Stereotypical Attitudes Research Articles

Scrutinising Eurocentric stereotypes against Afrocentric underpinnings of beauty through Kopano Matlwa’s Coconut

This paper has probed into stereotypical attitudes towards Afrocentric underpinnings of beauty through Kopano Matlwa’s Coconut. The genesis of these stereotypes against African beauty could be traced from the colonisation of the African continent. It is the interface between Africa and the West that engendered a shift of identities, which resulted in many Afrocentric depictions assimilated d by Western influence. Despite the decolonisation attempts, the Eurocentric notions that had defined Africa during the colonial period persist in galvanising stereotypes that marginalise Africans, especially those that embrace Afrocentric ideas of beauty in the post-colonial age. Today, Africa is besieged with remnants of colonialism, which include Eurocentric ideals of beauty. This paper employed the qualitative method to scrutinise the stereotypes against Afrocentric beauty through the literary criticism of Matlwa’s novel, Coconut. It is undergirded by the theory of Afrocentricity, which has been utilised as a lens to crystalise the indigenous African identities and their relevance today. It finds that these Eurocentric notions have navigated through the peripheries of post-colonial Africa and influenced societal reactions, attitudes and perceptions of beauty. This is reflected in Matlwa’s Coconut where African beauty is stigmatised and disparaged whereas Eurocentric ideals of beauty are exalted.

Religiosity, abortion stigma and the mediating effect of gender attitudes. A study in the Chilean population (Religiosidad, estigma del aborto, y el efecto mediador de las actitudes de género. Un estudio en población chilena)

ABSTRACT Abortion Stigma (AS) is a negative attribute ascribed to women who terminate a pregnancy that marks her as inferior to the ideals of femininity. Based on traditional normative gender codes, religious groups are identified in the literature as the most relevant source of AS. To analyse the influence of religiosity on AS and the mediating effect of stereotyped gender attitudes, we carried out a multivariate causal quantitative study. With a community sample of 360 Chileans, we used structural equation modelling to determine that religiosity influences AS directly and indirectly through stereotyped gender attitudes. This model showed adequate fit indices and explained 69.2% of the variance. We tested a second structural equation model with a control variable, and we discuss these findings’ implications for Chilean society, where religion occupies a significant place in power and decision-making centres. We propose gender equity education as a strategy to reduce AS.

Gender influences on children’s selective trust of adult testimony in Iranian context

ABSTRACT In the Iranian culture, do children prefer to trust same-gender adults for learning new information? A sample of 106 three and half- to seven-year-old preschool children participated in two tasks. The testimony task was designed to set the prior accuracy of informants against their gender. To establish prior accuracy, children watched a man and woman label neutral objects. Children then decided (a) who to ask about naming unfamiliar objects, (b) whose label for each unfamiliar object is more accurate, and (c) who was better in responding to questions. Children also completed measures of personal sex-typing and stereotyped attitudes towards others. During the testimony task, children responded based on prior informant accuracy while there was only one reliable informant (same-gender or other-gender). The results showed that when both adults were the same in reliability or unreliability, children were above chance in favouring the same-gender informant for ask and choice questions. Notably, in our study, the girls with higher scores in the personal sex-typing measure were more likely to trust the man’s information even when the man had been unreliable or equal to the woman in reliability in the previous phase. However, the boys did not demonstrate such behaviour. Findings are discussed from the perspective of Iranian culture.

Gender Quotas for Political Participation and the Case of Georgia

The current study focuses on the key elements limiting the political representation of women in the modern world. In order to eliminate discrimination, some countries introduce gender quotas for political participation. Studying the legal framework of modern Georgia shows that, despite the existing common legal basis for the equality of women and men, the reality in political life is different. The lack of effective quota mechanisms significantly weakens the realization of womens civil and political rights. Stereotypical attitudes and perceptions about the role of women in society are the main barriers to recruiting in the political and administrative deployment. Considering the gender aspect of political representation as a complex problem necessitated a systematic approach. The historical and comparative method was used to study the evolution of gender equality. A separate group of methods used in the article was made up of the political and legal analysis of empirical database national statistics. The article shows how the Georgian Parliament affects the position of women in politics by introducing mandatory quotas for national and local government elections, increasing the likelihood of women running, being elected and appointed.

