Reversing Implicit Gender Stereotype Activation as a Function of Exposure to Traditional Gender Roles
Abstract
We examined the influence of exposure to traditional gender roles on the activation of gender stereotypes in Spanish women. An associative procedure was used to expose participants to stereotypical vs. counterstereotypical gender roles, and a word categorization task with stereotypically feminine communal/warmth and stereotypically masculine agentic/competence trait words measured participants’ automatic responses. Results show that women exposed to traditional roles reverse the activation of gender stereotypes. That is, they activated competence/agency faster for female primes and warmth/communion faster for male primes in a subsequent task. The implicit stereotype reversal was predicted by participants’ endorsement of positive attitudes toward affirmative action policies. The results are discussed in terms of the motivational influence of perceived discrimination in intergroup relations.
References
2003). The dynamics of masculine-agentic and feminine-communal traits: Findings from a prospective study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 768–776. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.85.4.768
(2011). The bigger one of the “Big Two”? Preferential processing of communal information. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 935–948. doi 10.1016/j.jesp.2011.03.028
(2007). Agency and communion from the perspective of self versus others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 751–763. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.751
(1990). Auto-motives: Preconscious determinants of social interaction. In , Handbook of motivation and cognition (Vol. 2, pp. 93–130). New York, NY: Guilford.
(2011). Yet another dark side of chivalry: Benevolent sexism undermines and hostile sexism motivates collective action for social change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 62–77. doi 10.1037/a0022615
(1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology, 42, 155–162. doi 10.1037/h0036215
(2001). Imagining stereotypes away: The moderation of automatic stereotypes through mental imagery. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 828–841. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.81.5.828
(2009). Self-esteem regulation after success and failure to attain unconsciously activated goals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 468–477. doi 10.1016/j.jesp.2008.12.007
(2008). Communion and agency judgments of women and men as a function of role information and response format. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 1148–1155. doi 10.1002/ejsp
(2009). Selective stereotype activation: The joint impact of interpersonal goals and task context. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 317–324. doi 10.1002/ejsp.585
(1996). Automatic activation of impression formation and memorization goals: Nonconscious goal priming reproduces effects of explicit task instructions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 464–478. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.71.3.464
(2004). Seeing is believing: Exposure to counterstereotypic women leaders and its effect on the malleability of automatic gender stereotyping. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 642–658. doi 10.1016/j.jesp.2004.02.003
(2012). When interdependence shapes social perception: Cooperation and competition moderate the implicit activation of gender stereotypical associations. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 38, 1480–1495. Doi 10.1177/0146167212454178
(2008). Activación automática de las dimensiones de competencia y sociabilidad en el caso de los estereotipos de género [
(Automatic activation of competence and warmth dimensions in the case of gender stereotyping ]. Psicológica, 29, 115–132.2012). The power of a smile to move you: Complementary submissiveness in women’s posture as a function of gender salience and facial expression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 1480–1494. doi: 10.1177/0146167212454178
(1987). Sex differences in social behavior: A social role interpretation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychological Review, 109, 573–598. doi 10.1037//0033-295X.109.3.573
(1992). Gender and the evaluation of leaders: A metaanalysis. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 3–22. doi 10.1037//0033-2909.111.1.3
(1984). Gender stereotypes stem from the distribution of women and men into social roles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 735–754. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.46.4.735
(2000). Social role theory of sex differences and similarities: A current appraisal. In , The developmental social psychology of gender (pp. 123–174). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2002). Paternalistic and envious gender stereotypes: Testing predictions from the stereotype content model. Sex Roles, 47, 99–114. doi 10.1023/A:1021020920715
(2006). 8 March 2006: International women’s day. A statistical view of the life of women and men in the EU25. Retrieved from europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=STAT/06/29&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=e
. (2003). Leading us not unto temptation: Momentary allurements elicit overriding goal activation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 296–309. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.84.2.296
(2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 878–902. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.82.6.878
(1993). What’s so special about sex? Gender stereotyping and discrimination. In , Gender issues in contemporary society (pp. 173–196). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
(2010). Retraining attitudes and stereotypes to affect motivation and cognitive capacity under stereotype threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 740–754. doi 10.1037/a0020971
