Measuring Stereotypes of Female Politicians

One explanation for the dearth of women in elected office is that voters stereotype candidates based on their gender. Research in this vein often assumes that female candidates will be stereotyped similarly to women (e.g., as compassionate) and measures stereotypes as such. We question this assumption, proposing instead that female politicians constitute a subtype—a new stereotypical category with its own qualities—of the broader group of women. We compare the content of female politician stereotypes to other relevant comparison groups including politicians, male politicians, and female professionals. Using a classic methodology to determine stereotype content (Katz & Braly, 1933), we find that female politicians do not share the qualities that are ascribed to women (e.g., warm, empathetic). Our results show that female politicians seem to be “losing” on male stereotypical qualities while also not having any advantage on qualities typical of women. The content of female politician stereotypes is nebulous and lacks clarity in comparison to all other groups examined. We discuss implications for the future measurement of politician stereotypes.     

贫富阶层刻板印象对源记忆的影响

源检测框架下,在记忆的提取阶段激活刻板印象会导致错误记忆,通过激活贫富刻板印象,考察对源检测记忆的影响,结果发现被试表现出刻板印象一致的错误记忆,通过多项式加工树模型的分析发现,被试在来源判断时利用刻板印象知识表现出猜测反应.     

Réalité virtuelle et santé des personnes âgées institutionnalisées. Vers un EHPAD 2.0 ?

Virtual reality (VR) is used in general health care: prevention, physical medicine, chronic and acute pain, quality of life in palliative care, and in psychiatry: anxiety, depression, addiction, psychosis. Our objective is showing VR using among elderly people in French retirement home. Virtual reality is showing efficacy as distraction, anti-pain, tranquillising, antidepressant methods. It should be an answer to many elderly health problems. VR is easy to use, with low side effects. Non-drug treatments among elderly people are recommended. Used as complementary or alternative medicine, VR must be shaped for using with old and fragile people in retirement home.     

Can discrepancies between impulsive and reflective processes be associated with movement behavior among the elderly? The facilitating role of inhibitory control

Physical activity participation remains a global public health challenge, with 8 out of 10 older adults failing to meet the minimum physical activity recommendations, and it is also associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, and mortality. Strategies to promote physical activity are primarily focused on socio-cognitive factors, and their effectiveness is limited. According to dual-process theories, physical activity is related with impulsive/implicit (i.e., emotions) and reflective/explicit (i.e., perceived advantage) processes; however, implicit-explicit discrepancy (IED) may impair movement behavior. In addition, cognitive inhibitory control may have r direct relationship with IED situations since it determines which of these processes predominates in the regulation of individual's behavior. Nonetheless, these outcomes in physical activity behavior among older adults have received little attention. In this study, we associate IED with physical activity and sedentary behavior as measured by accelerometers, and investigate the moderator role of inhibitory control in this association. In this cross-sectional study, 94 older adults were assessed for implicit and explicit attitudes, inhibitory control, and movement behavior using accelerometers over the course of seven days. A higher magnitude of the IED was linked to less moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and daily steps. Interestingly, a higher light physical activity was associated with a direction of the IED with more positive explicit attitudes. Furthermore, in older adults with higher inhibitory control, a direction of the IED with more positive explicit attitudes than implicit attitudes was associated with higher MVPA. Our findings suggest that IED may be important factor in the physical activity behavior of older adults. Furthermore, a higher inhibitory control appears to override an impulsive negative response, enabling a more positive reflective assessment of physical activity to serve as the main driver of an active lifestyle.     

Attitudes toward cosmetic surgery patients: the role of culture and social contact

Cosmetic surgery is increasingly popular globally, but how cosmetic surgery patients are socially evaluated is largely unknown. The present research documents attitudes toward these patients in multiple cultures (Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States). Across these cultures, attitudes toward cosmetic surgery patients were predominantly negative: Participants ascribed more negative attributes to cosmetic surgery patients and found cosmetic surgery not acceptable. Also, participants in Hong Kong and Japan were not willing to form social relationships, particularly intimate ones, with these patients. These attitudes were less negative in the United States than in Hong Kong and Japan, partly because social contact, which reduced negativity in attitudes toward cosmetic surgery patients, was more prevalent in the United States. These findings bear important implications for the subjective well-being of cosmetic surgery patients, who very often expect improvement in their social relationships through the surgery.     

