Showing papers on "Stereotype published in 2004"

Reactions to counterstereotypic behavior: the role of backlash in cultural stereotype maintenance.

Abstract: Social and economic sanctions for counterstereotypical behavior have been termed the backlash effect (L. A. Rudman, 1998). The authors present a model of the role of backlash in cultural stereotype maintenance from the standpoint of both perceivers and actors. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants lost a competition to either atypical or typical men or women and subsequently showed greater tendency to sabotage deviants. Moreover, undermining deviants was associated with increased self-esteem, suggesting that backlash rewards perceivers psychologically. Experiment 3 showed that gender deviants who feared backlash resorted to strategies designed to avoid it (e.g., hiding, deception, and gender conformity). Further, perceivers who sabotaged deviants (Experiment 2) or deviants who hid their atypicality (Experiment 3) estimated greater stereotyping on the part of future perceivers, in support of the model’s presumed role for backlash in stereotype maintenance. The implications of the findings for cultural stereotypes are discussed.

Perspectives on Racial Phenotypicality Bias

Abstract: This article reviews research examining racial phenotypicality bias--within-category stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination based on race-related phenotypic characteristics of the face. A literature review of research examining skin tone bias, drawing largely from work examining perceptions of Blacks in the United States, reveals that individuals with features typical of members of their racial category are perceived and treated more negatively by social perceivers. Furthermore, this treatment has broad implications for social status and health. Despite this evidence, the tendency to attend to and use within-race variation in phenotypic appearance has been overlooked in social psychological models of impression formation. However, several theoretical frameworks have recently been proposed to explain the role of phenotype-based expectancies in social representation and judgment. Drawing on the strengths of each perspective, a rudimentary model of racial phenotypicality bias is proposed. This analysis suggests that future examinations guided by the current framework (or similar others) can complement existing evidence toward a greater understanding of the role of phenotypic variation in social perception.

The underrepresentation of women in science: Differential commitment or the queen bee syndrome?

Abstract: We examined possible explanations for the underrepresentation of women among university faculty, in two different national contexts. In the Netherlands, a sample of doctoral students (N = 132) revealed no gender differences in work commitment or work satisfaction. Faculty members in the same university (N = 179), however, perceived female students to be less committed to their work and female faculty endorsed these gender-stereotypical perceptions most strongly. A second study, in Italy, replicated and extended these findings. Again, no gender differences were obtained in the self-descriptions of male and female doctoral students (N = 80), while especially the female faculty (N = 93) perceived female students as less committed to their work than male students. Additional measures supported an explanation in social identity terms, according to which individual upward mobility (i.e. of female faculty) implies distancing the self from the group stereotype which not only involves perceiving the self as a non-prototypical group member, but may also elicit stereotypical views of other in-group members.

Strategies for social inference: a similarity contingency model of projection and stereotyping in attribute prevalence estimates.

Abstract: Most models of how perceivers infer the widespread attitudes and qualities of social groups revolve around either the self (social projection, false consensus) or stereotypes (stereotyping). The author suggests people rely on both of these inferential strategies, with perceived general similarity moderating their use, leading to increased levels of projection and decreased levels of stereotyping. Three studies featuring existing individual differences in perceived similarity as well as manipulated perceptions supported the predictions, with similarity yielding increased projection to, and decreased stereotyping of, various in-groups and out-groups. Evidence that projection and stereotyping may serve as inferential alternatives also emerged. The model and accompanying results have implications for research on social comparison and projection, stereotyping and prejudice, and social inference.

The Stereotype of Schizophrenia and Its Impact on Discrimination Against People With Schizophrenia: Results From a Representative Survey in Germany

Abstract: This study aims at assessing the prevalence of different components of the stereotype of schizophrenia among the general public and examining their impact on the preference for social distance and the acceptance of structural discrimination--that is, imbalances and injustices inherent in legal regulations and the provision of health care. In spring 2001, a representative survey was carried out in Germany involving individuals of German nationality aged 18 years and older and living in noninstitutional settings (n = 5,025). A personal, fully structured interview was conducted, including a list of items covering the various aspects of the stereotype, a social distance scale, and items assessing respondents' agreement with structural discrimination. Among the five stereotype components, the perception of people with schizophrenia as being unpredictable and incompetent was most frequently endorsed by the public, followed by perceived dangerousness. While the desire for social distance was best predicted by these two stereotype components, holding the individual responsible for the illness was the most powerful predictor of the acceptance of structural discrimination.