(2006). Prejudice against women in male-congenial environments: Perceptions of gender role congruity in leadership. Sex Roles, 55, 51–61. doi 10.1007/s11199-006-9068-1
(2009). Causal attributions about feminine and leadership roles: A cross-cultural comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40, 492–509. doi 10.1177/0022022108330991
(2008). When “Just Say No” is not enough: Affirmation versus negation training and the reduction of automatic stereotype activation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 370–377. doi 10.1016/j.jesp.2006.12.004
(2001). Ambivalent sexism. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 33, 115–188. doi 10.1016/S0065-2601(01)80005-8
(2010). The division of household labor in Spanish dual earner couples: Testing three theories. Sex Roles, 63, 515–529. doi 10.1007/s11199-010-9840-0
(2006). Easier done than undone: Asymmetry in the malleability of implicit preferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 1–20. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.90.1.1
(1990). Gender stereotypes: Perception or rationalization? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 197–208. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.58.2.197
(1999). Which attention is needed for implicit sequence learning? Journal of Experimental Psychology-Learning Memory and Cognition, 25(1), 236–259. doi 10.1037//0278-7393.25.1.236
(2008). Stereotype threat and executive resource depletion: Examining the influence of emotion regulation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 137, 691–705. doi 10.1037/a0013834
(2005). Exposure to benevolent sexism and complementary gender stereotypes: Consequences for specific and diffuse forms of system justification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 498–509. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.498
(2005). Kicking the habit: Effects of nonstereotypic association training and correction processes on hiring decisions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 68–75. doi 10.1016/j.jesp.2004.05.004
(2007). The impact of naïve theories related to strategies to reduce biases and correction processes on the application of stereotypes. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 10, 141–158. doi 10.1177/ 1368430207074725
(2000). Just say no (to stereotyping): Effects of training in the negation of stereotypic associations on stereotype activation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 871–888. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.78.5.871
(2009). A meta-analysis on the malleability of automatic gender stereotypes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33, 183–196. doi 10.1111/j.1471-6402.2009.01488.x
(2005). Saying no to negativity: The effects of context and motivation to control prejudice on automatic evaluative responses. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 19–35. doi 10.1016/j.jesp.2004.05.002
(1999). Preconscious control of stereotype activation through chronic egalitarian goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 167–184. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.77.1.167
(2000). Preconsciously controlling stereotyping: Implicitly activated egalitarian goals prevent the activation of stereotypes. Social Cognition, 18, 151–177. doi 10.1521/soco.2000.18.2.151
(1992). In-group bias as a function of category salience, relevance and status: An integration. European Journal of Social Psychology, 22, 103–122. doi 10.1002/ejsp.2420220202
(1992). When small effects are impressive. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 160–164. doi 10.1037/ /0033-2909.112.1.160
(2003 ). Activación automática de los estereotipos asociados al poder y su medición implícita y explícita [Automatic activation of stereotypes associated to power measured implicit and explicitly ] (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Universidad de Granada, Spain.2004). Reactions to counterstereotypic behavior: The role of backlash in cultural stereotype maintenance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 157–176. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.87.2.157
(1999). Feminized management and backlash toward agentic women: The hidden costs to women of a kinder, gentler image of middle-managers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1004–1010. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.77.5.1004
(1989). Illusory correlation and social categorization: Toward an integration of motivational and cognitive factors in stereotype formation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 709–721. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.56. 5.709
(2001). The (Il)legitimacy of ingroup bias. From social reality to social resistance. In , The psychology of legitimacy: Emerging perspectives on ideology, justice, and intergroup relations (pp. 332–362). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(1978). Masculinity and femininity: Their psychological dimensions, correlates, and antecedents. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
(1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In , The psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
(1995). Neosexism: Plus ça change, plus c’est pareil. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 842–849. doi 10.1177/0146167295218007
(2001). Changes in women’s assertiveness in response to status and roles: A cross-temporal meta-analysis, 1931–1993. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 133–145. doi 10.1037//0022-3514.81.1.133
(2011). Progress of the world’s women: In pursuit of justice 2011–2012. New York: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Retrieved from progress.unwomen.org/pdfs/EN-Report-Progress.pdf
. (1990). Measuring sex stereotypes: A multination study. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
(2002). A cross-cultural analysis of the behavior of women and men: Implications for the origins of sex differences. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 699–727. doi 10.1037//0033-2909.128.5.699
(