The development of explicit occupational gender stereotypes in children: Comparing perceived gender ratios and competence beliefs

Overcoming gender occupational stereotypes is a major educational objective in removing barriers to children's future career ambitions and employment aspirations. Yet, the mechanisms that underlie the development of occupational stereotypes in school-age children remain unclear. This questionnaire study investigates the developmental relationship between two possible factors contributing to occupational stereotype development, perceptions of occupational gender ratio and personal beliefs about occupational competence, across the primary school years. One questionnaire assessed beliefs about the occupations held by men and women, by asking 195 children, aged 6 to 11 (UK Years 2 to 6), to report on the gender ratio of 24 occupations (e.g., who does a specific job) on a 5-point Likert scale (only males, mostly males, both, mostly females or only females). A second questionnaire assessed stereotyped attitudes by asking 194 children of comparable age to judge the competence of men and women (e.g., who can do a specific job very well) on the same scale. We found that children across age groups predominantly assigned men and women to traditionally male and female occupations, respectively, both in terms of perceived distribution and competence. However, while the perceived distribution of men and women remained stable across the sexes and age groups, stereotyped responding for competence was lower in girls than in boys, and decreased with age in both sexes for traditionally male and gender-neutral (but not for traditionally female), occupations. Some occupations which have become less gender-segregated in the workforce (e.g., Doctor, Head teacher), are also becoming more gender-balanced in children's beliefs. Taken together these results suggest that children's occupational stereotypes are influenced by developmental differences in children's understanding of gender, as well as perceptions about what jobs women and men have. We conclude by discussing practical implications for targeted interventions aimed at reducing occupational stereotyping in children.

Anticancer action of plant products: changing stereotyped attitudes.

Compared to humans, plants can synthesize an extremely diverse array of chemical compounds, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, stilbenes, lignans, terpenoids, alkaloids, and many other types of secondary metabolites that have been demonstrated to exert important bioactivities and impacts on the human health. As a result of extensive and sustained efforts, some phytochemicals like vincristine, vinblastine, and paclitaxel have already been approved as anticancer drugs today, while several others are under clinical trials. However, despite this remarkable success, studies on anticancer action of plant-derived products have been and paradoxically are still in some places, mixed up with alternative approaches and thereby considered non-credible, especially in regions where the role of traditional medicine has not been historically so prevalent as in several Asian countries. As a result, only about 10% of higher plants have been explored regarding the potential therapeutic effects of their constituents. Moreover, as one function of secondary metabolites includes the protection of plants against diverse environmental stresses, the content and composition of these phytochemicals might importantly vary between different regional habitats. Therefore, the stereotyped attitudes to plant products as something related to alternative medicine must be changed to identify new lead molecules for novel anticancer drugs. It is possible that plants still harbor an important spectrum of pharmaceutically interesting, but still unidentified, chemical compounds.

General attitudes towards the welfare state: the concept and features of measurement

The article is devoted to the results of the development of a sociological test “GSR-5”, designed to measure general attitudes towards the welfare state. A theoretical analysis of the measurement of attitudes towards the welfare state in modern Western societies has been carried out. It is concluded that the entire set of relevant studies can be divided into two categories - a priori (transition from the concept to existing measurements) and a posteriori (focusing on the existing experience of empirical research). At the same time, insufficient attention was revealed to general attitudes towards the state (as a background or stereotypical attitude). The sociological test is proposed based on five indicators in relation to the state: assessment of effectiveness, assessment of the future, assessment of living conditions, assessment of historical achievements and assessment of current events. For the purpose of further empirical validation, the sociological test was included in four large-scale cross-sectional studies using different methods (CAWI, F2F, self-completion, CATI). Based on the obtained results, the factor, criterion and construct validity of the test was checked. The ideal types approach was used to categorize respondents’ attitudes based on their individual responses. As a result, 5 social groups were identified in terms of their attitude to their own state: expressively negative, moderately negative, intermediate, moderately positive and expressively positive. In general, based on the analysis, a conclusion was made about the possibility of using the sociological test “GSR-5” in sociological research.

Investigating the Self-Perceptions and Experiences of Veiled Women in Pakistan

The present phenomenological study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of veil-taking women. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 purposefully selected Pakistani veil-taking women. Construct validity of the tool was checked through expert opinion from 5 experts from social sciences and qualitative research fields. Respondents reported three main reasons for taking the veil: Islam and Quranic values, family norms, and fashion. All the participants looked at their veil approvingly and considered it a sign of respect, freedom, and empowerment. However, some women reported that they had faced prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypical attitude due to their veil. The study suggests that wearing a veil or not should be the right of a woman. Neither should a person be ridiculed, harassed, or discriminated for taking; nor for not taking it.

