An experimental study of the correlates and consequences of perceiving oneself to be the target of gender discrimination

An experimental methodology was used to test hypotheses concerning the effects of contextual, cognitive-developmental, and individual difference factors on children’s views of whether they have been the target of gender discrimination and the possible consequent effect of such views on two forms of state self-esteem: performance and social acceptance. Children (N = 108, 5-11 years of age) completed theory of mind and gender attitude measures and a drawing task. Next, children received feedback that was designed to appear either gender biased (discrimination condition) or nonbiased (control condition). Children’s attributions for the feedback and state self-esteem were assessed. As expected, children reported having been the target of gender discrimination more often in the discrimination condition than in the control condition. Older and more cognitively advanced children made fewer attributions to discrimination than their peers. Perceptions of discrimination were associated with higher performance state self-esteem and, among egalitarian children, lower social state self-esteem.     

Measuring implicit attitudes of 4-year-olds: the preschool implicit association test

The Preschool Implicit Association Test (PSIAT) is an adaptation of an established social cognition measure (IAT) for use with preschool children. Two studies with 4-year-olds found that the PSIAT was effective in evaluating (a) attitudes toward commonly liked objects (flowers = good) and (b) gender attitudes (girl = good or boy = good). The gender attitude PSIAT was positively correlated with corresponding explicit attitude measures and also children’s actual sex. The new implicit and explicit measures of gender attitudes demonstrated discriminant validity; each predicted variance in children’s gendered play activities beyond that predicted by the other. Discussion describes potential uses of the PSIAT to investigate development of societally significant attitudes and stereotypes at younger ages than are achievable with currently available methods.     

Ironic effects of explicit gender prejudice on women’s test performance

As prejudice becomes more subtle in its manifestations, members of stigmatized groups must often contend with the ambiguity of not knowing whether others are biased against them. In this study, we tested whether explicitly communicated gender prejudice would facilitate women’s performance on a difficult task compared to contexts where such discrimination might be possible but is not explicitly communicated. The findings revealed that the task performance of women who are chronically concerned about gender discrimination suffered when a male interviewer’s gender attitudes were ambiguous, relative to when his attitudes were either explicitly chauvinistic or explicitly egalitarian. As expected, the performance of women low in discrimination concerns was not affected by the experimental manipulation. The findings are discussed in light of growing evidence for the ironic effects of prejudice for the targets of stigma.     

The influence of gender labels on the sex typing of imaginary occupations

Social scientists have been concerned not only with gender stratification within the occupational labor force but with young peoples' recognition and aspiration toward same-gender careers. In this paper we investigate how gender labels influence individuals' evaluational sex typing of occupations. Four gender-marked booklets were constructed such that six imaginary occupations within the story were performed by persons labeled as women, men, both men and women, or individuals. College, high-school, and fifth-and third-grade students were asked to evaluate whether a gender-marked occupation was a position for women, men, or both sexes and possible for girls and boys. Students were also asked to indicate which occupations they preferred. Not only were the occupations classified in relation to the gender labels, but occupational gender barriers were perceived. In essence, males were restricted from engaging in female-labeled jobs and females were restricted from engaging in male-labeled jobs. However, career aspirations     

At the interface of social cognition and psychometrics: Manipulating the sex of the reference class modulates sex differences in personality traits

Psychometric surveys suggest that sex differences in personality are minimal. Herein, we argue that (a) the mind is likely biased toward assessing oneself relative to same-sex others, and (b) this bias may affect the measurement of sex differences in personality. In support of this, an experiment demonstrates modulation of sex differences on the HEXACO facets by manipulating the sex of the “reference class”—the group of people subjects compare themselves to when making self-assessments on survey items. Although patterns varied across traits, sex differences were relatively small in the “unspecified” and “same-sex” reference class conditions—but substantially larger in the “opposite-sex” condition. These findings point to a same-sex comparison bias that may impact the measurement of sex differences in personality.     

