Gender Essentialism and Responses to Candidates’ Messages

People often form negative attitudes against those who deviate from gender norms. Within the political realm, this has the potential to translate into effects on perceptions of candidate likability and traits. Female candidates who tend to focus on issues stereotypically thought of as feminine are generally more positively evaluated than those who focus on stereotypically masculine domains. The current studies investigate whether these effects vary depending on the extent to which people endorse gender essentialism, which is the tendency to attribute gender differences to relatively more intrinsic, innate, and immutable factors versus believing that gender differences are largely due to cultural and learned factors. Current data with adults across two studies suggest a number of interesting findings: Evaluations of candidates depended on an interaction between respondents’ gender essentialism and whether or not the candidate’s message fit traditional stereotypes. In particular, high essentialist respondents felt significantly more negative toward male candidates with nonstereotypic messages.     

Emotional,Sensitive, and Unfit for Office? Gender Stereotype Activation and Support Female Candidates

Women are underrepresented at all levels of elected office. It is suspected that gender stereotypes hinder the electoral success of female candidates, but empirical evidence is inconclusive on whether stereotypes have a direct effect on voting decisions. This empirical conflict stems, in part, from the assumption that voters automatically rely on gender stereotypes when evaluating female candidates. This study explicitly tests the assumption of automatic stereotype activation. I suggest that stereotype reliance depends on whether stereotypes have been activated during a campaign, and it is only when stereotypes are activated that they influence evaluations of female candidates. These hypotheses are tested with a survey experiment and observational analysis. The results show that campaign communication activates stereotypes when they otherwise might not be activated, thereby diminishing support for female candidates.     

受众对广告中性别角色定型反应的研究

为了了解广告中性别角色定型对受众产生的影响,通过问卷调查,探讨了个体性别角色、性别、年龄和受教育程度对广告中性别角色定型反应的影响过程。结果发现:性别、个体性别角色(分为传统性别角色和非传统性别角色)、年龄和受教育程度可以通过女性自主性意识间接影响受众对广告中女性模特被冒犯性描述的知觉,进而影响受众对企业的负面评价和购买欲望;研究同时发现年龄可以直接预测受众的购买欲望。     

The Effects of Gender Stereotypic and Counter-Stereotypic Textbook Images on Science Performance

ABSTRACT

We investigated the effect of gender stereotypic and counter-stereotypic images on male and female high school students' science comprehension and anxiety. We predicted stereotypic images to induce stereotype threat in females and impair science performance. Counter-stereotypic images were predicted to alleviate threat and enhance female performance. Students read one of three chemistry lessons, each containing the same text, with photograph content varied according to stereotype condition. Participants then completed a comprehension test and anxiety measure. Results indicate that female students had higher comprehension after viewing counter-stereotypic images (female scientists) than after viewing stereotypic images (male scientists). Male students had higher comprehension after viewing stereotypic images than after viewing counter-stereotypic images. Implications for alleviating the gender gap in science achievement are discussed.     

Gender Stereotypes in Japanese Television Advertisements

The aim of this study was to reveal gender portrayal types in Japanese television advertisements through content analysis. Five hundred and thirty-one adult main characters were coded for sex, age, ethnic background, credibility, role, place, dress, background, persuasion type, camera work, camera angle, product type, target, and sex of voice-over. Five types were found by performing quick cluster analysis: beautiful and wise housewives, young ladies attracting people's attention, young celebrities, middle- and old-aged people enjoying private time, and middle-aged worker bee. The first three were mainly women and the latter two were mainly men. The results indicate that in Japanese television advertisements men and women are portrayed differently, and the differences correspond with traditional gender stereotypes.     

Gender Hierarchy in the Space: The Role of Gender Status in Shaping the Spatial Agency Bias

According to the Spatial Agency Bias (SAB), more agentic groups (men) are envisioned to the left of less agentic groups (women). This research investigated the role of social status in shaping the spatial representation of gender couples. Participants were presented pairs consisting of one male and one female target who confirmed gender stereotypes. The status of the targets in each pair was systematically varied (high-status vs. low-status job). Participants chose the target order (female/male vs. male/female) they preferred. In line with gender-status expectations (male: high-status, female: low-status), a male in a high-status job led to a spatial arrangement that favored the male/female order, regardless of the status of the female target. The female/male order was favored only when the female had a high-status job and the male a low-status job. No SAB occurred for pairs in which both targets displayed low-status jobs. The implications of status for the SAB are discussed.     

