Week 4 - the Contents and Origins of Gender Stereotypes Flashcards
Gender stereotypes
Shared beliefs about the traits, qualities, and tendencies associated with different sex categories.
Generalization
Tendency to assume that a new member of a category has to have the same qualities as the other category members
Social categorication
Automatic categorization of people into social groups based on distinguishing features
Components of Gender stereotypes
Trait dimensions, role behaviours, occupations and physical appearance
Stereotype content model
Proposes that stereotypes about social groups fall along communion and agency dimensions
Traits associated with communion
Includes warmth, connectedness, kindness, compassion and emotional sensitivity
Traits associated with agency
Includes competence, assertiveness, competitiveness and independence
Women are wonderful effect
The tendency to view stereotypes about women more favorably, especially when they conform to traditional gender roles.
Who does the “Women-are-wonderful” effect mostly apply to?
White, middle class women
What are gender subgroups?
Categories within gender groups rated distinctly on communal and agentic
How do subgroups help combat gender stereotypes?
They can increase tendency to view men or women as unique individuals
Transgender stereotypes
Overlaps between transwomen and cisgender men stereotypes and overlaps between transmen and cisgender women stereotypes
Transgender stereotypes reflect
Widespread, cultural prejudice (deviant, mentally ill, disgusting
Incorrect conflation of gender identity and sexual orientation (gay, confused)
Heterosexual stereotypes
Research doesn’t really examine it, heterosexual relationships considered the norm, often mirror gender norms
What is heteronormativity?
Assumption that heterosexual relationships are the norm
What explains gay and lesbian stereotypes?
Sexual inversion theory
Sexual inversion theory
Posed that homosexuality was a result of individuals having a psychological identity of the opposite sex, not a difference in sexual attraction
Gay men subgroups
Flamboyant, drag queen, masculine, feminine and normal
Lesbian woman stereotypes
Butch, feminine, free-spirited, tomboy, feminist, promiscuous
Bisexual stereotypes
More negative compared to straight, gay or lesbians,
Binegativity
Prejudicial attitudes towards bisexuals, with greater bias against bisexual men
What are the 3 dimensions of Binegativity
Unstable identity, sexual irresponsibility, hostility
Who shows bias against bisexual people?
Heterosexuals, gay men and lesbian women
What does intersectionality suggest about stereotypes?
Individuals with multiple social identities face unique stereotypes
Who often serves as prototypes of social groups?
The most powerful members of social groups serve as prototypes (men)
What is a prototype in social psychology?
The most typical cognitive representation of a category
What does the Lens-Based Account say about stereotypes?
Perceivers use identity-specific lenses, influenced by personal and social context
What does evolutionary psychology say about gender stereotypes?
Gender stereotypes reflect inherited trait differences shaped by natural selection
Parental investment theory
Women invest more time and energy in offspring than men do
Intersexual selection
Attraction to mates with desirable traits
Intrasexual selection
Competition among males for access to mates
Social role theory
Gender stereotypes mirror large-scale sex differences in societal roles
What shapes stereotype perceptions more: occupation or gender?
Occupation, when known
Biosocial constructionist theory
Emphasizes efficiency (physical capabilities) in labour division and socialization into gender roles
Gender prescriptions
Traits people believe that men and women should exhibit
Gender proscriptions
Traits people believe that men and women should NOT exhibit
What happens when someone violate gender prescriptions?
They may be punished socially
Status incongruity hypotheses
People dislike gender role-violating individuals because they dominant (women) or low status (men)
How are LGBT and gender non-conforming youth perceived?
Gender role violators, facing marginalization
What is stereotype threat?
Anxiety about confirming a negative group stereotype
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy in stereotyping?
A stereotype causes behaviours that make the stereotype come true
An example of stereotype threat in education
Girls underperforming in math
What percent of STEM workers were women in 2023 (Canada)
Less than 25%
What percent of the Canadian workforce were women in 2023?
About 59%
What fields do men avoid due to gender bias?
HEED fields
What are HEED fields?
Healthcare, early education and domestic
What are challenges in studying stereotype accuracy?
Determining what counts as the “real” standard to compare against and the type of accuracy
What are the types of stereotype accuracy?
Direction and discrepancy
What is direction accuracy?
Is it generally true, in the correct direction
What is discrepancy accuracy?
How close is it to reality, whether the stereotype exaggerates or underestimates the real difference
Are gender stereotypes universal?
No, they vary by cultural values and individualism/collectivism
What remains universal about gender stereotypes?
Attributing valued traits to he dominant sex group
What role do stereotypes play in social hierarchy?
They maintain the power of high-status groups
How are gender stereotypes linked to social power?
They justify unequal gender hierarchies
How do children learn gender roles?
By observing division of labour and societal cues
What are the four components of Gender stereotypes proposed by Deaux and Lewis?
Trait dimensions, role behaviours, occupations and physical appearance
What is the think-manager-think-male effect?
There types about managers align more with men than women
How has the think-manager-think-male effect changed over time?
Perceptions of women’s leadership traits have improved among women but not significantly among men
What is intersectionality?
The study of how multiple social identities and forms of oppression interact
What did Ghavami and Peplau (2012) find about intersection stereotypes?
They found that people in multiple subordinate groups are assigned unique stereotypes not found in their component groups
What are generic beliefs?
Beliefs about a category as a whole, without reference to numbers
What are statistical beliefs?
Beliefs that involve numbers or proportions about a category
Are stereotypes always harmful?
Not necessarily, depends on content and how they affect behavior and expectations
What stereotypes domain did Halperm et al. (2011) study?
Cognitive ability, found stereotypes often accurate in direction but not magnitude
What did Swim (1944) find?
People are often accurate in direction but sometimes exaggerate the size of sex differences
What is the consequence of stereotype threat in education?
Lower performance among stereotyped groups in high-stakes testing
What domains show stereotype accuracy?
Cognitive skills, personality traits and nonverbal behaviour
What did Briton and Hall (1995) find?
Gender stereotypes about nonverbal behaviors were mostly accurate in direction
What stereotype was found inaccurate by Holleran, Mehl, & Levitt (2009)
That women are more talkative than men
What is a stereotype cluster?
Groups that are rated similarly in communion and agency dimensions
Why might stereotypes about managers shift?
Changing workplace values toward communal leadership traits
How do ads reinforce stereotypes?
By showing women with domestic products and men with technical ones
What is one way to reduce stereotyping?
Encouraging recognition of gender subgroups
What can change stereotypes?
Changes in labour roles, culture and representation