An examination of gender differences in the construct validity of the silencing the self scale

Jack’s (1991) theory of self-silencing was originally designed to explain higher rates of depression in women in comparison to men. However, research finding that men score equal or even higher than women on measures of self-silencing has lead theorists to speculate that self-silencing tendencies may be driven by different motivations and have different consequences for women versus men (Jack & Ali, 2010). Using a sample of 247 college students, we examined gender differences in the construct validity of the Silencing the Self Scale (STSS; Jack & Dill, 1992). We hypothesized that women would score higher on the Externalized Self-Perception subscale, but not the other three subscales. Gender differences in the relationship between the STSS subscales and theoretically-relevant constructs were also explored. The results indicated that women on average scored higher than men on the Externalized Self-Perception subscale, whereas men scored higher on the Care as Self-Sacrifice subscale. Further, there was a significant Gender × Care as Self-Sacrifice subscale interaction in the prediction of depression, such that this subscale was negatively correlated to depression in men, and uncorrelated in women. These results clarify how self-silencing might translate into different mental health outcomes for women and men.     

Identifying facial emotions: valence specific effects and an exploration of the effects of viewer gender

The valence hypothesis suggests that the right hemisphere is specialised for negative emotions and the left hemisphere is specialised for positive emotions (Silberman & Weingartner, 1986). It is unclear to what extent valence-specific effects in facial emotion perception depend upon the gender of the perceiver. To explore this question 46 participants completed a free view lateralised emotion perception task which involved judging which of two faces expressed a particular emotion. Eye fixations of 24 of the participants were recorded using an eye tracker. A significant valence-specific laterality effect was obtained, with positive emotions more accurately identified when presented to the right of centre, and negative emotions more accurately identified when presented to the left of centre. The valence-specific laterality effect did not depend on the gender of the perceiver. Analysis of the eye tracking data showed that males made more fixations while recognising the emotions and that the left-eye was fixated substantially more than the right-eye during emotion perception. Finally, in a control condition where both faces were identical, but expressed a faint emotion, the participants were significantly more likely to select the right side when the emotion label was positive. This finding adds to evidence suggesting that valence effects in facial emotion perception are not only caused by the perception of the emotion but by other processes.     

The effects of interpersonal relationship and character gender on adolescents' resolutions of moral dilemmas

An experimental study using two forms of the Defining Issues Test [Rest, J. R. (1979). Revised manual for the Defining Issues Test. Minneapolis: Moral Research Project, University of Minnesota.], modified to present either a high degree of relationship among characters or a low degree of relationship among characters, was conducted with 114 college students. The gender of the characters in the dilemmas was also systematically varied. Both male and female students evidenced principled (Stages 5 and 6) reasoning more often when dilemma characters were male than when story characters were female. Participant gender and relationship condition were significant factors in the frequency of Stage 4 reasoning. Male students in the low-relationship condition evidenced Stage 4 (“Law and order”) reasoning most often when story characters were male, while male students, like female students in all conditions, showed Stage 4 reasoning more often when female characters were presented in the high-relationship condition. The degree to which moral decisions were supportive of an affected character revealed more support when story characters were female than when they were male. Results indicate that even in hypothetical situations, moral judgments vary with the gender of the person being judged and to some degree with the relationships among those involved in the dilemma. These findings are consistent with a view that multiple, equally valid approaches to moral judgment might exist and affect the development of male and female students differently.     

The effects of culture and gender on perceived self-other similarity in personality

Gender and culture may influence individuals’ perceptions of their similarity to others. 391,454 individuals from 20 countries rated their own personality traits and the personality traits they attribute to other people in general. A multilevel analysis on distinctive profile similarity (Furr, 2008) demonstrated that both gender and culture play a role in perceived self-other similarity. Specifically, women and those from highly collectivistic cultures saw themselves as more similar to others. Country-level analysis based on self-other similarity correlations (e.g., Srivastava, Guglielmo, & Beer, 2010) within each country revealed that cultural assertiveness uniquely predicted this assumed similarity. The findings shed light on how people construe themselves in relation to others and contribute to the understanding of personality within cultural contexts.     

The effects of books and gender constancy development on kindergarten children's sex-role attitudes

The effects of symbolic models and level of gender understanding on children's sex-role attitudes was investigated. Kindergarten boys and girls heard and discussed books whose characters depicted either traditional or nontraditional sex-role behaviors. Attitudes toward males and females were measured before and after the picture book treatment. When the study began, children were screened for gender understanding so that half were able to make other-gender constancy judgments, and half were not able to make other-gender constancy judgments. Prior to the treatment, boys and children who had attained gender constancy were slightly negative toward males and neutral toward females, whereas girls and children who had not attained gender constancy were very negative toward males and very positive toward females. Exposure to traditional books had the effect of enhancing attitudes toward males and decreasing attitudes toward females. Exposure to nontraditional books had the opposite effect of decreasing attitudes toward males and enhancing attitudes toward females. The effects of the picture book treatment on attitudes toward females were more pronounced for children who had attained other-gender constancy. Implications for social learning and cognitive-developmental theories of sex-role development are discussed.     