Using SAT-grade and ability-job performance relationships to test predictions derived from stereotype threat theory.

Abstract: To examine the generalizability of stereotype threat theory findings from laboratory to applied settings, the authors developed models of the pattern of relationships between cognitive test scores and outcome criteria that would be expected if the test scores of women and minority group members were affected by stereotype threat. Two large data sets were used to test these models, one in an education setting examining SAT-grade relationships by race and gender and the other in a military job setting examining Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery-job performance relationships by race. Findings were not supportive of the predictions arising from stereotype threat theory, suggesting caution in positing threat as a key determinant of subgroup mean test score differences in applied settings.

Stereotype Reactance at the Bargaining Table: The Effect of Stereotype Activation and Power on Claiming and Creating Value

Abstract: Two experiments explored the hypothesis that the impact of activating gender stereotypes on negotiated agreements in mixed-gender negotiations depends on the manner in which the stereo-type is activated (explicitly vs. implicitly) and the content of the stereotype (linking negotiation performance to stereotypically male vs. stereotypically female traits). Specifically, two experiments investigated the generality and limits of stereotype reactance. The results of Experiment 1 suggest that negotiated outcomes become more one-sided in favor of the high power negotiator when masculine traits are explicitly linked to negotiator effectiveness. In contrast, the results of Experiment 2 suggest that negotiated outcomes are more integrative (win-win) when feminine traits are explicitly linked to negotiator effectiveness. In total, performance in mixed-gender negotiations is strongly affected by the cognitions and motivations that negotiators bring to the bargaining table.

Effects of Intergroup Contact and Political Predispositions on Prejudice: Role of Intergroup Emotions

Abstract: Two broad distal causes of prejudice are past history of intergroup contact and general political predispositions. Two studies investigate the extent to which these effects are mediated by emotions...

Gang Membership, Drugs and Crime in the UK

Abstract: There is some evidence from national newspapers and government reports that the number of gangs and gang members in the United Kingdom is increasing. There are also reports that street gangs are involved in serious and violent offending and sometimes carry guns. In some respects, the picture painted by these reports is similar to the stereotype of gang membership in the United States. However, there is little criminological research on gangs in the United Kingdom that can shed light on this development. In particular, little is known about whether gang members are different in any way from non-gang members of similar social background. The current paper reports findings generated from the NEW-ADAM (New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring) programme on gang membership and its relation to crime and drug misuse. The research shows that there are some similarities between the current findings and the results reported in the US research with respect to the social characteristics and problem behaviours of gang members. However, there are also some important differences. The paper concludes that the United Kingdom may be entering a new phase in the development of street crime among young people and argues that it is important to monitor this development for the purpose of policy and fundamental knowledge.

Racial Stereotypes and Gender in Context: African Americans at Predominantly Black and Predominantly White Colleges

Abstract: In this study, relationships among stereotype expectations, gender, and academic self-concept and performance of African American students in predominantly White and predominantly Black college contexts were examined. Stereotype expectations are students' perceptions of biased treatment and evaluation within their major classroom settings (SE). Findings indicated that students' majors were related to stereotype expectations, as well as to their academic competence. Our results also provide evidence of gender and institutional interactions in the relationships between stereotype expectations and academic outcomes. Results are discussed in terms of the need to examine issues of race and gender in the academic experiences of African Americans, as well as how their specific school and classroom contexts may influence their experiences.

On broadening the cognitive, motivational, and sociostructural scope of theorizing about gender development and functioning: comment on Martin, Ruble, and Szkrybalo (2002).

