Showing papers on "Stereotype published in 2019"

The force of fear: Police stereotype threat, self-legitimacy, and support for excessive force.

Abstract: Researchers have linked police officers' concerns with appearing racist-a kind of stereotype threat-to racial disparities in the use of force This study presents the first empirical test of the hypothesized psychological mechanism linking stereotype threat to police support for violence We hypothesized that stereotype threat undermines officers' self-legitimacy, or the confidence they have in their inherent authority, encouraging overreliance on coercive policing to maintain control Officers (n = 784) from the patrol division of a large urban police force completed a survey in order to test this hypothesis Respondents completed measures of stereotype threat, self-legitimacy, resistance to use of force policy, approval of unreasonable force, and endorsement of procedurally fair policing Structural equation models showed that elevated stereotype threat was associated with lower self-legitimacy (β = -15), which in turn was associated with more resistance to restrictions on force (β = -17), greater approval of unreasonable force (β = -31), and lower endorsement of fair policing (β = 57) These results reveal that concerns about appearing racist are actually associated with increased support for coercive policing-potentially further eroding public trust (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Chilean kindergarten children's beliefs about mathematics: Family matters.

Abstract: This study examines the relations among parental beliefs and practices about mathematics, children's beliefs about mathematics, participants' gender, and family socioeconomic status (SES). The study was conducted in Chile, a country with significant gender gaps in standardized test results in mathematics, with boys receiving significantly higher scores than girls. One hundred eighty Chilean kindergarteners (Mage = 5.6 years) of low and high SES completed both implicit and explicit measures of their beliefs about mathematics. Children's mothers and fathers also completed adult versions of these tests, as well as measures of home numeracy practices. This combination of child and parental assessments (both mother and father), including both implicit and explicit measures, provided a wider range of measures than in previous studies. On implicit measures of math-gender stereotypes, boys showed the math = boy stereotype significantly more strongly than girls did. Both fathers and mothers showed this stereotype on both implicit and explicit measures. Fathers also linked me = math (math self-concept) more strongly than mothers on both implicit and explicit measures. Kindergarten girls' implicit math self-concept was explained by a combination of parents' math self-concepts and SES. Taken together, these results show that by 5 years of age children are already developing beliefs about "who does math" in their culture, and that parental beliefs and practices are significantly linked to children's stereotypes and self-concepts about mathematics before they enter formal schooling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploring Social Bias in Chatbots using Stereotype Knowledge

Abstract: Exploring social bias in chatbot is an important, yet relatively unexplored problem In this paper, we propose an approach to understand social bias in chatbots by leveraging stereotype knowledge It allows interesting comparison of bias between chatbots and humans, and provides intuitive analysis of existing chatbots by borrowing the finer-grain concepts of sexism and racism

The Process of Becoming a Sexual Black Woman: A Grounded Theory Study.

Abstract: Black females in the United States disproportionately suffer from STDs, including HIV. Understanding the sociocultural conditions that affect their risk is essential to developing effective and culturally relevant prevention programs. Methods: In 2016-2017 in Madison, Wisconsin, 20 black females aged 19-62 completed interviews that explored the sociocultural conditions associated with sexual development and STD/HIV risk. Interviews were guided by grounded theory; open, axial and selective coding and constant comparative analysis were used to identify developmental phases and relevant sociocultural conditions. Results: Three phases of becoming a sexual black woman were identified: Girl, when participants reported beginning to understand their sexuality; Grown, marking a transition to adulthood, when participants began to feel more self-sufficient yet still grappled with their emerging sexuality; and Woman, when participants developed a strong sense of self and took ownership of their bodies. Two sociocultural conditions affected progression through these phases: stereotype messaging and protection (both self-protection and protecting others). Negative life events (e.g., sexual trauma) and early sexualization reportedly affected sexual development, and STD experience influenced self-perceptions of sexuality and sexual behavior, often leading to self-protective behaviors. Older participants reported strategies to protect young black females from negative sexual experiences. Conclusion: Interventions at multiple levels of the social ecology throughout the life course may help reduce STD/HIV risk among black women in the United States. Future research should include examination of the experiences of black females younger than 18 and evaluation of the protective strategies employed by older black females.