The Relationship Between Gender Role Stereotypes and Requisite Military Leadership Characteristics

The continuing emphasis on the need to utilize fully women's leadership skills in traditionally or predominantly male environments highlights the need for understanding gender stereotypes and leadership characteristics perceived to be associated with various jobs. This study essentially replicates Schein's research (1973, 1975) to determine the extent of gender stereotypes held by military students for military leadership positions. The results indicate (1) continued disparity in men's perceptions of the similarities between women and leaders, (2) support of previous findings that women recognize similarities between women and leaders, (3) senior military students possess stronger masculine gender role stereotypes of successful officers than do students with less than 1 year of service in the military academy, (4) greater experience with being led by female leaders did not affect men's masculine gender role stereotypes of successful leaders, and (5) successful female cadet leaders perceive successful officers as having characteristics commonly ascribed to both women and men. These results are interpreted in light of previous research on gender roles and leadership, and the practical implications for meeting organizational, and individual objectives for successful utilization of women in military leadership positions are discussed.     

Gender stereotypes in management: a comparative study of communist and postcommunist Romania

This study sets out to investigate the changes in the perception of women in leading positions in communist and postcommunist Romania. The study uses a noninvasive paradigm of analyzing the content of obituaries for women and men in leading positions published in a national journal, and shows that the gender gap in management widened during the postcommunist period. In postcommunist Romania, women are perceived as being less able to lead/manage and more relational in their leadership style as compared to men, while in the communist period the gender differences were not significant.     

Implicit and Explicit Occupational Gender Stereotypes

This study was designed to compare implicit and explicit occupational gender stereotypes for three occupations (engineer, accountant, and elementary school teacher). These occupations represented the end points and middle of a masculine–feminine continuum of explicit occupational gender stereotypes. Implicit stereotypes were assessed using the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which is believed to minimize self-presentational biases common with explicit measures of occupational gender stereotypes. IAT results for the most gender stereotyped occupations, engineer (masculine) and elementary school teacher (feminine), were comparable to explicit ratings. There was less agreement with less stereotyped comparisons. Results indicated that accounting was implicitly perceived as more masculine than explicit measures indicate, which calls into question reports of diminishing gender stereotyping for such occupations.     

电视广告中性别角色定型研究述评

文章首先介绍了性别角色定型的相关概念和广告中性别角色定型研究的理论基础,然后从内容分析和受众反应两个角度回顾并总结了有关电视广告中性别角色定型的研究。内容分析的结果表明：虽然经过了20多年的女权运动,电视广告中的性别角色定型并没有减弱;电视广告中的性别角色定型具有国际普遍性。受众反应的结果表明：受众对电视广告中的性别角色定型的反应是一个复杂的过程,会受到多种因素,比如性别、年龄、受教育程度和女性主义意识等的影响     

The Use of Metaphor to Address Gender and Sexual Orientation Stereotypes in Counseling: A Feminist Perspective

The role of metaphor in psychology is reviewed, focused on gender and sexual orientation stereotypes. Feminist therapy principles are explored in relation to addressing the presence of stereotypes within a therapeutic context. Implications for working with clients presenting with disordered eating, agoraphobia, sexual violence, and sexual identity concerns are discussed.     

Turkish College Students' Attitudes Toward Women Managers: The Effects of Patriarchy,Sexism, and Gender Differences

The authors examined how patriarchy, sexism, and gender influence Turkish college students' attitudes toward women managers. Turkish undergraduate students (N = 183) from Middle East Technical University completed questionnaires measuring attitudes toward women managers as well as attitudes toward the concepts of hostile and benevolent sexism and support for patriarchy. Participants were of upper- or middle-class Turkish backgrounds. The results showed that male participants exhibited less positive attitudes toward women managers than did female participants. In addition, participants who held more favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored high on hostile sexism also held less positive attitudes toward women managers than those who held less favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored low on hostile sexism. A regression analysis showed that support for patriarchy and hostile sexism was more important for explaining less favorable attitudes toward women managers than was benevolent sexism.     