A key role for experimental task performance: effects of math talent, gender and performance on the neural correlates of mental rotation

The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying superior cognitive performance are a research area of high interest. The majority of studies on the brain-performance relationship assessed the effects of capability-related group factors (e.g. talent, gender) on task-related brain activations while only few studies examined the effect of the inherent experimental task performance factor. In this functional MRI study, we combined both approaches and simultaneously assessed the effects of three relatively independent factors on the neurofunctional correlates of mental rotation in same-aged adolescents: math talent (gifted/controls: 17/17), gender (male/female: 16/18) and experimental task performance (median split on accuracy; high/low: 17/17). Better experimental task performance of mathematically gifted vs. control subjects and male vs. female subjects validated the selected paradigm. Activation of the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) was identified as a common effect of mathematical giftedness, gender and experimental task performance. However, multiple linear regression analyses (stepwise) indicated experimental task performance as the only predictor of parietal activations. In conclusion, increased activation of the IPL represents a positive neural correlate of mental rotation performance, irrespective of but consistent with the obtained neurocognitive and behavioral effects of math talent and gender. As experimental performance may strongly affect task-related activations this factor needs to be considered in capability-related group comparison studies on the brain-performance relationship.     

Career construction in French apprenticeship programs: An exploration of the role of gender in the tutorship

In France, the private sector has increasingly over the last 20 years developed apprenticeship programs (Aeberhardt, Crusson, & Pommier, 2011) in Higher Education. One reason for this development is that young people who prepare for a diploma through apprenticeship programs achieve professional integration in the working world more quickly (Arrighi & Joseph, 2005). However, 17% of young people drop out before the end of their work contract, partly because they consider the work environment to be unsatisfactory or the work too difficult (Cart, ToutinTrelcat, & Henguelle, 2010). In the workplace, apprentices receive the guidance of a professional, the tutor. This research aims to analyze the role of tutor gender on apprentices' perception of their career and intention to quit or stay in the professional sector. The general hypothesis of the research is that tutors have a key role on the career construction of apprentices. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with apprentices in Higher Education on their relationships with their male or female tutor in the company. The findings underline the role of both tutors' and apprentices' gender and of the particular labor division in the workplace.     

Improving adolescents' standardized test performance: An intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat

Standardized tests continue to generate gender and race gaps in achievement despite decades of national attention. Research on “stereotype threat” (Steele & Aronson, 1995) suggests that these gaps may be partly due to stereotypes that impugn the math abilities of females and the intellectual abilities of Black, Hispanic, and low-income students. A field experiment was performed to test methods of helping female, minority, and low-income adolescents overcome the anxiety-inducing effects of stereotype threat and, consequently, improve their standardized test scores. Specifically, seventh-grade students in the experimental conditions were mentored by college students who encouraged them either to view intelligence as malleable or to attribute academic difficulties in the seventh grade to the novelty of the educational setting. Results showed that females in both experimental conditions earned significantly higher math standardized test scores than females in the control condition. Similarly, the students—who were largely minority and low-income adolescents—in the experimental conditions earned significantly higher reading standardized test scores than students in the control condition.     

An experimental test of the effects of dieting on bulimic symptoms: the impact of eating episode frequency

Prospective studies suggest dieting increases bulimic symptoms, but experiments suggest that dieting decreases bulimic symptoms. One possible explanation for the conflicting findings is that real world dieting involves less healthy dieting techniques, such as meal skipping, than prescribed diets. We tested whether the manipulation of eating episode frequency during dieting impacted bulimic symptoms. We expected that people on a diet involving fewer eating episodes would exhibit greater increases in bulimic symptoms than people on a diet involving more frequent eating episodes or waitlist controls. Participants on both 6-week diets lost more weight than controls, confirming dieting was manipulated, and showed greater reductions in bulimic symptoms than controls; however, the dieting conditions did not differ on either outcome. Results provide further experimental evidence that dieting does not increase bulimic symptoms, but suggests that eating episode frequency has little impact on this outcome.     

