The impact of nontraditionalism on the malleability of gender stereotypes in Spain and Germany

Gender stereotypes and inequalities are based on and sustained by people's perception of gender roles. The evolution of these gender roles, however, might be substantially different depending on cultural and social evolution in different countries. In a study, we investigated stereotypes in Germany and Spain, where residents might have different beliefs about gender roles due to their different social evolution after the Second World War and their economic and social advances. Results showed that in both countries people's expectations of differences in masculine characteristics between men and women were less noticeable than perceptions in the past or present. We also demonstrated that people perceive an increase in masculinity in women. This increase is more evident in Spaniards than in Germans. In estimations about the past, present, and future, Spaniards also perceived an increase of gender-stereotypic feminine characteristics more in men than in women. Our results are consistent with the predictions of social role theory, as gender stereotypes can include dynamic aspects and the content of these stereotypes is rooted in social roles.     

The malleability of gender stereotypes: influence of population size on perceptions of men and women in the past, present, and future

Recent studies on the malleability of gender stereotypes show that they are flexible, dynamic structures that change with the passage of time. In a study, we examined perceptions about men and women of the past, present, and future in Spain and focused on the influence of an important demographic variable on these perceptions: the population size of people's location of residence. Results showed that people perceived an increase in similarity of men and women from the past to the present and from the present to the future. In less-populated locations, however, men and women were more gender stereotyped and, consequently, still perceived to be further from equality than those in more populated areas. We concluded that the study of dynamic gender stereotypes benefits from extensive research in populations that vary in their demographic characteristics and shows the importance of recent movements in rural areas supporting women's participation in the modernization process.     

The Impact of Value Similarity and Power on the Perception of Threat

Threat perception is a powerful tool in international and intergroup conflict. Realists in international relations argue that the perception of threat in intergroup conflict is a function of power asymmetries between groups. In contrast, social constructivists in international relations suggest that a shared sense of identity or similarity can reduce, and in some cases eliminate, perceptions of intergroup threat. Consequently, threat perception might be influenced by both the value similarities and the power asymmetries between the ingroup and the outgroup. In this article, we present an attempt to test empirically how individuals evaluate the similarity of cultural and political values compared with another nation (outgroup) and assess its implications for cooperation among states in the international system. The results of two experiments demonstrate that both power and perceived value similarity play an important role in threat perception among states and discuss implications for future research.