The Effect of Target Age on the Activation of Gender Stereotypes

Two studies investigated the impact of target age on gender stereotyping. Study 1 examined whether the attribution of gender-stereotypical traits to unfamiliar individuals varies as a function of target and participant age. Adults and children (ages 8–10 years) viewed photographs of men, women, boys, and girls and rated each pictured individual on the possession of masculine, feminine, and gender-neutral personality traits. Both adult and child participants showed evidence of gender stereotyping. The strongest level of stereotyping was seen when adults rated child targets. Adults were particularly unwilling to attribute feminine characteristics to males. Finally, participants of both ages viewed adult targets (regardless of sex) as more masculine and less feminine than child targets. Study 2 examined the generality of the latter finding. Adult participants rated traditionally masculine and feminine traits on the likelihood of possession by adults versus children. Confirming the results of Study 1, feminine traits were believed to be more childlike/less adultlike than were masculine traits. Implications for gender-role development, socialization, and measurement are discussed.     

Validating the semantic misattribution procedure as an implicit measure of gender stereotyping

The current research tested the validity of the semantic misattribution procedure (SMP)—a variant of the affect misattribution procedure—as an implicit measure of gender stereotyping. In three studies (N = 604), prime words of gender‐stereotypical occupations (e.g., nurse, doctor) influenced participants' guesses of whether unknown Chinese ideographs referred to male or female names in a stereotype‐congruent manner. Priming scores of gender stereotyping showed high internal consistency and construct‐valid correlations with explicit measures of sexism. Discriminant validity of gender stereotyping scores was tested by investigating relations with priming effects involving grammatical gender (e.g., mother, father). Evidence for discriminant validity was obtained when (1) trials from the two priming measures were presented in a blocked rather than interspersed manner and (2) the measure of stereotypical gender priming preceded the measure of grammatical gender priming. Overall, the SMP showed good psychometric properties and construct validity for the assessment of gender stereotyping.     

人类性别加工的认知神经机制

性别信息是人类重要的生物和社会属性, 对性别快速而准确的识别对人类的生存和繁衍具有重要意义。人类的性别加工具有自动化、刻板化以及不对称性等特点, 并受性别加工主体、其他性别信息、社会类别信息以及高级认知调节的影响。聚焦于面孔和声音这两个性别信息的主要来源, 综述了性别加工的行为和神经机制研究, 并提出了两阶段性别加工模型, 早期阶段为对性别信息物理属性的特异性加工, 晚期阶段为对抽象性别信息的一般性加工。未来的研究可以重点关注性别加工的系统性研究、性别分类和机器学习、以及性别的二相性问题等方面。     

The Effects of Gender Neuroessentialism on Transprejudice: An Experimental Study

This experimental study examined the impacts of gender neuroessentialism on stereotyping and prejudice against transgender people. We randomly assigned 132 Chinese, mostly heterosexual college students to read one of three fictitious articles in which the first article explained sex differences in personality and social behavior by neurological factors (biological determinist), a second article questioned this deterministic claim (interactionist), and a third article was unrelated to gender (neutral baseline). The biological determinist condition aimed to foster essentialist beliefs by priming the deterministic ways that the brain relates to personality and behavior, whereas the interactionist condition highlighted the interactive roles of the brain and environments on people’s personality and behavior. We found that participants in the biological determinist condition showed more negative stereotypes and stronger prejudicial attitudes toward transgender people compared with participants in the interactionist condition and those in the control condition. There were no significant differences in transprejudice between the interactionist and control conditions. The present study represents one of the few studies that examined the connection between gender essentialism and transprejudice. The findings suggest that essentialist claims that ground the male/female binary in biology may lead to more transprejudice.     

Sub‐threshold autism traits: The role of trait emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility

Theory and research suggests that features of autism are not restricted to individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), and that autism‐like traits vary throughout the general population at lower severities. The present research first investigated the relationship of autism traits with trait emotional intelligence and empathy in a sample of 163 adults aged between 18 and 51 years (44% male). It then examined performance on a set of tasks assessing social cognition and cognitive flexibility in 69 participants with either high or low scores on ASD traits. Results confirm that there is pronounced variation within the general population relating to ASD traits, which reflect similar (though less severe) social‐cognitive and emotional features to those observed in ASDs.     

Uncovering the diverse cultural bases of social identity: Ingroup ties predict self‐stereotyping among individualists but not among collectivists

On what basis do people form their social identities? To investigate this issue, the present research investigates cross‐cultural differences in self‐stereotyping, a key outcome of social identification. In particular, the research tests the hypothesis that ingroup ties are a stronger predictor of self‐stereotyping among people from individualist cultures than among people from collectivist cultures. In Study 1, university students (N = 117) completed measures of ingroup ties and self‐stereotyping with respect to an intimacy group (family and friends). Consistent with predictions, ingroup ties significantly predicted self‐stereotyping among individualists but not among collectivists. Study 2 (N = 104) found a similar pattern of results among members of the global internet community who considered either an intimacy group (their friends), a task group (their work group) or a social category (their gender). These results indicate that people in individualist cultures are more likely than those in collectivist cultures to base their social identities on ingroup ties. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to self‐categorization theory's depersonalization account of social identification.     

