lec 4 - 5

Question 1

what are the four primary components of gender stereotypes ?

Answer 1

• TRAIT DIMENSIONS (nurturing)
• ROLE BEHAVIOURS (housewife)
• OCCUPATIONS (nurse)
• physical appearance (graceful)

Question 2

what are the two primary components of stereotypes ?

Answer 2

warmth - or communion (the desire to heave a relationship with other people)

agency (competency - concern for own self-interests)

Question 3

are stereotypes universal? name some gender traits that are cross-cultural

Answer 3

yes - as strongly held now as in 1980’s
women - nurturing agreeable affection
men - dominant adventurous and independent

Question 4

subgroups - intersectionality and prototypes

Answer 4

subgroup - men and women who belong to smaller groups within larger categories (ex. in the category of men there are fathers - blue collar workers - athletes etc.)

intersectionality - stereotypes about people who hold multiple subordinate group identities - more than just the sum of identities put together - these people have unique experiences of prejudice

• rooted in systems of power in which the most powerful members of social groups are the PROTOTYPICAL EXAMPLE of the people in these groups
• default gendered person is a MAN
• default ethnicity is WHITE
• CAN RESULT IN FEELINGS OF INVISIBILITY (under emphasized - struggle to heard or recognized as members of a social category - historical invisibility - political invisibility - legal invisibility)

Question 5

what about transgender stereotypes ?

Answer 5

• little research
• studies measure stereotypes about MTF and FTM and do not consider stereotypes about the other variations of transgender people
• FINDINGS: stereotypes about MTF align with stereotypes about cisgender women
  -stereotypes about FTM are more androgynous than stereotypes of cisgender men

Question 6

some consequences of gender stereotypes ? (4)

Answer 6

gender prescriptions - traits that each gender SHOULD HAVE

gender proscriptions - traits each gender should NOT exhibit

• when society values a stereotype - people will feel a pressure to conform to it - and those who do NOT conform can face punishment
• WHEN NEGATIVE these stereotypes can lead to personal anxieties or behaviours that reinforce the stereotype (self fulfilling prophecy)

Question 7

how are gender role violations penalized ? - what is the state incongruity hypothesis ?

Answer 7

• violating gender roles can lead to negative evaluations from others
  women who belong to non-traditional subgroups (lesbians) experience more negative stereotypes than traditional women - especially if these subgroups are associated with gender prescription (caring wife to a strong man)

the status incongruity hypothesis:
- people stigmatize women who seem TOO HIGH in dominance

women who display HIGH STATUS HIGH AGENTIC TRAITS - view them as less likeable (hireable) - liked less than men
men who exhibit traits that are LOW STATUS like modesty - liked less than women

Question 8

where do gender stereotypes come from ? (3 theories)

Answer 8

evolutionary - stereotypes derive from genetically inherited differences in the traits and behaviours that women and men exhibit

social role theory - stereotypes arise from the large-scale differences in the types of social roles men and women occupy (nurses - caring - women are nurses - women are caring)

biosocial constructionist theory - extension of social theory - draws on BOTH evolutionary and social role theory

Question 9

are gender stereotypes accurate

Answer 9

• hard to measure
• can have problematic implications for women and men - especially when considering ‘proving’ sex differences in the domain of cognitive abilities (intelligence)

Question 10

how universal are gender stereotypes ? what trends do we tend to see ?

Answer 10

• we see that stereotypes ab women’s communion and men’s agency are universal
• while some traits are not as universal - the tendency to attribute high status traits to men does seem universal

suggests this is a means for men (dominant sex class) to assert their power over women

Question 11

social learning theory of gender (2 parts) - criticisms

Answer 11

1 - reinforcement of gender appropriate behaviour

children are rewarded for gender consistent behaviour and will be punished by gender inconsistent behaviour

increases the likelihood children will adhere to their assigned gender category - stereotypes

2 - imitating same gender behaviour

children watch and imitate the behaviour of other people of their gender - parents teachers family MEDIA

CRITICISMS

1 - but parents treat their children the same (if theyre a boy or a girl)

RESPONSE
gender socialization happens mostly outside the home (teachers classmates etc) - so the treatment of parents to their children is not the only mechanism of socialization

Question 12

cognitive development theories of gender identity - stage theory - age of gender identity - gender constancy - criticisms

Answer 12

idea that children are responsible for their own gender-shaping

learn this concept in STAGES (piaget - erikson) as they get older

AGE OF DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER IDENTITY - 3

gender constancy - children eventually understand their sex is fixed and permanent
- prefer things associated with their own gender

CRITICISMS:

issue is that children must develop a strong gender identity before developing a preference for gender specific stuff (ex. girl must know she is a girl until 3 - and SHOULDN’T choose to play w dolls before this age)

YET - we see children act stereotypically gendered before this age

Question 13

gender schema theory - social learning aspect - cognitive behavioural aspect - counter ?