Saving Face: Identifying Voter Responses to Black Candidates and Female Candidates

Much of what we know about the responses of voters to Black candidates and female candidates comes from experimental research. Yet the accuracy of experimental data can be threatened by the possibility that social desirability pressures contaminate self‐reporting. We address this threat in a project that considers psychological approaches to reducing social desirability pressures. Offering participants the opportunity to explain their decisions about sensitive subjects, such as voting for a Black or female candidate, can lessen social desirability pressures. We analyze this approach across three commonly used samples: undergraduate, adult convenience, and adult national. Our results suggest that existing experimental research overestimates voter support for Black and female candidates, but these issues can be mitigated with the simple innovation presented here.     

Gender stereotypes underlie child custody decisions

Using hypothetical divorce cases we examine the role of gender stereotypes in decisions about child custody. Good mothers received greater custody allocations than did good fathers across a tightly matched pair of vignettes in three culturally distinct samples: Argentina, Brazil, and the United States (Study 1). Two follow-up studies indicated that the warmth dimension of stereotype content partly accounted for the asymmetry in custody awards: The proportion of maternal-primary custody was predicted by the tendency to ascribe warmth-related traits—such as friendliness, generosity, or trustworthiness—to mothers (Study 2) and associate them with female over male nouns (Study 3). We also found that endorsing shared custody mitigated the asymmetry in custody awards documented in our studies. Together, these results highlight the interplay of stereotyped attitudes and egalitarian commitments in the context of judicial decisions about child custody.     

Gender,Race, and Speech Style Stereotypes

Considerable research has shown that people have stereotypical beliefs about the speech and communication style of women and men. There is less research about stereotypes of Black people's speech, and none that jointly or comparably investigates communication stereotypes as a function of both gender and race. In this study, White college students (n = 111) rated a fictional character's speech on 36 pairs of words characteristic of communication style (e.g., emotional–unemotional) and also generated dialogue for the character. Targets' race and sex were varied. Results showed that beliefs about speech style were stronger for race than gender. Black speakers, both women and men, were rated as more direct and emotional, and less socially appropriate and playful, than White speakers. The dialogue generated by participants for Black speakers was less grammatical and more profane than for White speakers. Gender effects were consistent with earlier research but suggest a weakening of stereotypes; women's speech was seen as somewhat less direct and more emotional than men's speech. Beliefs about speech and communication style are important because they may function not only to describe what is but to prescribe what should be in social interaction.     

Student Attitudes Regarding Gender Bias in Performance Evaluations of Salespeople

This study examined how students believe salesperson gender impacts evaluations of salesperson performance. Students reviewed job performance information about either male or female salespeople. The information had purportedly been prepared by the salesperson's supervisor and indicated the level of performance as high or low. Students were asked how they thought the salesperson's supervisor might respond to the performance in terms of rewards (promotion, pay increases) for high performers and corrective measures (termination, counseling) for low performers. The results indicated that students believe that supervisors would more readily reward high performing males than females with identical performances. In contrast, students believed that supervisors would react more punitively toward low performing males than females with identical performances.     

Candidate Evaluations Through the Lens of Adaptive Followership Psychology: How and Why Voters Prefer Leaders Based on Character Traits

An extensive literature in political science shows how citizens' evaluations of politicians—as well as their electoral behavior—are affected by trait impressions of these politicians. However, deeper, interdisciplinary theory building that seeks to address when and for whom specific trait impressions come to guide candidate evaluations remains absent. In this article, I outline the theory of adaptive followership that seeks to address this shortcoming. Grounded in evolutionary psychology, I argue that leadership evolved as a solution to problems of intragroup coordination in ancestral small-scale societies. In order to understand the traits that drive followers' and voters' evaluations of leaders and politicians, one should therefore focus on problems related to group coordination and ask how these problems might regulate followers' prioritizations of various traits in leaders. On this basis, I outline an analytical framework consisting of three predictions that simultaneously formulate how (1) contexts and (2) individual differences of relevance to a given group-coordination problem regulate trait preferences, and (3) how such preferences differ between leaders and nonleaders (i.e., other social categories). The analytical framework is applied for structuring two reviews (including new empirical studies) of the ways through which intergroup conflict and disease threat, respectively, affect followers' trait preferences in leaders. Finally, directions and suggestions for future research on trait-based candidates and leader evaluations are discussed.