Implicit Gender Stereotypes Research Articles

¿Son las habilidades matemáticas un asunto de género?: Los estereotipos de género acerca de las matemáticas en niños y niñas de Kínder, sus familias y educadoras

National as well as international standardized assessments reveal that Chile has a large gender gap in math achievement that favors male students. Some theories propose that at least part of this gap can be explained by the effects of gender stereotypes that refer to abilities in math. In the present study, we examine the implicit and explicit gender stereotypes related to math of kindergarten children, their mothers, fathers and teachers in Santiago, Chile. The participants were 180 kindergarteners from mid-low and high SES (87 girls and 93 boys, from 19 classrooms), their parents and classroom teachers, from the urban area of Santiago, Chile. Participants were assessed on explicit and implicit gender stereotypes on math ability. Results show that, on average, both adults and children hold a stereotype that associates math to the male gender. In the case of children, the results of the implicit assessments reveal that all of the boys and mid-low-SES girls relate math to the male gender, while high-SES girls do not associate math to any gender. These findings suggest that math and gender stereotypes could help explain part of the math gender gap present in Chile, and thus suggest opportunities for early interventions and public policies that seek to offer children equal learning opportunities, particularly for girls and mothers from mid-low SES, who most intensely present this stereotype.

Exposure to sexism can decrease implicit gender stereotype bias

AbstractTwo studies examined the effect of exposure to sexism on implicit gender bias, focusing specifically on stereotypes of men as competent and women as warm. Male and female participants were exposed to sexism or no sexism. In both Experiment 1 (Implicit Association Task; N = 115) and Experiment 2 (Go/No‐go Association Task; N = 167), women who had been exposed to sexist beliefs demonstrated less implicit gender stereotype bias relative to women who were not exposed to sexism. In contrast, exposure to sexism did not influence men's implicit gender stereotype bias. In Experiment 2, process modelling revealed that women's reduction in bias in response to sexism was related to increased accuracy orientation and a tendency to make warmth versus competence judgments. The implications of these findings for current understandings of sexism and its effects on gender stereotypes are discussed.

Gender stereotypes across the ages: On-line processing in school-age children, young and older adults.

Most research to date on implicit gender stereotyping has been conducted with one age group – young adults. The mechanisms that underlie the on-line processing of stereotypical information in other age groups have received very little attention. This is the first study to investigate real time processing of gender stereotypes at different age levels. We investigated the activation of gender stereotypes in Italian in four groups of participants: third- and fifth-graders, young and older adults. Participants heard a noun that was stereotypically associated with masculine (preside “headmaster”) or feminine roles (badante “social care worker”), followed by a male (padre “father”) or female kinship term (madre “mother”). The task was to decide if the two words – the role noun and the kinship term – could describe the same person. Across all age groups, participants were significantly faster to respond, and significantly more likely to press ‘yes,’ when the gender of the target was congruent with the stereotypical gender use of the preceding prime. These findings suggest that information about the stereotypical gender associated with a role noun is incorporated into the mental representation of this word and is activated as soon as the word is heard. In addition, our results show differences between male and female participants of the various age groups, and between male- and female-oriented stereotypes, pointing to important gender asymmetries.

Implicit Gender Stereotypes and Essentialist Beliefs Predict Preservice Teachers’ Tracking Recommendations

This study investigated the extent to which differences in implicit and explicit math–language gender stereotypes, and essentialist beliefs among preservice teachers affect tracking recommendations for math/science- versus language-oriented secondary schools. Consistent with expectations, the results suggest that student's gender influences preservice teachers’ school career recommendations: Boys are more likely to be recommended for a math/science-oriented secondary school, whereas girls are more likely recommended for a language-oriented school. Both implicit math–language gender stereotypes and beliefs in genetic determinism (reflecting essentialist beliefs) predicted the stereotypicality of school career recommendations, whereas explicit measures did not. The results suggest that more closely investigating factors contributing to stereotypical behavior in teachers might help to minimize biased actions and decisions in the educational context.

On the gender-science stereotypes held by scientists: explicit accord with gender-ratios, implicit accord with scientific identity.

Women's representation in science has changed substantially, but unevenly, over the past 40 years. In health and biological sciences, for example, women's representation among U.S. scientists is now on par with or greater than men's, while in physical sciences and engineering they remain a clear minority. We investigated whether variation in proportions of women in scientific disciplines is related to differing levels of male-favoring explicit or implicit stereotypes held by students and scientists in each discipline. We hypothesized that science-is-male stereotypes would be weaker in disciplines where women are better represented. This prediction was tested with a sample of 176,935 college-educated participants (70% female), including thousands of engineers, physicians, and scientists. The prediction was supported for the explicit stereotype, but not for the implicit stereotype. Implicit stereotype strength did not correspond with disciplines' gender ratios, but, rather, correlated with two indicators of disciplines' scientific intensity, positively for men and negatively for women. From age 18 on, women who majored or worked in disciplines perceived as more scientific had substantially weaker science-is-male stereotypes than did men in the same disciplines, with gender differences larger than 0.8 standard deviations in the most scientifically-perceived disciplines. Further, particularly for women, differences in the strength of implicit stereotypes across scientific disciplines corresponded with the strength of scientific values held by women in the disciplines. These results are discussed in the context of dual process theory of mental operation and balanced identity theory. The findings point to the need for longitudinal study of the factors' affecting development of adults' and, especially, children's implicit gender stereotypes and scientific identity.