Answer 13

main idea - as soon as kids can identify their gender and that of others - begin to build a schema for gender by seeking out additional info

social

children learn about gender roles from the culture in which they live and adjust their behaviour accordingly to align with the gender roles of their culture

cognitive behavioural

gender schema develops (info on roles - behaviour etc.)
choose the attributes that are applicable to their own gender and evaluate how well they fit on the scale of gender attributes ex. as a girl am i soft or strong - since i’m soft im a good girl !

COUNTER - eliminate gender stereotypes from kids life the best you can

Question 14

social interactional theories - how is this unique ?

Answer 14

• focused on gender development AFTER FIVE YEARS OLD
• IDEA OF SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY - the interactions you have with other people can influence your behaviour and self concept (related to your gender)
• example - i think that male driving instructor is going to fail me on this test because he thinks women can’t drive - so it impacts my performance on the test

Question 15

what is good research ? describe reliability and validity - what is bad research? provide example

Answer 15

good research is VALID (INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL) and reliable (can be replicated)

BAD RESEARCH ?
- not reliable or valid

HRT STUDY:

• do hormones help with heart disease
• study one had a BIASED SAMPLE of healthy young women - of course they will have healthier hearts and less complications when taking the drugs
• study two random assignment - revealed there are possible heart complications

Question 16

why is HOW SOMETHING IS BEING ASKED important?

Answer 16

called the operational definition

• her own research: traumatic stress journal - did not define what is meant by fear - when participants were asked about fear they interpreted it as ECONOMIC FEAR when she wanted to test PHYSICAL VIOLENCE FEAR
• HIGHLIGHTS a need to make sure that you are measuring exactly the variables you set out to measure - do this by providing an operational definition - ensures that the question is related to gender and the measures are valid

Question 17

why are participants important during a study ?

Answer 17

ex. nausea medicine tested on MEN - so when taken by pregnant women resulted in limb deformities in their children !

• shows importance of unbiased sample, random assignment - external validity and specifying information about the sample used
• participants involved specify who the results of the study can be generalized to - if participant selection is too narrow (only men) then results might not be applicable to greater populations (women)

Question 18

experimenter expectations ?

Answer 18

can bias results - ‘double blind studies’

Question 19

qualitative vs. quantitative research (examples) - HOW TO INTERPRET RESULTS

Answer 19

qualitative research - allows participants to say their own words - express their feelings/perspective about a situation
- case studies
interviews
focus groups

advantage - tell their own stories
disadvantage - coding can be time consuming

quantitative
variables turned into numbers that can be analyzed statistically

correlational studies
strength of association between variables - 0.3 or higher
- positive - trend the same
- negative - trend in opposite ways (one increases the other decreases)

experiment
cause and effect
random assignment
manipulation of IV

results

need statistical significance
effect size (d) - better statistic bc this takes into account the participant number in the study

meta-analysis - gold standard - helps provide large picture of general trend of results (analyzing a large collection of results) - results that are published usually all have an effect (biases results)

Question 20

what are some potential problems in current research (5)

Answer 20

THE HYPOTHESIS:

• avoid biased theories - using unrelated research - limiting range of questions

THE STUDY DESIGN
- operational definitions, participant sample, unbiased researchers, confounding variables

PERFORMING THE STUDY
- avoid research expectations - DOUBLE BLIND

INTERPRETING THE DATA
- can’t just look at statistical significance alone - emphasis on practical significance (effect size) - ignoring alternative expectations (no difference in cognitive abilities between the 2 sexes - forget about it then - MAYBE THE TWO SEXES ARE SIMILAR ???? CONSIDER THAT)

COMMUNICATE FINDINGS
- bias to only publish about gender DIFFERENCES (similarities only highlighted further down in the text)

Question 21

guidelines for gender- fair research (4)

Answer 21

• eliminate sex bias from sampling
• use non-gender-biased terms
• do not exaggerate sex differences (focus on sex similarities)
• do not imply biological causes for sex differences (evaluate evolutionary claims using this)

Question 22

guidelines for more inclusive research (5)

Answer 22

• more diversity among professional ranks (reduce representation of white people)
• more cross-cultural samples (sex differences across nations)
• report demographic characteristics (ensure that demographic questions are exhuastive)
• avoid biased language (sex differences)
• examine structural inequalities and power differences (how they shape people’s experiences - examine the multiple identities)

Question 23

biases at each step of research ?

