flexibility in woman’s than men’s roles from the 1960s
• masculine tradition more stable
• women tend to believe that men hold higher degrees of bias than expressed (negative stereotyping)

Question 21

Development of Stereotypes in Children

Answer 21

Children obtain gendered knowledge
- by age 2: children apply gender labels
- by age 3: children show signs of gender stereotyping
(it increases with age until around ages 5- 7, also becomes more flexible around this age)
-starts with ones own sex then generalizes

Question 22

Illusory Correlation

Answer 22

The belief that a correlation exists or that it is stronger than it actually is (e.g. Lucky socks)
-contributes to maintaining stereotypes

Question 23

Stereotype Threat

Answer 23

• the fear of being negatively stereotyped
• affects self concept
• influences women and ethnic minorities to perform poorly.
• stereotyped groups may handicap themselves accepting the negative evaluations of others

Question 24

Ambivalent Sexism

Answer 24

1. Hostile Sexism- negative attitudes toward women

2. Benevolent Sexism- positive attitudes that serve to belittle women and keep them subservient (special treatment)