Gender Biases in (Inter) Action

Although explicit stereotypes of women in the workplace have become increasingly positive, negative stereotypes persist at an implicit level, with women being more likely associated with incompetent—and men with competent—managerial traits. Drawing upon work on self-fulfilling prophecies and interracial interactions, we investigated whether and how implicit and explicit gender stereotypes held by both male interviewers and female applicants predicted women’s interview outcomes. Thirty male interviewers conducted mock job interviews with 30 female applicants. Before the interview, we measured interviewers’ and applicants’ implicit and explicit gender stereotypes. The interviewers’ and applicants’ implicit stereotypes independently predicted external evaluations of the performance of female applicants. Whereas female applicants’ higher implicit stereotypes directly predicted lower performance, male interviewers’ implicit stereotypes indirectly impaired female applicants’ performance through lower evaluations by the interviewer and lower self-evaluations by the applicant. Moreover, having an interviewer who was at the same time high in implicit and low in explicit stereotypes predicted the lowest performance of female applicants. Our findings highlight the importance of taking into account both implicit and explicit gender stereotypes in mixed-gender interactions and point to ways to reduce the negative effects of gender stereotypes in job interviews. Additional online materials for this article are available to PWQ subscribers on PWQ’s website at http://pwq.sagepub.com/supplemental .

Perceptions of Legitimacy: The Sex of the Legal Messenger and Reactions to Sexual Harassment Training

Research shows that exposure to sexual harassment policy sometimes activates traditional gender stereotypes. This article examines whether the sex of the legal messenger moderates reactions to the enforcement of sexual harassment laws. We employ a 2 × 2 experimental design in which we measure the effect of a sexual harassment policy intervention on male participants’ gender beliefs. The design varies whether the person communicating the policy information is male or female. We find that female policy trainers activate implicit gender stereotypes, but explicit gender egalitarian beliefs. Other than improving men's perceptions of women's considerateness, the policy has little effect on beliefs in the conditions with a male trainer. These results suggest that the effect of law on social change is contingent on characteristics of the legal messengers. Findings contribute to our understanding of gender inequality and legitimacy processes and have practical implications for implementing effective policy.

The Effects of College Women’s Domestic Violence Experiences on Dating Violence Exposure: Mediated Effect of Explicit and Implicit Gender Stereotypes

The Effects of College Women’s Domestic Violence Experiences on Dating Violence Exposure: Mediated Effect of Explicit and Implicit Gender Stereotypes

Can girls think spatially? Influence of implicit gender stereotype activation and rotational axis on fourth graders' mental-rotation performance

Mental-rotation tasks usually induce large gender differences in favor of males. The influence of task features and stereotype activation on the mental-rotation performance of elementary-school children has rarely been investigated. This study examined the performance of 272 fourth-grade boys and girls in a psychometric mental-rotation task varying implicit gender-stereotype activation (threatening vs. non-threatening task framing) and rotational axis (picture-plane vs. in-depth rotations). Children's gender stereotypes were assessed by a questionnaire. Both genders showed a male stereotype for mental rotation. Implicit gender stereotype activation influenced the gender difference only in picture-plane mental-rotation tasks. Boys outperformed girls in the threatening condition, but not in the non-threatening condition, here. However, in-depth rotation tasks induced a significant male advantage in both the threatening and the non-threatening conditions. Findings suggest that a task framing relating mental rotation to arts induces a stereotype-lift effect and that the rotational axis moderates the effect of implicit gender-stereotype activation.

Boys Don’t Play with Dolls: Mothers’ and Fathers’ Gender Talk during Picture Book Reading

SYNOPSISObjective. This study examines mothers’ and fathers’ gender talk with their daughters and sons and investigates the association between parental gender talk and parental implicit gender stereotypes. Design. Mothers’ and fathers’ gender talk was examined in 304 families with two children aged 2 and 4 years old, using the newly developed Gender Stereotypes Picture Book. Parental implicit gender stereotypes were assessed with the action inference paradigm. Results. The picture book elicited different forms of gender talk, including use of gender labels, evaluative comments related to gender, and comments about gender stereotypes. Mothers used positive evaluative comments more than fathers to convey messages about gender, but fathers made more comments confirming gender stereotypes than mothers. Fathers with two boys were more inclined to emphasize appropriate male behavior in their gender talk than fathers in other family types. Implicit gender stereotypes were associated with gender talk to the children only for mothers. Conclusion. The assessment of gender talk with the Gender Stereotypes Picture Book can provide insights into the roles of mothers and fathers in child gender socialization.