Gender differences in implicit gender self‐categorization lead to stronger gender self‐stereotyping by women than by men

It was hypothesized that, in natural group contexts, low‐status in‐group membership would be highly accessible, whereas membership to high‐status groups would not. Therefore, gender group membership was predicted to be more accessible for women than for men. It was further hypothesized that the high accessibility of gender group membership would lead to stronger self‐stereotyping for women than for men. To measure the accessibility of gender group membership, participants performed a Gender Self‐Categorization Implicit Association Test (Studies 1 and 2), measuring the strength of automatic associations between the self and the gender in‐group. Participants also performed a Self‐Stereotyping Implicit Association Test (Study 2), assessing the strength of automatic associations between the self and the stereotypical traits of the in‐group. As expected, implicit gender self‐categorization and implicit gender self‐stereotyping were stronger for women than for men. Importantly, implicit gender self‐categorization mediated the relation between gender and self‐stereotyping. Therefore, implicit gender self‐categorization was the mechanism underlying stronger implicit self‐stereotyping by women. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender Differences in the Self-Assessment of Accuracy on Cognitive Tasks

Generally, self-assessment of accuracy in the cognitive domain produces overconfidence, whereas self-assessment of the accuracy of visual perceptual judgments produces underconfidence. The possible effect of gender differences on these robust findings appears to be underinvestigated. In this paper, I report two studies that take a step toward redressing this shortcoming. In Study 1, a group of young adults (N =185) were presented with a test of General Knowledge and a visual perceptual task. The results indicated the typical over/underconfidence phenomena noted above, but, when analyzed by sex, indicated statistically significant differences; men were more confident than women on both tasks. In Study 2, participants (N =303) with a wider age range completed 4 tests of cognitive ability, which were drawn from the theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Results indicated that the tendency for men to express higher levels of confidence than women in the accuracy of their work appears to remain constant across the life-span. These findings are discussed in relation to self-concept and gender stereotyping.     

Influences of Gender as a Basic-Level Category in Person Perception on the Gender Belief System

The use of gender as an organizing category in social perception and its influence on the gender belief systemwere investigated. A modified version of the Role Construct Repertory Test and selected self-report questionnaires were completed by 190 college students (165 women and 25 men). All the participants used gender to organize their person schemas, and using gender in this way related positively to gender stereotyping. Both sexist gender attitudes and use of gender as an organizing category predicted gender stereotyping. Components of the gender belief system were only correlated if they were conceptually similar. The findings are congruent with gender transcendent and multifactorial gender identity theories.     

Cultural Adjustment and Social Justice Behaviour: The Role of Individual Differences in Multicultural Personality

The present study examined altruistic behaviour using broad personality traits (the Big Five) and the narrow personality trait of cultural adjustment (multicultural personality) while controlling for social justice attitudes and other demographic variables. Using an analogue version of a modified dictator game, 153 participants were required to divide a variable amount of money between themselves and a hypothetical recipient who was treated unfairly in a prior dictator game (based on results from a separate sample). We varied the race (Black and White) and gender (male and female) of the fictional recipient to present the individual as either advantaged or disadvantaged in society. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions with the recipient presented as (i) a White man, (ii) a White woman, or (iii) a Black man. A separate sample of 71 participants rated recipients as treated unfairly and as representing a marginalized group. Results showed that subscales of the Multicultural Personality Inventory predicted giving behaviour above and beyond the variance accounted for by broad personality traits and attitudes towards social justice. The discussion focuses on implications for research in social justice based on cultural adaptation and personality. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Strategies for social inference: a similarity contingency model of projection and stereotyping in attribute prevalence estimates

Most models of how perceivers infer the widespread attitudes and qualities of social groups revolve around either the self (social projection, false consensus) or stereotypes (stereotyping). The author suggests people rely on both of these inferential strategies, with perceived general similarity moderating their use, leading to increased levels of projection and decreased levels of stereotyping. Three studies featuring existing individual differences in perceived similarity as well as manipulated perceptions supported the predictions, with similarity yielding increased projection to, and decreased stereotyping of, various in-groups and out-groups. Evidence that projection and stereotyping may serve as inferential alternatives also emerged. The model and accompanying results have implications for research on social comparison and projection, stereotyping and prejudice, and social inference.     