Abstract: In their article on gender development, C. L. Martin, D. N. Ruble, and J. Szkrybalo (see record 2002-18663-003) contrasted their conception of gender development with that of social cognitive theory. The authors of this commentary correct misrepresentations of social cognitive theory and analyze the conceptual and empirical status of Martin et al.'s (2002) theory that gender stereotype matching is the main motivating force of gender development. Martin et al. (2002) based their claim for the causal primacy of gender self-categorization on construal of gender discrimination as rudimentary self-identity, equivocal empirical evidence, and dismissal of discordant evidence because of methodological deficiencies. The repeated finding that gendered preferences and behavior precede emergence of a sense of self is discordant with their theory. Different lines of evidence confirm that gender development and functioning are socially situated, richly contextualized, and conditionally manifested rather than governed mainly by an intrinsic drive to match stereotypic gender self-conception.

The threat of stereotype

Abstract: To close the achievement gap, we must address negative stereotypes that suppress student achievement. Not long ago, I was asked to explain why Jews were so rich. I had just accepted an offer to be assistant professor at a large university, and my wife and I, hunting for our new home, were in a restaurant having lunch with the realtor. “I mean it,” the realtor said. “Do you people have some genetic thing that makes you good at making money?” She explained that in her experience, her Jewish clients had the biggest houses and the nicest cars. I bristled. “What do you mean? That's a wornout stereotype. My wife and I are not rich, and we're Jewish . . .” I proceeded to give her a brief anti-stereotyping primer to which she responded with interest. I was reassured.

Intergenerational transmission of prejudice, sex role stereotyping, and intolerance.

Abstract: The attitudes of 111 ninth and eleventh graders and both of their biological parents were independently assessed for prejudice against people with HIV/ AIDS, homosexuals, Blacks, and fat people, as well as for male and female sex role stereotyping. This study corrected for two shortcomings in previous research: neglecting to assess both parents and assessing only a single domain of prejudice. We addressed the intergenerational transmission of prejudice and stereotyping using three competing models: same-sex, parent equivalent, and differential effects. Using multiple regressions in which parents' scores were entered separately, along with control variables, different maternal and paternal influences were detected. Mothers were the primary influence for prejudice regarding HIV/AIDS, fatness, and race, and fathers were the primary influence for male and female stereotyping and prejudice against homosexuals, supporting the differential effects model. We also established that prejudice and stereotyping in specific domains reflected a more general proclivity to be intolerant. In contrast to prejudice and stereotyping in specific domains, fathers and mothers about equally shaped the adolescents' intolerance, supporting the parent equivalent model.

Is It Sex or Personality? The Impact of Sex Stereotypes on Discrimination in Applicant Selection

Abstract: This paper investigates whether women have less access to attractive, traditionally male jobs because their sex-stereotypical personality does not fit the job. If women as a group are assumed not to possess the required characteristics for a male occupation, they will not be hired for such jobs. In this study we contrast the labor outcomes of a woman who possesses the required masculine characteristics with those of a traditional female. If a woman can demonstrate that she does not correspond to her sex stereotype and in fact does have the stereotypical personality traits of a man, she should be treated like a man. A woman with identical human capital and personality should be equally productive as a man-no other conceivable variables might determine productivity apart from knowledge and personality traits. Consequently, she should receive equal treatment. If such an equal treatment is not observable, we argue, discrimination has been documented.

Violating stereotypes: eye movements and comprehension processes when text conflicts with world knowledge.

Abstract: We investigated the effect of discourse context on the access of word meaning during reading. Target words were role names (e.g.,electrician) for which there was a gender stereotype (e.g., electricians are stereotypically male). Target sentences contained a reflexive pronoun that referred to the role name (e.g.,The electrician taught herself . . .). Participants read these target sentences with or without paragraph context while their eye movements were monitored. In the absence of discourse context and in neutral discourse contexts, fixation times on the reflexive pronoun and immediately following the pronoun were inflated when the pronoun specified a gender that mismatched the stereotype, indicating that the gender stereotype was activated upon encountering the role name. When prior discourse context indicated the gender of the role-named character, this mismatch effect was eliminated. The mismatch effect indicates that gender stereotypes are automatically activated in the absence of disambiguating information. The lack of an effect when gender has previously been specified is consistent with the lexical reinterpretation model proposed by Hess, Foss, and Carroll (1995).

