Role of a lifetime
Carlo Tomasetto & Sara Appoloni
Social Psychology of Education, June 2013, Pages 199-213
Abstract:
This research examines whether reading a text presenting scientific evidence concerning the phenomenon of stereotype threat improves or disrupts women's performance in a subsequent math task. In two experimental conditions participants (N=118) read a text summarizing an experiment in which stereotypes, and not biological differences, were shown to be the cause of women's underperformance in math (Gender-relevant condition), or the deficits of Afro-Americans on verbal tests (Control condition). Results showed that, whereas men's performance was not affected by the information provided, women who properly understood the mechanism of stereotype threat had their math performance disrupted in the Gender-relevant condition. These findings suggest that the mere presentation of research evidence on stereotype threat, in the absence of other interventions aimed at reducing the aversive effects of negative stereotypes, may have harmful effects on the targets of stigma.
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The Roots of Stereotype Threat: When Automatic Associations Disrupt Girls' Math Performance
Silvia Galdi, Mara Cadinu & Carlo Tomasetto
Child Development, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although stereotype awareness is a prerequisite for stereotype threat effects (Steele & Aronson, 1995), research showed girls' deficit under stereotype threat before the emergence of math-gender stereotype awareness, and in the absence of stereotype endorsement. In a study including 240 six-year-old children, this paradox was addressed by testing whether automatic associations trigger stereotype threat in young girls. Whereas no indicators were found that children endorsed the math-gender stereotype, girls, but not boys, showed automatic associations consistent with the stereotype. Moreover, results showed that girls' automatic associations varied as a function of a manipulation regarding the stereotype content. Importantly, girls' math performance decreased in a stereotype-consistent, relative to a stereotype-inconsistent, condition and automatic associations mediated the relation between stereotype threat and performance.
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Performance Gender Gap: Does Competition Matter?
Evren Ors, Frédéric Palomino & Eloïc Peyrache
Journal of Labor Economics, July 2013, Pages 443-499
Abstract:
Using data for students undertaking a series of real-world academic examinations with high future payoffs, we examine whether the differences in these evaluations' competitive nature generate a performance gender gap. In the univariate setting we find that women's performance is first-order stochastically dominated by that of men when the competition is higher, whereas the reverse holds true in the less competitive or noncompetitive tests. These results are confirmed in the multivariate setting. Our findings, from a real-world setting with important payoffs at stake, are in line with the evidence from experimental research that finds that females tend to perform worse in more competitive contexts.
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Shuaa Alrajih & Jamie Ward
British Journal of Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The relative proportion of the internal features of a face (the facial width-to-height ratio, FWH) has been shown to be related to individual differences in behaviour in males, specifically competitiveness and aggressiveness. In this study, we show that the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the leading UK businesses have greater FWHs than age- and sex-matched controls. We demonstrate that perceivers, naive as to the nature of the stimuli, rate the faces of CEOs as higher in dominance or success, and that ratings of dominance or success are themselves correlated with the FWH ratio. We find no association with other inferred traits such as trustworthiness, attraction or aggression. The latter is surprising given previous research demonstrating a link between FWH and ratings of aggression. We speculate that the core association may be between FWH and drive for dominance or power, but this can be interpreted as aggression only in particular circumstances (e.g., when the stimuli are comprised of faces of young, as opposed to middle-aged, men).
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David Terburg & Jack van Honk
Emotion Review, July 2013, Pages 296-302
Abstract:
Approach-avoidance generally describes appetitive motivation and fear of punishment. In a social context approach motivation is, however, also expressed as social aggression and dominance. We therefore link approach-avoidance to dominance-submissiveness, and provide a neural framework that describes how the steroid hormone testosterone shifts reflexive as well as deliberate behaviors towards dominance and promotion of social status. Testosterone inhibits acute fear at the level of the basolateral amygdala and hypothalamus and promotes reactive dominance through upregulation of vasopressin gene expression in the central-medial amygdala. Finally, the hormone can, depending on social context and prenatal hormone exposure, promote both pro- and antisocial behaviors and decisions through its effects on prefrontal-amygdala interactions. All these effects of testosterone, however, serve to increase and maintain social status.
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Sapna Cheryan et al.
