Gender Stereotypes among Road Users

Abstract

In modern social psychology, the study of determinants of social cognition suggests research into the social psychological mechanisms affecting the way an actor builds a consistent orderly image of the world. Researchers examine the mechanisms involved in the cognition and conception of social reality by an individual, and in reality's representation as his/her internal picture of the world, which necessitates the study of the social context making for the supra-individual character of social cognition and its attributes. The related problem of social stereotypes and stereotyping is core to the study of how the image of the interaction partner is formed.Traditionally, social stereotypes, including gender ones, are approached as a priori images the individual creates in the process of his/her socialization, and invokes when evaluating people (Dontsov, Stefanenko, 2008). Social stereotypes result from the categorization of social experience conditioned by culture and upbringing. Social stereotypes reflect the typification of habitual estimates, expectations, viewpoints and prejudices. Such concepts of social bonds and relations are formed within a single culture and are stably shared by its members. They help maintain socially acceptable models of behaviour and the system's overall functioning. Stereotypes also satisfy individuals' intersubjective need for 'rock-solid val- ues' and for standards of 'proper' social behaviour. As a factor in social relations, they provide consolidation not only of groups (gender or other), but of society in general (Dontsov, Emelyanova, 1987).On the other hand, the mechanism of stereotyping manifests itself as part of the social perception process in human interaction (Kabalevskaya, 2012). The need for 'social knowledge' contained in stereotypes is conditioned by the need to promptly and socially accurately perceive and conceive reality. The schematic image of the percept acquires an applied aspect: it serves as a supply of 'ready-made knowledge' sparing the individual's efforts. Such knowledge covers acceptable behaviour, as well as motivational and role expectancies. It underlies the subject's interpretation of reality: the individual attributes his or her own expectations to the other, and sees the other's behaviour against this framework. Also, the individual seeks to pattern his/her behaviour following culturally determined expectations reflected in the stereotype. All this suggests that stereotypes should, first and foremost, be stud- ied a priori with respect to the subject. In the current tradition of their empirical study, stereotypes are largely viewed as a result of stereotyping, i.e. retrospectively, and analyzed as socially typing categorical schemes. Analyzing such stereotyped knowledge, researchers tend to focus on its development process and content as re- flecting the existing social discourse. But stereotyping would be also interesting to investigate from another angle, i.e. the application of stereotyped knowledge and its use in evaluating people. In other words, since individuals' interaction and mutual perception are mediated and regulated by internal constructs ('social stereotypes'), we need look at how these constructs are actualized, and at the causes and conditions of stereotype formation by an individual. However, the problem of stereotype actualization in people's behaviour and activity has only recently entered the scientific agenda and so far not been given proper consideration, although it is clearly a promising area for social psychology.Traditional studies of social stereotypes (including gender) as historically evolved patterns of collective consciousness do not reveal the actual mechanisms of perception triggering the stereotyping process which is objectively (and perceptibly) caused by subjects' activity. To reveal these mechanisms, we need to explore the actual interaction between subjects and objects, particularly aspects of interaction providing for the appearance and actualization of gender stereotypes. …