Is beautiful always good? implicit benefits of facial attractiveness

Abstract: A theme that emerges in life is that it is advantageous to be good looking Corroborating this observation, an expansive literature has documented the benefits of facial attractiveness on a range of explicit measures What is not yet known, however, is whether this association between beauty and positivity also exerts an implicit influence on people's responses That is, does the “beautiful is good” stereotype operate when attention is not explicitly directed to a person's appearance? Using a modified Stroop task, we explored this issue in the current investigation The results revealed that facial stereotypes do indeed exert an automatic influence on people's responses, an effect that is elicited by targets of either sex and displayed by both male and female respondents In addition, female faces elicited positive evaluative responses (ie, female–positivity effect) We consider the implications of these findings for issues in person perception

Men's and Women's Perceptions of the Gender Typing of Management Subroles

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which subroles inherent in managerial positions are gender-typed and whether men or women engage in relatively more gender typing of managerial roles. We obtained perceptions of 19 management subroles from 263 business students in the United States Results confirmed predictions that some subroles are viewed as more feminine in nature whereas other subroles are perceived as more masculine. Male respondents saw most subroles as more masculine in nature than did female respondents. Results are discussed in terms of implications for researchers studying management, as well as for managers in the workplace.

The race connection: are teachers more effective with students who share their ethnicity?

Abstract: In the mid-1960s, an acquaintance of mine was a young, timid teacher beginning her career in a virtually all-black high school on the South Side of Chicago. Even to this day, she recalls two events from that period. On one occasion, she saw a burly white male teacher telling a group of black teenagers that they were stupid and that they had better realize it. On another occasion, she observed as a classroom of unruly adolescents was silenced by the fixed stare of a black female teacher, whose disciplinary approach surely reminded many of their mothers at home. The contrast between these two teachers, while more extreme than one usually finds, either then or now, nevertheless helps to explain why so many are urging the nation to recruit more minority teachers. The availability of minority teachers appears to be an important issue. While 17 percent of the students in K-12 public schools are black, black teachers make up just 8 percent of the teaching force (see Figure 1). These disparities are even more pronounced in many urban schools, where student bodies that are nearly 100 percent minority are often taught by majority-white teaching staffs. However, we actually know very little about how differences between a teacher's race and those of her students affect the learning environment. This study makes use of data from a randomized field trial conducted in Tennessee to produce higher-quality information on this controversial subject than has been available previously. The results are troubling. Black students learn more from black teachers and white students from white teachers, suggesting that the racial dynamics within classrooms may contribute to the persistent racial gap in student performance, at least in Tennessee. Why Race Could Matter The racial interactions between teachers and students could influence student performance in several ways. For example, pupils may trust and respect someone with whom they share a salient characteristic, making learning come more easily. Likewise, a teacher of the same race may serve as a more effective role model, boosting students' confidence and enthusiasm for learning. However, while such role-model effects are widely believed to be important, there is actually little direct empirical evidence that they exist. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Claude M. Steele's theory of "stereotype threat" suggests another way that student performance might respond to a teacher's race (and one for which there is empirical support). Stereotype threat can occur in situations where students perceive that a stereotype regarding their ability will come into play--such as when a black student is taught by a white teacher. A series of experiments conducted at Stanford University by Steele and Joshua Aronson appear to confirm the existence of the stereotype threat phenomenon. Groups of students took tests comprising the most difficult items on the verbal GRE exam. When told beforehand that the test was a laboratory problem-solving task unrelated to ability, black and white students performed similarly. However, black students performed relatively worse when told that the test was diagnostic of ability. The racial differences were similar when researchers merely asked students to fill out a pretest demographic questionnaire that inquired into their race, a minor manipulation of the stereotype threat. There may also be (largely unintended) racial biases in teachers' behavior. In particular, minority teachers may be more generous with minority students, devoting more time to them and making more favorable assumptions about their capabilities. White teachers may be relatively generous with white students in just the same ways. A limited body of experimental evidence does suggest that teachers, in allocating class time, interacting with students, and designing class materials, are more favorably disposed toward students who share their racial or ethnic background. …