Sex Roles, July 2013, Pages 58-71
Abstract:
The present research examines undergraduates' stereotypes of the people in computer science, and whether changing these stereotypes using the media can influence women's interest in computer science. In Study 1, college students at two U.S. West Coast universities (N = 293) provided descriptions of computer science majors. Coding these descriptions revealed that computer scientists were perceived as having traits that are incompatible with the female gender role, such as lacking interpersonal skills and being singularly focused on computers. In Study 2, college students at two U.S. West Coast universities (N = 54) read fabricated newspaper articles about computer scientists that either described them as fitting the current stereotypes or no longer fitting these stereotypes. Women who read that computer scientists no longer fit the stereotypes expressed more interest in computer science than those who read that computer scientists fit the stereotypes. In contrast, men's interest in computer science did not differ across articles. Taken together, these studies suggest that stereotypes of academic fields influence who chooses to participate in these fields, and that recruiting efforts to draw more women into computer science would benefit from media efforts that alter how computer scientists are depicted.
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Is there a Gender Gap in Preschoolers' Competitiveness? An Experiment in the U.S.
Anya Samak
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, August 2013, Pages 22-31
Abstract:
We experimentally investigate the difference in competitiveness of 3-5 year-old boys and girls in the U.S. 123 children from a preschool are randomly matched into girl-girl, boy-boy, and boy-girl pairs of similar age and participate in a gender-neutral, competitive classroom activity using candy as an incentive. Children participate in a piece rate incentive scheme and a tournament incentive scheme in rounds 1 and 2, and select their preferred incentive scheme for round 3. We find that girls and boys choose to compete at equal rates - with 80% of children choosing to compete overall. We also find that girls' output in the task is significantly lower than that of boys under the tournament scheme, but not different in round 3 for the girls and boys who self-select into the tournament. All children display a remarkable rate of confidence - 84% of children believe they won under the tournament scheme. The gender of the match does not play a significant role.
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Sex-Biased Sound Symbolism in English-Language First Names
Benjamin Pitcher, Alex Mesoudi & Alan McElligott
PLoS ONE, June 2013
Abstract:
Sexual selection has resulted in sex-based size dimorphism in many mammals, including humans. In Western societies, average to taller stature men and comparatively shorter, slimmer women have higher reproductive success and are typically considered more attractive. This size dimorphism also extends to vocalisations in many species, again including humans, with larger individuals exhibiting lower formant frequencies than smaller individuals. Further, across many languages there are associations between phonemes and the expression of size (e.g. large /a, o/, small /i, e/), consistent with the frequency-size relationship in vocalisations. We suggest that naming preferences are a product of this frequency-size relationship, driving male names to sound larger and female names smaller, through sound symbolism. In a 10-year dataset of the most popular British, Australian and American names we show that male names are significantly more likely to contain larger sounding phonemes (e.g. "Thomas"), while female names are significantly more likely to contain smaller phonemes (e.g. "Emily"). The desire of parents to have comparatively larger, more masculine sons, and smaller, more feminine daughters, and the increased social success that accompanies more sex-stereotyped names, is likely to be driving English-language first names to exploit sound symbolism of size in line with sexual body size dimorphism.
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Amy DeWitt, Cynthia Cready & Rudy Ray Seward
Sex Roles, July 2013, Pages 89-106
Abstract:
Gender role stereotyping continues to dominate within many media forms. This research examined the portrayals of mothers and fathers as companions, disciplinarians, caregivers, nurturers, and providers in 300 twentieth century children's picture books randomly selected from the Children's Catalog (H.W. Wilson Company, 2001). The books were published in the United States between the years of 1902 and 2000. The list of texts was stratified by time periods before sampling. The impact of time of publication upon each of the five parental role constructs was assessed using cross-tabulations. Previous analyses suggest traditional parental role portrayals are commonplace, but by employing time of publication as an independent variable, the researchers questioned whether an evolvement of roles would be noted. By examining the father and mother role performances independently over time it was expected that some progression toward egalitarianism would be noted. Overall, mothers did outperform fathers in nurturing and caregiving, and fathers outperformed mothers in companion and providing behaviors. However, when these behaviors were cross-tabulated with time of publication, no significant role evolvement was found. For example, while not statistically significant, father characters were most likely to nurture, provide care, and act as a child's companion in books published in the 1970s, but these behaviors declined in subsequent time periods. The role evolvement of mother characters also lacked statistical significance, suggesting that the traditional male breadwinner-female homemaker model has been consistently portrayed in children's picture books.