The (Not So) Changing Man: Dynamic Gender Stereotypes in Sweden

Abstract: According to Social Role Theory, gender stereotypes are dynamic constructs influenced by actual and perceived changes in what roles women and men occupy (Wood and Eagly, 2011). Sweden is ranked as one of the most egalitarian countries in the world, with a strong national equality discourse and a relatively high number of men engaging in traditionally communal roles such as parenting and domestic tasks. This would imply a perceived change toward higher communion among men. Therefore, we investigated the dynamics of gender stereotype content in Sweden with a primary interest in the male stereotype and perceptions of gender equality. In Study 1, participants (N = 323) estimated descriptive stereotype content of women and men in Sweden in the past, present, or future. They also estimated gender distribution in occupations and domestic roles for each time-point. Results showed that the female stereotype increased in agentic traits from the past to the present, whereas the male stereotype showed no change in either agentic or communal traits. Furthermore, participants estimated no change in gender stereotypes for the future, and they overestimated how often women and men occupy gender non-traditional roles at present. In Study 2, we controlled for participants’ actual knowledge about role change by either describing women’s increased responsibilities on the job market, or men’s increased responsibility at home (or provided no description). Participants (N = 648) were randomized to the three different conditions. Overall, women were perceived to increase in agentic traits, and this change was mediated by perceptions of social role occupation. Men where not perceived to increase in communion but decreased in agency when change focused on women’s increased participation in the labor market. These results indicate that role change among women also influence perceptions of the male stereotype. Altogether, the results indicate that social roles might have stronger influence on perceptions of agency than perceptions of communion, and that communion could be harder to incorporate in the male stereotype.

When are women willing to lead? The effect of team gender composition and gendered tasks

Abstract: It is a well-documented phenomenon that a group's gender composition can impact group performance. Understanding why and how this phenomenon happens is a prominent puzzle in the literature. To shed light on this puzzle, we propose and experimentally test one novel theory: through the salience of gender stereotype, a group's gender composition affects a person's willingness to lead a group, thereby impacting the group's overall performance. By randomly assigning people to groups with varying gender compositions, we find that women in mixed-gender groups are twice as likely as women in single-gender groups to suffer from the gender stereotype effect, by shying away from leadership in areas that are gender-incongruent. Further, we provide evidence that the gender stereotype effect persists even for women in single-gender groups. Importantly, however, we find that public feedback about a capable woman's performance significantly increases her willingness to lead. This result holds even in male-stereotyped environments.

Age-based stereotype threat and negative outcomes in the workplace: Exploring the role of identity integration

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that the presence of age-based stereotypes in the workplace is often associated with lower levels of work engagement and adjustment among older employees. This study examines possible mediators and moderators of this relationship using data from a sample of 2,348 older (age > 50) employees at the Italian national rail company. We test a model in which the effects of age-based stereotype threat on organizational involvement, future time perspective and psychological well-being are mediated by work-age identity integration (how much individuals see their age and organizational identities as compatible and blended). Secondly, we explored whether these effects are moderated by gender and job status. Results indicate that age-based stereotypes are associated with negative outcomes for employees’ work and personal adjustment, and that these relationships are partially mediated by variations in work-age identity integration.

Social identity threat in interpersonal relationships: Activating negative stereotypes decreases social approach motivation.

Abstract: Research has shown that social identity threat can have a broad variety of negative consequences. However, not much is known about the consequences of social identity threat on interpersonal relationships. In the present research, we hypothesize that experiencing social identity threat decreases people's social approach motivation toward other people related to the stereotyped domain. Specifically, we manipulated social identity threat by activating negative stereotypes about women in math. As math is an important aspect of the academic self-concept, female university students who are confronted with a negative math stereotype should experience threat toward their identity as university students. We then tested whether this threat affected female students' motivation to approach other university students and whether the effect was mediated by a reduced sense of belonging to the university. Data from 478 participants, assessed in three experimental (Study 1a: N = 79, Study 1b: N = 164, Study 2: N = 100) and one correlational study (Study 3: N = 135), mainly supported these hypotheses. We conclude that social identity threat can be detrimental to the quality of people's social lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

A Literature Review of Cultural Stereotypes Associated with Motherhood and Fatherhood

Abstract: In many societies, the iconic image of the family is that of a White, American middle-class, first-marriage nuclear family with two heterosexual parents and biological children. Research, however, ...

Status, stigma and stereotype: How drug takers and drug suppliers avoid negative labelling by virtue of their ‘conventional’ and ‘law-abiding’ lives:

Abstract: A minority of those who consume or supply illegal drugs are detected and subsequently punished for breaching these laws. Thus, only a minority of active ‘drug offenders’ are ever formally subjected...