An experimental study of the effects on item-analysis data of changing item placement and test time limit

Item-analysis data are usually obtained from a single test administration, with a given item sequence and time limit. Questions can be raised as to the effects upon item data resulting from changes in item-position and test-timing. In this study, two forms of a verbal test and two forms of a mathematics test were used. In each case, both forms of each test contained the same items, but items coming early in one form were placed late in the other. Each of these forms was administered once with a short time limit and once with generous timing to comparable groups of high school students. The relationships of various speed and power scores were determined, and the changes which occurred during the added time were studied. Values of the item indicesp (proportion right), (another difficulty index), and the item-test biserial correlation coefficient were obtained for both the speed and the power conditions and were systematically compared. The proportion right of those attempting the item, the index, and the biserialr were all found to have undesirable characteristics for items appearing late in a speeded test.The author gratefully acknowledges the suggestions and criticisms of Dr. Harold Gulliksen, Research Adviser at the Educational Testing Service.     

Effects of test anxiety,ego stress,and attentional skills training on arithmetic reasoning: An experimental evaluation of a brief counseling strategy

Abstract

Two hundred forty high school students (120 male and 120 female) in India performed a moderately difficult multiple choice Arithmetic Reasoning task after undergoing short-term (40 minutes) cognitive treatment in the form of Attentional Skills Training. A 2 × 2 × 2 (Test Anxiety x Attentional Skills Training x Stress) design with separate analysis for boys and girls indicated these results: with intervention the high anxiety subjects under ego stress conditions, compared to their high-anxious control, low-anxious ego stress, or low-anxious control counterparts, reported the maximum significant improvement in performance on the Arithmetic Reasoning test. The low-anxiety subjects performed consistently well with or without treatment or stress conditions. The findings shed new light on the attentional theory of test anxiety, and it was reasoned that long-term effects of cognitive treatment be studied by using varied performance tasks (difficulty level controlled) on different gender and age groups across cultures.     

Pink gives girls permission: Exploring the roles of explicit gender labels and gender-typed colors on preschool children's toy preferences

Children engage in gender-typed toy play to a greater extent than in non-gender-typed toy play leading to different developmental trajectories for boys and girls. The present studies examine the characteristics of toys and how they differentially affect boys' and girls' interests, stereotypes, and judgments of the toys. In Study 1, children (N = 73, M_age = 4.01) were presented with masculine and feminine toys that were decorated with masculine and feminine colors. Results indicated that boys were more interested in masculine toys than in feminine toys. Girls were significantly less interested in masculine toys with masculine colors than in all other combinations. Children's perceptions of others' interests also followed a similar pattern. In Study 2, children (N = 42, M_age = 3.84) were presented with novel items labeled as “for boys” and “for girls” and decorated in masculine and feminine colors. Among girls, both explicit labels and color of novel toys impacted interests. Children's predictions of others' interests also reflected this pattern.     

The effects of feedback on the gender differences in the performance in a chronometric mental-rotation test

ABSTRACT

Gender differences favouring males are often found in mental-rotation tests and are usually smaller in chronometric than in psychometric test. The individual feedback in the chronometric test could be an explanation for the comparable performance of males and females. To test this hypothesis, 102 undergraduate students (60 females, 42 males) participated in a chronometric mental-rotation study with or without feedback. A subsample of 41 participants was asked to report their confidence about their performance in the test. In reaction time, males outperformed females and participants in the feedback condition reacted faster than participants without feedback. A significant interaction of gender and condition was found. Only females had an advantage in the feedback condition in reaction time while there was no difference for males. Males reported higher scores of confidence. Feedback seemed to help females especially to react faster. Confidence levels are discussed as reasons for differences between conditions and genders.     

Moderating effects of age and context on the relationship between gender,sex role differences,and coping

We examined age, gender, sex role, and context differences in type of coping among adolescents through older adults. They were given measures of coping and sex role orientation for both relationship and achievement contexts. Emotion-focused coping decreased with age, with high-femininity individuals reporting higher levels of coping. Older low-feminine adults reported greater use of emotion-focused coping than all other subjects except adolescents. Problem-focused coping showed an upward trend with age for low-feminine subjects. High-feminine subjects followed a similar trend until adulthood and then showed a decrease. Achievement and relationship contexts moderated the relationship between age, gender, sex role orientation, and problem-focused coping. Results are discussed in terms of sex roles and adult development.