Math–gender stereotypes and math-related beliefs in childhood and early adolescence

The present study investigated gender stereotypes about math at explicit and implicit levels, and the relations between stereotypes and math-related beliefs, from middle childhood through early adolescence. A sample of 241 Italian 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade children and early adolescents (124 females and 117 males) completed a self-report questionnaire and a paper-and-pencil Implicit Association Test (Greenwald et al., 1998). Results showed that 3rd grade boys and girls systematically rated their gender ingroup as better at math at the explicit level, whereas older children and adolescents tended to reject the traditional math–gender stereotype. However, the stereotype was present at the implicit level in girls from 3rd grade onward and in 8th grade boys. Finally, explicit but not implicit gender stereotypes about math were related to both boys' and girls' self-perception of math ability.

Effects of subliminal affective priming on occupational gender stereotypes

We investigated the effects of subliminal affective priming on implicit and explicit occupational gender stereotypes and their correspondence. First, we manipulated 3 types of affective priming (positive, neutral, and negative) and utilized the Implicit Association Test to find that positively affective priming decreased, and negatively affective priming increased, implicit occupational gender stereotyping at the subliminal level. We then measured participants' explicit occupational gender stereotypes and found that, at the subliminal level, positive affective priming deterred, and negative affective priming enhanced, explicit occupational gender stereotypes. Also, in the condition of subliminal affective priming, implicit and explicit occupational gender stereotypes were not significantly related and affect did not moderate the correspondence between them. In sum, our results showed that affect moderated both implicit and explicit occupational gender stereotypes in the condition of subliminal affective priming, but did not moderate the correspondence between them.

Is School Feminine? Implicit Gender Stereotyping of School as a Predictor of Academic Achievement

One cause proposed for boys’ relatively lower academic achievement is a “feminisation” of schools that might result in a lack of fit between boys’ self-concept and academic engagement. Research so far has investigated math-male and language-female stereotypes, but no school-female stereotypes. Our study tested for implicit gender stereotyping of school and its impact on boys’ achievement in N = 122 ninth-graders from a large city in Western Germany using the Go/No-go Association Task (GNAT). Gender role self-concept and grades in math (representing an academic domain stereotyped as male) and German (domain stereotyped as female) were assessed using written questionnaires. It was found that, overall, students associated school more strongly with female than with male, and that this association of school with female was related to boys’ academic achievement. The more strongly boys associated school with female and the more they ascribed negative masculine traits to themselves, the lower their grades in German were. Boys’ academic achievement in math was unrelated to the extent to which they perceived school as feminine and themselves as masculine. Girls’ grades in both German and math were unrelated to their gender stereotyping of school. These findings emphasize the importance of fit between a student’s gender, gender role self-concept and gender stereotyping of school for academic achievement. Strategies to improve this fit are discussed.

Visuele genderstereotypering in reclame

Visual gender stereotypes in advertising. An experimental study on the effectiveness of implicit stereotypes in print advertisements Visual gender stereotypes in advertising. An experimental study on the effectiveness of implicit stereotypes in print advertisements In the 20th century, women became more powerful and climbed into professional and managerial jobs. These changes incited equality between men and women. This (r)evolution is also reflected in advertisements as various studies show that gender stereotyping (i.e., male dominance and female subordination) in advertisements has decreased. However, although women are no longer simply and solely depicted in the private sphere and in housewife roles, subtle and implicit gender stereotypes in advertisements are still common. The current study therefore explores the affective (ad-likeability) reactions of average consumers to those implicit gender stereotypes. In particular, an experimental study with 315 participants shows that people do not differ consistently in their preferences for either an implicitly a-stereotypical or stereotypical portrayal. Moreover, no gender nor age-related differences were found in preferences for stereotypical versus a-stereotypical gender stereotypes.