A Web Replication of Snyder,Decker, and Bersheid's (1977) Experiment on the Self-Fulfilling Nature of Social Stereotypes

Abstract

Authors instructed two groups of male participants to respond to a web personal advertisement that had a photograph of either an attractive or unattractive woman. In the physically attractiveness condition, it was found that the message was longer and contained few spelling and grammatical mistakes than in the condition where the male's participant believe that the personal advertisement came from an unattractive woman. Two undergradutates females who were unaware of the experimental conditions judged that they had more probability to respond to the male's message in the physically attractiveness condition.     

Characterization of visual scanning while driving for the identification of drivers’ profiles

Assessing the driving skills of people with cognitive or visual impairments is often complex. The analysis of visual exploration strategies can be a good solution to identify the implementation or not of good strategies of information search in the visual scene (adaptation and compensation). In this study, we compared the visual exploration behaviours of 26 healthy, 19 glaucoma and 21 elderly participants. For this purpose, we used a driving simulator for which a visual field measurement test had been adapted to obtain measurements in static and dynamic conditions. The dynamics of the gaze was also measured. Our results showed that each of the three groups of participants had specific characteristics of visual exploration. Using a classification algorithm, we were able to show that it was possible to identify the group which a participant belonged to on the basis of the visual exploration’s characteristics. This finding opens the door to many applications in the context of driving assistance and training.     

Sex differences in confidence influence patterns of conformity

Lack of confidence in one's own ability can increase the likelihood of relying on social information. Sex differences in confidence have been extensively investigated in cognitive tasks, but implications for conformity have not been directly tested. Here, we tested the hypothesis that, in a task that shows sex differences in confidence, an indirect effect of sex on social information use will also be evident. Participants (N = 168) were administered a mental rotation (MR) task or a letter transformation (LT) task. After providing an answer, participants reported their confidence before seeing the responses of demonstrators and being allowed to change their initial answer. In the MR, but not the LT, task, women showed lower levels of confidence than men, and confidence mediated an indirect effect of sex on the likelihood of switching answers. These results provide novel, experimental evidence that confidence is a general explanatory mechanism underpinning susceptibility to social influences. Our results have implications for the interpretation of the wider literature on sex differences in conformity.     

Stereotypes in the classroom's air: Classroom racial stereotype endorsement,classroom engagement,and STEM achievement among Black and White American adolescents

Initiatives promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in predominantly White contexts, including STEM fields, have primarily relied on approaches to increase the representation of minoritized individuals. However, an increase in the representation of minoritized individuals is only one step of the process, as the present study suggests that explicit beliefs about particular racial groups’ abilities also matter. The present article examined whether classroom racial stereotype endorsement about science and math disadvantaged Black American adolescents relative to their White American peers. Across two longitudinal studies with 533 and 1,189 adolescents (N-adolescents = 1722; N-classrooms = 86; 45% Black American, 55% White American; 51% females; M-age = 13–14), classroom pro-White/anti-Black stereotype endorsement in the fall term predicted better science and math achievement scores for White American adolescents and lower science and math achievement scores for Black American adolescents at the end of the academic year. Student- and teacher-reported student engagement in science and math classrooms mediated the longitudinal relations between classroom pro-White/anti-Black stereotype endorsement and students’ achievement scores. Results suggest that classrooms may be important conduits for communicating racial stereotypes that create racially hostile STEM learning environments.

Research Highlights

• Using a longitudinal sample of 1722 adolescents enrolled in 86 classrooms, the present study examined the consequences of classroom racial stereotype endorsement during adolescence.
• White American adolescents demonstrated favorable achievement scores in science and math when their classmates endorsed traditional, or pro-White/anti-Black, stereotypes.
• Black American adolescents showed worse achievement scores in science and math when their classmates endorsed pro-White/anti-Black stereotypes.
• Classroom engagement mediated the longitudinal relations between classroom pro-White/anti-Black stereotype endorsement and achievement scores for both Black and White American adolescents.

     

Girls’ perceptions of their mothers at work and home: Warm does not mean weak

Upper elementary school girls were surveyed about their mothers’ and fathers’ warmth, competence, and agency at home and how they imagine their parents at work. Mothers’ warmth at home was positively correlated with perceived competence and agency both at home and at work. Differences between daughters’ perceptions of their mothers and fathers at work are discussed.