Answer 23

hypothesis:
- female deficit model: the assumption that sex differences come from something women lack (ex. are girls as good at math as boys ?) - rooted in androcentrism (MALE AS THE NORM

designing and running the study:
- poor sampling (biased)
- lack of intersectionality
- biased measures - procedures (is the experiment BLIND - PARTICIPANT AND RESEARCHER BIASES AND POTENTIAL CONFOUNDS)

INTERPRETING AND COMMUNICATING RESULTS

• androcentric interpretations (emphasis on male norms and female deviance)
• maximalist approach (how are genders DIFFERENT)

Question 24

POST-POSITIVISM ? SCIENTIFIC POSITIVISM ?CRITIQUE?

Answer 24

post-positivism - view of empirical research as a method to acquire knowledge that has INHERENT BIASES

scientific positivism - scientific study of the social world - social facts are not often OBJECTIVE FACTS but products of a complex history and social world - humans are not just PASSIVE SUBJECTS like atoms and behaviour is not easily predictable (like biological processes)

Question 25

Describe the contents and structure of gender stereotypes – in the dimensions of agency and communion.

Answer 25

• Two core dimensions – communion and agency
• (warmth and competence)
• Consistent across cultures – and the strength of these stereotypes has not changed in the 30 years.
• HOWEVER – there are distinct subgroups within the gender categories that have unique stereotypes – ex. housewifes (more warm and less competent) – lesbians (more competent and less warm.
• Trans: closer to original sex

Question 26

Major theories of gender stereotypes (evolutionary – social roles – biosocialconstruction of sex)

Answer 26

Evolutionary: genetically encoded sex differences
- Social role: sex-based labour divisions lead to gender stereotypes
- Biosocial constructionist: genetic differences lead to proficiency at certain jobs – can lead to sex-based divisions of labour (Adaptive – for roles they occupy as adults)

Question 27

Social consequences of violating prescriptive and proscriptive gender stereotypes – STATUS INCONGRUITY HYPOTHESIS – stereotype threat and self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 27

Prescribe: HOW men and women should act
- Proscriptive: how they should NOT act
- STATUS INCONGRUITY HYPOTHESIS:
o Gender rules justify the gender hierarchy that affords men high status
§ So – women who show competency related traits are penalized for being too dominant and men who show low-status traits are also penalized for being too warm and subordinate
- STEREOTYPE THREAT:
o Idea that if one is aware about the stereotypes of their group they can underperform (higher cognitive load being aware of stereotype – blocking them from performing at their best)
- SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY:
o Belief about a groups makes you look for traits that ‘prove’ they are that way – might influence your behaviour towards that group – making them behave in a way that reinforces that stereotype

Question 28

Research and Perspectives on the accuracy of gender stereotypes ( cognitive – accuracy – statistical beliefs vs. generic beliefs)

Answer 28

Cognitive: stereotyping as a natural consequence of simplifying the social world (categories) – can lead to errors and overgeneralizations – BUT some researchers believe them to be accurate to some extent
- STATISTICALLY ACCURATE – measured in terms of DIRECTION (men are STRONGER than women – which sex exceeds the other) – DISCREPANCY (how large the difference is – HOW MUCH STRONGER are men than women) – RANK ORDER ACCURACY (which sex difference are larger than others – so men are smarter and stronger than women – but which one are they better at ?)
- BUT measuring statistic beliefs is different from measuring GENERIC BELIEFS (which people actually tend to hold – different than MOST women are caring if there is a generic belief that WOMAN ARE CARING – reality of the proportion of caring women might not actually be reflected in the belief about the category as a whole)
- REGARDLESS – there is real statistical accuracy for stereotyped beliefs and actual sex differences (emotion communication etc.)