Stereotypes of the elderly in U.S. television commercials from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Abstract: Critics have charged that American advertisers have often portrayed the elderly with negative stereotypes. These negative portrayals, they suggest, not only offend elderly consumers but also contribute to ageism. This study examined whether American advertisers have indeed used a great deal of negative stereotyping of the elderly, as the critics have suggested. Employing a concept of stereotypes found in cognitive psychology, the authors examined trends in the portrayal of the elderly in television commercials produced in the United States from the 1950s through the 1990s. Results of the study do not support the contentions of the critics. Very little negative stereotyping was discovered. Analysis indicated trends in the appearance of several positive stereotypes, and differences in the stereotyping of gender groups and age segments within the elderly group. Results are interpreted from both marketing and social science perspectives.

Beyond the Laboratory: Evaluating the Survey Evidence for the Disidentification Explanation of Black-White Differences in Achievement

Abstract: The black-white gap in achievement, as measured by performance on standardized tests, has received considerable attention from researchers in the past five years. Claude Steele's stereotype threat and disidentification mechanism is perhaps the most heralded of the new explanations for residual racial differences that persist after adjustments for social background are performed. Analyzing data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, we found qualified support for portions of the disidentification explanation. Black students' academic self-evaluations are more weakly associated with their measured academic performances, a difference that could stem from stereotype threat or a belief that the evaluations are racially biased. But this discounting of performance evaluations does not seem to provoke a more complete disidentification with the schooling process or with academic achievement in general. The findings suggest that there is no clear path from being stereotyped to disidentifying, and in conclu...

Beliefs About Older Workers' Learning and Development Behavior in Relation to Beliefs About Malleability of Skills, Age‐Related Decline, and Control1

Abstract: This study investigated beliefs about older workers' ability and inclination to develop career-relevant skills, concepts that have not been empirically examined previously in any depth. Two sets of distinct but conceptually related variables were examined in relation to these beliefs. First, participants' implicit theory of abilities (whether they are fixed or changeable) was investigated, and was not found to predict beliefs about older workers' ability or inclination to develop. Second, their beliefs about the age-related decline of learning-relevant abilities and the controllability of such decline were examined. Beliefs about the decline of such abilities significantly predicted beliefs about older workers' ability to develop and beliefs about their inclination to develop. A significant relationship was also found between beliefs about controllability of decline and beliefs about older workers' learning goal orientation. Implicit theories significantly predicted beliefs about controllability of decline. These results empirically link research on beliefs about age-related decline of abilities with the older worker stereotype literature. The results also link literature on beliefs about controllability of decline with literature on implicit theories of skill malleability.

Black demons : media's depiction of the African American male criminal stereotype

Abstract: Acknowledgments About the Author Introduction--Black Demons: Mass Media's Depiction of the African American Male Criminal Stereotype Brief Historical Overview of African Americans Theory: UCR, Racial Bias, Public Policy, and the Mass Media Bad Boys: Cop-U-Dramas and Other Television Reality-Based Programs Bamboozled: Criminal Stereotypes of African Americans in Cinema Modern Day "Blaxploitation": Gansta Rap and Its Perpetuation of the Black Demon Stereotype Conclusion and Suggestions for Moving Forward Tables and Figures

The importance of social structure and social interaction in stereotype consensus and content: is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?

Abstract: This paper addresses the hypothesis derived from self-categorisation theory (SCT) that the relationship between groups and stereotyping will be affected by the social structural conditions within which group interaction occurs A mixed design experiment (n = 56) measured low-status groups stereotypes and preferences for conflict with a high-status outgroup prior to and after within-group discussion across varying social structural conditions Over time, participants in open conditions consensualised around positive conceptions of the outgroup and endorsed acceptance of their own low status position However, in closed conditions participants consensualised around positive conceptions of the ingroup, negative conceptions of the outgroup, and tended towards preferences for collective protest It is argued that the data supports self-categorisation theory s contention that stereotyping and group processes are fundamentally interlinked and that neither can be properly understood in isolation from the dynamics of the surrounding intergroup context