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Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick et al.
Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
A prolonged-exposure experiment, spanning 10 days, investigated how gender-typed portrayals in magazines affect young women's visions of their personal future. Competing hypotheses regarding impacts on possible future selves were derived from social cognitive theory and social comparison theory. Women (N = 215) viewed magazine pages with females in either professional or caretaker roles, as beauty ideals, or without individuals (control group). Gender-typed roles remained salient 3 days after last exposure. Portrayals of professionals and caretakers instigated more negative responses related to personal future than beauty ideals. Thus, despite much advocacy for increasing the number of strong female role models in the media, the perpetuation of traditional beauty ideals makes women feel more positively about their future.
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Does Gender Affect Mortgage Choice? Evidence from the US
Chau Do & Irina Paley
Feminist Economics, Spring 2013, Pages 33-68
Abstract:
This study examines the effect of gender on the choice of adjustable- versus fixed-rate mortgages among mortgage applicants in the United States. While adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are initially cheaper, they expose the borrower to interest rate risk. Using linear probability models applied to US lender data for 2004-6, the study finds that the propensity to apply for an ARM among higher-income applicants is lower for women by 3.7-8.4 percentage points or 12-42 percent. Results are robust to the inclusion of education, financial knowledge, and economic determinants of mortgage choice. Results are consistent with past findings of women being more risk averse than men in financial behaviors. Findings of this US-based study are relevant for other countries, as ARMs of varying lengths are widely prevalent outside the US.
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Jennifer Cromley et al.
Contemporary Educational Psychology, July 2013, Pages 247-258
Abstract:
In laboratory studies, induced stereotype threat shows negative effects on academic performance and learning. Is the relation between stereotype threat and grades robust in naturalistic settings, specifically in introductory STEM courses? We gathered data on two new measures we term race and sex stereotype bias, which were administered four times over the course of introductory chemistry and biology courses for STEM majors (N = 1,358). Patterns of growth for all stereotype bias measures showed a discontinuous pattern, with increases during each semester (fall and spring) and decreases between semesters. For all stereotype bias measures, sophomores scored significantly higher than freshmen, and juniors scored in between. For the sex stereotype bias measure, females scored significantly higher than males. There were no race or sex differences on slopes of growth; though groups began at different levels, all grew at the same rate. There was little relation between grades and stereotype bias when analyzed by race; Asian students showed the largest number of significant -- albeit small -- correlations (3) and Black students the fewest (none). Correlations between grades and sex stereotype bias were significant and negative -- but small -- only for males. Results support a point made by Steele in 1997 but neglected since then; stereotype threat may affect only a small sub-portion within stereotyped groups. We argue that variables other than stereotype threat might be better targets for research attempting to explain gaps in STEM achievement and retention.
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Measuring Women-Friendly Policy in the American States
Kimberly Cowell-Meyers & Laura Langbein
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, Spring 2013, Pages 159-185
Abstract:
Scholars and advocates frequently rank the American states in terms of the favorability of their policy positions on a range of issues, including "women-friendliness." We examine if this is an identifiable dimension among 32 policies selected by women's interest organizations as important "women-friendly" planks and adopted by 50 states. We identify 8 policies that cohere empirically in the adoption pattern of states. Our list suggests that if women-friendly policy has a coherent theoretical meaning, its focus is on women's self-determination, and not on family and children, or even equity in the workplace.
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Emily Wentzell
Medical Anthropology Quarterly, March 2013, Pages 3-22
Abstract:
As lifestyle drug production and medical interest in geriatrics increase, the medicalization of aging and sexuality have become intertwined. Drugs like Viagra naturalize lifelong performance of phallocentric sex as a marker of healthy aging. Yet despite the ubiquity of medical aids for having "youthful" sex in older age, this article argues that having no or less sex can be a conscious strategy for embodying respectable aging. Based on ethnographic research in a Cuernavaca, Mexico, hospital urology department, this article shows that despite the traditional association of penetrative sex with successful masculinity, many older, working-class Mexican men faced with erectile difficulty reject "youthful" sexuality and drugs that facilitate it in order to embody a "mature" masculinity focused on home and family. This article argues that social encouragement and structural disincentives for medicalizing erectile difficulty encouraged men to interpret decreasing erectile function as natural and appropriate.