Fear of the Disability Con: Perceptions of Fraud and Special Rights Discourse

Abstract: This Article presents a new framework for analyzing the development and implementation of disability law: the prism of the fear of “the disability con” — popular perceptions of fraud and fakery. We all encounter disability rights and accommodations in everyday life. However, people with disabilities pay a price for the legal recognition of their rights. People who park in disabled parking spots, use service dogs, move to the front of lines, receive Social Security benefits, or request academic accommodations are often viewed as faking disabilities and abusing the law. This disability con stereotype thus serves as an important invisible barrier preventing Americans with disabilities from fully taking part in society, as it not only undermines the public legitimacy of rights but also restricts the design and implementation of the legal regime illustrating those. Nevertheless, this moral panic around disability con in American society and its manifestations has yet to be studied in a systematic-empirical way, nor has it been addressed in socio-legal scholarship. Using a mixed-methods approach composed of an original nationally representative survey along with in-depth interviews, this article fills this gap. The data suggest that the stereotype of disability con applies to multiple disability rights across venues and contexts; that nearly 60% of Americans with disabilities feel that others question their disability; that the stereotype of disability con extends to visible disabilities and to less apparent ones; and that, counterintuitively, the people most suspicious are nondisabled individuals with a personal connection to a disabled person and disabled people who experience suspicion themselves. Based on the richer understanding of the socio-legal phenomenon, this article suggests strategies to increase trust and reduce suspicion of the disability con.

Stereotypes, theory of mind, and the action–prediction hierarchy

Abstract: Both mindreading and stereotyping are forms of social cognition that play a pervasive role in our everyday lives, yet too little attention has been paid to the question of how these two processes are related. This paper offers a theory of the influence of stereotyping on mental-state attribution that draws on hierarchical predictive coding accounts of action prediction. It is argued that the key to understanding the relation between stereotyping and mindreading lies in the fact that stereotypes centrally involve character-trait attributions, which play a systematic role in the action–prediction hierarchy. On this view, when we apply a stereotype to an individual, we rapidly attribute to her a cluster of generic character traits on the basis of her perceived social group membership. These traits are then used to make inferences about that individual’s likely beliefs and desires, which in turn inform inferences about her behavior.

What about the Male Victims? Exploring the Impact of Gender Stereotyping on Implicit Attitudes and Behavioural Intentions Associated with Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract: Although intimate partner violence (IPV) is considered stereotypically as a gendered phenomenon, empirical evidence contradicts such gender asymmetry in reported rates of victimisation and perpetration. The current research explored the impact of stereotype priming on implicit attitudes associated with IPV victimisation (Study 1) and perpetration (Study 2), and further examined behavioural intentions associated with hypothetical gendered scenarios of IPV. Participants recruited in the United Kingdom were primed with either stereotype congruent, incongruent or no information about IPV victimisation (Study 1, n = 122) or perpetration rates (Study 2, n = 101). They then completed an Implicit Association Test and reported their subjective norms, self-efficacy, behavioural intentions, and outcome expectancies pertaining to different scenarios depicting gendered IPV. Findings indicate that priming an incongruent stereotype did not impact significantly on implicit or explicit attitudes toward IPV. Gendered scenarios were found to be influential on explicit attitudes, with IPV less likely to be identified toward male victims and considered more acceptable compared to when the victim was female. Moreover, individuals reported feeling more capable and likely to intervene in an act of IPV when the victim was female compared to male, were more likely to report such an incident, and anticipated greater outcomes. These findings highlight the need for an inclusive research approach that recognises men’s victimisation.

A cross-national analysis of sex differences in prisoner's dilemma games.

Abstract: In a comprehensive cross-national study involving samples from 12 different countries that were representative for the adult populations in terms of age and sex (N = 2,429), we found that women cooperate significantly less overall than men in fully incentivized one-shot prisoner's dilemma games. This gender gap in cooperation can be explained by the fact that women hold lower expectations regarding the cooperativeness of their anonymous interaction partners. These results contradict both the common stereotype that women are more communal, caring, emotionally expressive, and warm than men and substantial empirical evidence showing that women act more prosocially in many contexts.

Geographic Variation in the Black-Violence Stereotype:

Abstract: The stereotype that Blacks are violent is pervasive in the United States. Yet little research has examined whether this stereotype is linked to violent behavior from members of different racial gro...

Half a Century of Stereotyping Associations Between Gender and Intellectual Ability in Films

Abstract: A particularly longstanding, prevalent, and well-documented stereotype is the belief that men possess higher-level cognitive abilities than women do. This brilliance = male stereotype has been shown to be endorsed even by children as young as 6-years-old and is believed to be a factor driving the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields. Motivated by the fact that cultural products serve as a source for acquiring individual values and behaviors, we study the presence of this stereotype in a large collection of movie transcripts covering half a century of Western-world film history (n = 11,550). Concretely, we use natural language processing techniques to quantify associations between gender pronouns and high-level cognitive ability-related words. Overall, our estimates suggest that, at an aggregate level, the brilliance = male stereotype is effectively present in films and that movies specifically targeted at children contain this stereotypical association. Moreover, this pattern seems to have been quite persistent for the last 50 years.

Challenging the stereotype? An analysis of the social and educational outcomes of the children of lone parents in the UK.