Gender stereotyping effects on entrepreneurial self‐efficacy and high‐growth entrepreneurial intention

PurposeThe number of women choosing entrepreneurship as an occupation continues to grow. However, there are very few start‐up high‐growth ventures in traditionally non‐feminine industries, such as manufacturing or technology. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the potential impact of implicit and explicit gender stereotypes on women's high‐growth entrepreneurial intention, and to examine the role of entrepreneurial self‐efficacy in this process. The authors aim to argue that there is a dual stereotype associated with high‐growth entrepreneurship (HGE), which negatively impacts on women's intention and self‐efficacy, thereby limiting their behavior in this arena.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper. Through the lens of stereotype activation theory the authors call for researchers to begin examining these phenomena and to utilize more generalizable samples of entrepreneurial students in future research.FindingsThe paper finds that by decreasing the masculine stereotype‐related barriers associated with HGE and increasing women's HGE self‐efficacy it should be possible to increase women's intention to engage in high‐growth venture creation.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper has valuable implications for entrepreneurship educators and trainers.Practical implicationsThe paper offers specific and practical suggestions on how entrepreneurship educators and trainers can build women's entrepreneurial self‐efficacy.Originality/valueIn this paper, the authors bring together prior theory and research on entrepreneurship, gender stereotyping and social cognitive theory to provide a research agenda on the relationship between stereotype threat, entrepreneurial self‐efficacy and high‐growth entrepreneurial intention.

Gender Stereotypes in the Family Context: Mothers, Fathers, and Siblings

Gender stereotypes of children and their parents were examined. Participants included 355 three-year-old children, their one-year-old siblings, and their mothers and fathers. Families were selected from the Western region of the Netherlands. Implicit gender stereotypes were assessed with computerized versions of the Action Inference Paradigm (AIP; both child and parents) and the Implicit Association Test (parent only). Parental explicit gender stereotypes were measured with the Child Rearing Sex-Role Attitude Scale. Findings revealed that mothers had stronger implicit gender stereotypes than fathers, whereas fathers had stronger explicit stereotypes than mothers. Fathers with same-gender children had stronger implicit gender stereotypes about adults than parents with mixed-gender children. For the children, girls’ implicit gender stereotypes were significantly predicted by their mother’s implicit gender stereotypes about children. This association could only be observed when the AIP was used to assess the stereotypes of both parent and child. A family systems model is applicable to the study of gender stereotypes.

When Interdependence Shapes Social Perception: Cooperation and Competition Moderate Implicit Gender Stereotyping

We examined the influence of interdependence goals on the accessibility of implicit gender stereotypical associations. Participants were asked to cooperate with or compete against a woman on a mathematical abilities task and subsequently the relative activation of positive and negative warmth and competence traits was measured using a primed categorization task. Results showed that female primes (vs. male primes) facilitated the activation of low warmth and high competence in the competition condition, whereas high warmth was activated in the cooperation condition and no differences were found for competence traits. These results are discussed referring to the stereotype content model and the compensation effect in person perception. The goal dependent nature of implicit gender stereotypes is emphasized.

Reversing Implicit Gender Stereotype Activation as a Function of Exposure to Traditional Gender Roles

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.

Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): An Investigation of Their Implicit Gender Stereotypes and Stereotypes’ Connectedness to Math Performance

In spite of many barriers facing women’s enrollment in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), some women are successful in these counter-stereotypic disciplines. The present research extended work primarily conducted in the United States by investigating implicit gender-STEM stereotypes—and their relation to performance—among female and male engineering and humanities students in Southern France. In study 1 (N = 55), we tested whether implicit gender-math stereotypes—as measured by the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald et al. 1998)—would be weaker among female engineering students as compared to female humanities, male engineering and male humanities students. In study 2 (N = 201), we tested whether this same results pattern would be observed with implicit gender-reasoning stereotypes (using a newly created IAT) and, in addition, whether implicit gender-reasoning stereotypes would be more strongly (and negatively) related to math grades for female humanities students as compared to the three other groups. Results showed that female engineering students held weaker implicit gender-math and gender-reasoning stereotypes than female humanities, male engineering and male humanities students. Moreover, implicit stereotyping was more negatively related to math grades for female humanities students than for the three other groups. Together, findings demonstrate that female engineering students hold weaker implicit gender-STEM stereotypes than other groups of students and, in addition, that these stereotypes are not necessarily negatively associated with math performance for all women. Discussion emphasizes how the present research helps refine previous findings and their importance for women’s experience in STEM.

From Pink Frilly Dresses to ‘One of the Boys’: A Social‐Cognitive Analysis of Gender Identity Development and Gender Bias

AbstractIn middle childhood, many girls go through a curious metamorphosis, in which their earlier embrace of all‐things‐feminine appears to transform into an identity as a tomboy. We believe this striking shift, observed in girls but not boys, signifies a critical development in children’s socio‐cognitive functioning, with implications for their understanding of gender as it relates to their identity and their social relationships. In this article, we review the evidence for this identity shift and present a theoretical account that integrates ideas from social cognition and social development. We argue that this identity shift involves the emergence of public regard and status awareness, with concurrent increases in the complexity with which knowledge associated with gender categories is represented in the mind. We then posit that these changes have important implications for the developmental trajectory of implicit and explicit gender attitudes and stereotypes, and we present a set of predictions generated by our theoretical analysis.