SOVIET PERIOD OF HISTORY AND HOLOCAUST IN ORAL HISTORY STUDIES: BETWEEN OFFICIAL AND PERSONAL MEMORY

The aim of this paper is to examine the mechanisms of action of individual and collective memory on the features of remembering/ forgetting / interpreting complex pages of history. The use of oral historical memories has allowed to trace the level of influence of stereotypes and dominant (official) historical narratives that were formed both in the Soviet period and in the independence era. The methodological basis of the study is the tools of oral, social history and the history of everyday life. Scientific novelty. The article is written on the basis of oral historical evidence. The article focuses on the issues that break stereotypes about Jews formed during the Soviet period. The collected evidence constitutes an important source of information that explains the peculiarities of the formation of social memory and political factors that determine the agenda of historical policy in a given period. 
 Conclusions. The article considers several blocks of problems that reflect the most typical stereotypes, fixed at the level of consciousness, behavioral attitudes, partially presented (or omitted) facts from history, which to some extent destroy them. The memoirs used in the article, which were collected in the framework of the project "Voices" in 2020 in Zhytomyr region (in which the author has participated), reflect the similarity of general ideas, assessments, tone, and memory stereotypes about anti-Semitism, the legitimacy of the Holodomor’s status of the genocide directed exclusively against ethnic Ukrainians, the role and place of Jews in the victory over Nazism, the peculiarities of evacuation, and the issues of preserving and honoring the memory of those killed during the Holocaust. At the same time, those memoirs demonstrate the differences between collective and individual memory, which preserves plots that to some extent destroy stereotypical attitudes that have long been ingrained in the mind and, accordingly, influenced the formation of social memory. The analysis of the interviews shows that oral history has significant source potential for studying various issues and sections of Soviet and modern history that await their researchers.

Social Image of Autism and the Need for Educational Research

In this paper, we present the results of an online survey concerning the social perception of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The analysis of the online survey conducted in Poland from March to May 2020, in which 355 Polish speaking respondents took part and which consisted of two parts: closed-ended questions and open-ended statements – shows that there is a cognitively interesting discrepancy between the relatively high level of knowledge declared by respondents and the more negative and stereotypical attitude towards people with ASD visible in the open-ended responses. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that relations between the respondents and neurotypical people are lined with fear, anxiety and insecurity. The survey results seem to unequivocally indicate the necessity for further educational projects that deepen knowledge and raise awareness of people with ASD.

Fathers, faith, and family gender messages: Are religiosity and gender talk related to children's gender attitudes and preferences?

This study examines the links between parents’ religiosity, the way parents implicitly talk about gender with their preschoolers, and children's gender attitudes and preferences. Additionally, we focused on the degree to which parents’ gender talk mediates the relation between religiosity and children's gender attitudes and preferences. In a sample of 134 families (81 in which at least 1 parent was Christian) with a child aged 4-6 years, we observed both parents’ gender talk while discussing the Gender Stereotypes Picture Book with their child. Fathers and mothers filled out a questionnaire to examine the importance of religion in their daily life and children were interviewed about their gender stereotypical attitudes and personal preferences for gender-typed occupations. Our study revealed that when parents are more religious, their children have more stereotypical gender attitudes. Although we found no significant mediation, we did find evidence for a specific role of (religious) fathers when it comes to communicating gender messages. That is, parents’ level of religiosity was positively related to fathers’, but not to mothers’ gender talk. Additionally, only fathers’ gender talk was positively associated with their children's gender attitudes. Our results illustrate the unique role fathers can play in children's gender development.

PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION ABOUT SEXISM: DO SOCIALIZATION BELIEFS MATCH BEHAVIOR?

To explore processes by which mothers socialize children’s attitudes about gender stereotypes and sexism, we studied 62 mothers and their 6- to 8-year-old children. Mother-child dyads learned of a hypothetical camp director’s use of gender stereotypes to assign campers to various activities. Resulting conversations revealed variations in the types, frequencies, and patterns of participants’ discussions. Mothers with more flexible gender attitudes and higher feminist endorsements were more likely to explicitly refute gender stereotypes in conversations with their children. Children with more flexible gender attitudes were more likely to have mothers who personalized content during the dyadic conversation. When mothers questioned stereotypes through elaboration and personal connections, children were more likely to refute stereotypes in subsequent intervals within the conversation. State space grids mapped parent-child conversational patterns and showed an association between more varied dyadic conversational patterns and children’s less stereotyped attitudes. Results suggest that mothers who use personally meaningful and varied strategies to communicate with their children about bias have children who have less-entrenched gender stereotypes and are more likely to confront others’ sexism.