Personality traits of the behavioural approach and inhibition systems: associations with processing of emotional stimuli

This study examined the relationships of the traits associated with Gray's behavioural approach system (BAS) and behavioural inhibition system (BIS) with cognitive processing of emotional information. Initially, participants completed questionnaires covering trait impulsivity and anxiety, and BAS and BIS sensitivities. They were then tested individually. After completing a questionnaire of current positive and negative moods, they completed three tasks measuring processing of pleasant, unpleasant and neutral information. Consistent with Gray’s theory, the results showed that impulsivity and BAS sensitivity were associated with the processing of pleasant information, while anxiety and BIS sensitivity were associated with the processing of unpleasant information. These findings imply that Gray’s BAS–BIS theory can be extended to cognitive processing of emotional information.     

Exploring the neural basis of fairness: A model of neuro-organizational justice

Drawing from the literature in neuroeconomics, organizational justice, and social cognitive neuroscience, I propose a model of neuro-organizational justice that explores the role of the brain in how people form fairness judgments and react to situations of fairness and/or unfairness in organizations. The model integrates three levels of analysis: (a) behavioral, (b) mental (cognitive and emotional), and (c) neural. The behavioral level deals with motivated actions displayed by the individual; the mental level deals with information processing mechanisms and emotional arousal; and the neural level concerns the brain systems instantiating mental processes. The paper also describes a fairness theory of mind that could help managers improve their ability to create fair working environments. The model’s implications for further research and management practice are discussed.     

AIDS as Threat,AIDS as Stigma correlates of AIDS beliefs among the Dutch general public

Abstract

The central question of this article is whether findings about social and cultural correlates of preventive and public attitudes towards AIDS that were found in other western countries are also valid for the Netherlands. Answering this question contributes to the international accumulation of empirical knowledge about attitudes of the general public and might as well be relevant for the international transfer of knowledge about the public into assumptions of information campaigns. Eight hypotheses derived from international literature were tested on data of the 1987 module of “Cultural changes in the Netherlands,” a general opinion survey of the Dutch population (16-80 years old). In line with international research, younger age and more education are correlated with preventive knowledge and social acceptance; however sex and urbanization do not make a difference in the Netherlands As expected, a negative attitude towards homosexuals is related to a lack of acceptance of people suffering from AIDS, support for mandatory screening for HIV, as well as a lack of preventive knowledge. Also in accordance with earlier research, “authoritarian attitudes” are far more important in explaining the public attitudes than beliefs about AIDS as an individual threat.     

GENDER COMPARISONS OF MATHEMATICS ATTITUDES AND AFFECT

This article reports the complex results of meta-analyses of gender differences in attitudes and affect specific to mathematics. Overall, effect sizes were small and were similar in size to gender differences in mathematics performance. When differences exist, the pattern is for females to hold more negative attitudes. Gender differences in self-confidence and general mathematics attitudes are larger among high school and college students than among younger students. Effect sizes for mathematics anxiety differ depending upon the sample (highly selected or general). One exception to the general pattern is in stereotyping mathematics as a male domain, where males hold much more stereotyped attitudes ( d = -.90). While affect and attitudes toward mathematics are not the only influences on the development of gender differences in mathematics performance, they are important, and both male and female affect and attitudes should be considered in conjunction with other social and political influences as explanations.     

小学生同伴接纳对其人格发展的影响：友谊质量的多层级中介效应

以班级为单位选取1-6年级23个班级的小学生,通过最好朋友提名法,得到有互选朋友有效被试700人,采用同伴提名法、小学生友谊质量问卷、小学生人格发展教师评定问卷,运用多层线性模型（HLM）考察个体和班级两个水平上的同伴接纳、友谊质量对人格的影响,并在两个水平上检验友谊质量在同伴接纳对人格的影响上的多层中介效应。结果表明：（1）班级水平：班级平均友谊质量对外倾性、亲社会性、认真自控、情绪稳定性有预测作用;班级平均同伴接纳对情绪稳定性有预测作用。（2）个体水平：同伴接纳对人格5个维度均有直接影响;除情绪稳定性,友谊质量分别在同伴接纳对智能特征、外倾性、亲社会性、认真自控影响上有部分中介效应。     

Multidimensional perfectionism and assortative mating: A perfect date?

Assortative mating has been found regarding personality traits, personal attitudes and values, and cognitive abilities, but so far no study has investigated assortative mating regarding multidimensional perfectionism. A total of 422 participants from a non-commercial panel (mean age = 36.0 years) completed measures of self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism and rated the attractiveness of four potential dating partners (“dates”): a self-oriented, an other-oriented, a socially prescribed, and a non-perfectionist date. Results showed that all perfectionist dates were seen as less attractive than the non-perfectionist date. This effect, however, was moderated by self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism. Participants high in self-oriented perfectionism found all three perfectionist dates more attractive than participants low in self-oriented perfections. Participants high in other-oriented perfectionism found the self-oriented perfectionist date more attractive, and the non-perfectionist date less attractive than participants low in other-oriented perfectionism. The findings are discussed with respect to assortative mating, the social disconnection model of perfectionism, and the heritability of perfectionism.