Assessing Stereotyped Attitudes toward Women in Managerial Positions: The sports Industry

Assessing Stereotyped Attitudes toward Women in Managerial Positions: The sports Industry

Institutional-level drivers of gender-inequitable scientific career progression in sub-Saharan Africa

BackgroundThis study sought to determine how institutional environments, including values, policies, and their implementation, shape inequities in scientific career progression for women and men, and their disadvantages in relation to their multiple social identities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The findings are drawn from a wider research study that was aimed at gaining an in-depth understanding of the barriers and enablers of gender-equitable scientific career progression for researchers in SSA. This was nested within the context of the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa) programme—a health-based scientific research capacity-strengthening initiative.MethodsThe study adopted an exploratory qualitative cross-sectional study design. In-depth interviews (IDIs) with trainees/research fellows at various career stages supported and/or affiliated to three purposively selected DELTAS Africa Research Consortia were the main method of data collection. In addition, key informant interviews (KIIs) with consortia research leaders/directors, co-investigators, and the consortia management team were also conducted to corroborate information gathered from the IDIs, and also to provide additional insights on the drivers of intersectional gender-inequitable career progression. In total, 58 IDIs (32 female and 26 male) and 20 KIIs (4 female and 16 male) were conducted. The interviews were carried out in English between May and December 2018. The data were analysed inductively based on emergent themes.ResultsThree interrelated themes were identified: first, characterization of the institutional environment as highly complex and competitive with regard to advancement opportunities and funding structure; second, inequitable access to support systems within institutions; third, informal rules—everyday experiences of negative practices and culture at the workplace, characterized by negative stereotypical attitudes, gender biases, sexual harassment, and bullying and intimidation.ConclusionsWe contend that understanding and addressing the social power relations at the meso-institutional environment and macro-level contexts could benefit career progression of both female and male researchers by improving work culture and practices, resource allocation, and better rules and policies, thus fostering positive avenues for systemic and structural policy changes.

Foreign Language Motivation: A Case of IUS Students

Motivation plays important role in success in any line of work, consequently in language learning as well. Motivation in language learning is closely related to the achievement of the students, because success in second language learning is not achievable without motivation. In order to determine motivation of the students in SLA researchers have developed different ways in order to determine the level of motivation among different types of students. This research paper aims to determine the components of motivation in learning English language among IUS students. The second aim of this research is to identify the components of learner preferences for specific classroom practices and activities among IUS students. The third aim of this research is to identify relationships between the components of motivation and preferred classroom learning activities among IUS students .In this particular research, researchers used qualitative methodology to obtain the results for this study. Smidth’s questionnaire was adopted and administered to 33 IUS students. The research findings indicated that extrinsic motivation (M = 34.15), was the highest motivational factor for the students. Expectation as a motivational factor (M = 26.4), was at the second place for the students. Motivational strenght with the M = 13.00 followed as the next motivational factor. Intrisic motivation (M = 12.97), stereotypical attitudes toward Americans & British (M = 12.15), personal psychological needs (M = 9.06) with their means as shown in the brackets were the least influential factors in students motivation.

Exploring Racism, and Anxieties of Identity in Aslam's Selected Work

The question of identity and sense of displacement is always fundamental for culturally displaced people. The objective of the Diaspora writings is to explore the construction of new identities in new cultural places and the painful experiences of migration. The present study aims to explore the issue of identity and racism in selected fictional works, Season of the Rainbirds (1993) and Maps for Lost Lovers (2004) by Aslam. For this purpose, Bhabha's 'The Location of Culture' (1993) and Fanon's 'Black Skin, White Mask's (1952) are used as theoretical frameworks to scrutinize the selected novels. The research is descriptive qualitative, and placed within the interpretive paradigm. The data for the present study is in the form of textual paragraphs, which is taken from the selected novels and is collected through the purposive sampling technique. Findings of the study revealed that hybrid identities of minorities and immigrants are resulting because they are marginalized by the majority class and are subjected to racist and stereotypical attitudes, which help in hybridization.

Should Relapse Always Be Punished? A Survey Study into Forensic Social Professionals' Attitudes to Substance Use.

Health professionals' attitudes to substance abusers have been reported as suboptimal with potential adverse consequences for the quality of health care provided. Less is known about professionals working with addicted clients in mandated contexts. The aim of this study is to gain insight into forensic social professionals' attitudes to substance use and examine differences between subgroups of professionals. An online survey including the Brief Substance Abuse Attitude Scale was completed by 314 Dutch forensic social professionals. Overall, forensic social professionals' attitudes to substance use and treatability were positive, but there were differences regarding needed treatment interventions and ways of controlling substance use. Professionals who work within specialist addiction services had less moralistic and stereotypical attitudes. Professionals who have personal experiences with addiction reported to be more tolerant, but at the same time more convinced of strict control of substances use of their clients.

Multilingual Behaviour within the Portuguese and Italian Communities in Montreal: A Quest of Purism

Many heritage speakers, starting particularly from the second generation, return to the practice of their heritage languages so as to build or rebuild their diasporic and heritage identities. Within an urban context such as in Montreal (Quebec), multilingual behaviour exists. This is due to the presence of multiple languages and dialects, as well as the bilingual reality of this city, where both French and English are dominant. Such conditions provide evidence of how determinant in-group ideologies and stereotypical attitudes are concerned with communities and languages (standard and vernacular) and how they function in the process of linguistic integration within the group and the Canadian city. Focusing on recent research that compares heritage speakers of Portuguese and Italian origin in Montreal, this contribution addresses whether identifying places have an important role in the process of integration within the group, in shared spaces of language or dialect practice, both private and public. Moreover, questions arise as to how standard languages are valued within both communities (mainly in schools) and how competency and legitimacy have been evaluated and by whom, in this process of integration. The two communities observed are very different, given the practice and behaviour as well as in-group ideologies of inclusion. This contribution argues that, as a consequence of our ‘global’ societies, there is an extension of new identities during the process of development where multilingual behaviour is reviewed and analysed for the dynamicity in the repertories of new generation speakers. Our comparison brings to light a central ideology of language purism, and the ways in which it is institutionalized and/or contested across the two groups.

Transmasculine Persons' Experiences of Encounters with Health Care Professionals Within Reproductive, Perinatal, and Sexual Health in Sweden: A Qualitative Interview Study.

Purpose: Transmasculine persons may experience stigma, which increases the risk of psychological distress. They may need reproductive, perinatal, and sexual health care; however, qualitative studies addressing transgender individuals' experiences are scarce. This study aimed at interpreting and describing the experiences of transmasculine persons in encounters with health care professionals (HCPs) within reproductive, perinatal, and sexual health care.Methods: Nine qualitative semi-structured online interviews were conducted via email with transmasculine persons, and data were analyzed by using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis.Results: Two themes were identified. The first theme is normalization and confirmation of the gender identity. This theme comprises the knowledge and experience that these transmasculine persons are facing. The verbal approach from the HCPs was important as well as could be addressed with a non-binary approach. The second theme is Respect in an especially exposed situation. This theme shows the great importance of being involved in the care and at the same time being met with openness and empathy. There must be good prospects of being able to preserve dignity.Conclusion: Transmasculine persons are in an exposed position in reproductive, perinatal, and sexual health care. The encounters in health care could be negatively affected if HCPs show inadequate knowledge or express gender stereotypical attitudes. A good encounter is characterized by respect, preserved integrity, involvement in the care, and an open attitude toward gender variations.

How Refugees' Stereotypes Toward Host Society Members Predict Acculturation Orientations: The Role of Perceived Discrimination.

Refugee migration leads to increased diversity in host societies and refugees have to face many stereotyped attitudes in the host society. However, there has been little research on minority group stereotypes toward host society members and how these stereotypes relate to the acculturation-relevant attitudes of refugees in their first phase of acculturation. This study surveyed 783 refugees in Germany who had migrated mostly in the so-called “refugee crisis” between 2015 and 2016. At the time of the survey in 2018, they had been in Germany for an average of 27 months (SD = 15 months). These refugees reported their positive and negative sociability stereotypes toward German host society members, acculturation-related orientations, shared reality values, and perceived discrimination. Results showed that positive sociability stereotypes toward host society members were associated with increased cultural adoption and shared reality. In contrast, negative sociability stereotypes negatively affected cultural adoption and shared reality. However, stereotypes showed no association at all with cultural maintenance. Interactions between sociability stereotypes and discrimination experiences highlighted a disillusion effect, in the sense that discrimination reduced the motivation to adopt the host culture more strongly among refugees who held strongly positive sociability stereotypes. The study extends knowledge on the significance of minority group stereotypes in the context of refugee migration and reveals the maladaptive consequences of discriminatory behavior against refugees by host society members.