Abstract: This thesis presents the results of a mixed methods study investigating the truth behind media claims that lone parenthood is detrimental to the social and educational outcomes of children. The research is informed by intersectionality theory, which I seek to apply to both methods used in the study, as well as theories about the power of the State from Marxist theorists Althusser and Gramsci. The first part of the study is a discourse analysis of how lone parenthood is discussed in the media, using articles referring to lone parents in The Times and The Guardian in 1993 and 2013. The analysis shows that while policy and media contexts use generic terminology to refer to lone parents, the more specific focus of the negative discourse on lone parenthood is on white, unmarried, young mothers who live on benefits and in social housing. These findings are reflected in the selected variables for the second phase of the research. The second part of the research investigates whether there are any differences in the outcomes of the children of lone mothers when compared to peers who have not experienced lone motherhood. The outcomes studied are two subscales from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and Key Stage 4 (GCSE) results. The United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Survey and British Household Panel Survey datasets are used for the analysis, together with linked National Pupil Database data. A series of multiple regression models investigate any association between lone motherhood and the outcome measures, with the inclusion of covariates which mirror the key identity factors uncovered in the discourse analysis. The models are additionally run controlling for demographic factors such as maternal education, household size and young person’s age and gender, with the addition of the IDACI and free school meals indicators for the educational outcomes analysis. The results of the quantitative analysis show that while there are initially some differences between the outcomes of children of lone mothers and their peers whose mothers have not experienced lone parenthood, this association lessens as additional factors are added into the model. Additionally, of the factors deemed important in the media discourse, marital status is not significant in any models, and maternal age in all but the Total Difficulties Score. Ethnicity is not significant for social outcomes, but is for educational outcomes, with White children performing worse at GCSE than children from other ethnic groups. In all models, social housing is associated with worse outcomes; that is, children whose mothers have ever lived in social housing achieved lower grades at GCSE and showed more behavioural difficulties than their contemporaries whose mothers had never lived in social housing, whether they were lone mothers or not. The possible reasons for these results are discussed in the final chapter, focussing on how lone mothers are unfairly blamed in media and policy circles for the antisocial behaviour and educational attainment of children in modern society. The study shows children from lower income families have poorer social and educational outcomes. Women, who are already disadvantaged due to an inherent gender bias in society, are at a greater risk of economic instability and uncertainty, particularly women who are single-handedly raising families. In conclusion, there is no evidence for the pervasive and perpetual stereotype of lone motherhood as a deficit model of parenting; poverty is more important in determining young people’s social and educational outcomes.

Effects of stigmatizing media coverage on stigma measures, self-esteem, and affectivity in persons with depression - an experimental controlled trial

Abstract: Stigmatization of people with mental illness is still a significant problem even in Western society. Media is an important vector for public messaging that may lead to stigma (and potentially counteract it). There is an ongoing debate about the impact of news with potentially stigmatizing content on people with depression. This experimental study aimed at investigating the direct effects media reporting could have on people with depression, namely, higher levels of stigma attitudes and negative affect, as well as lower levels of self-esteem and positive affect. Experimental study; target sample size n = 180 patients; eligibility criteria: clinical diagnosis of depressive episode or dysthymia, aged 18–70 years, sufficient cognitive abilities and German language skills; exclusion criteria: acute psychotic, manic or hypomanic episode, addiction symptoms, or suicidal ideation; parallel assignment to one of three arms (each n = 60): watching a short film about a negative event relating to depression (experimental group), about a negative event without relation to depression (control group 1), or about a neutral event relating to depression (control group 2); primary outcomes: degrees of stigma attitudes (stereotype awareness, stereotype agreement, self-concurrence, and self-stigmatization); secondary outcomes: degrees of self-esteem, positive and negative affect; statistical analyses: general linear models with repeated-measures; one-way ANOVAs of the change in scores, followed by Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons; IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0. Significant group × time interactions in stereotype agreement (medium effect: η = 0.10) and negative affect (large effect: η = 0.26); the level of stereotype agreement increased significantly more in the experimental group than in control groups 1 and 2. The level of negative affect increased significantly more in the experimental group and in control group 1 than in control group 2. All other interaction effects were non-significant. The present study allows statements about the direct effects of potentially stigmatizing media reporting on carriers of the stigmatized attribute, i.e., depression: Even single film presentations of familiar events that contain potentially stigmatizing content have an impact on stereotype agreement and negative affect. The impact of long-term exposure and change in other stigma-measures require a deeper understanding of stigma-processes. Potential explanations and implications for practice and future research are discussed. Deutsche Register Klinischer Studien, Trial registration: DRKS00011855 . Registered 23 June 2017, retrospectively registered; for details see Additional file 1.

“It can’t be that bad, I mean, he’s a guy” : Exploring judgements towards domestic violence scenarios varying on perpetrator and victim gender, and abuse type

Abstract: This chapter outlines the possible role of social cognition in informing judgements towards incidences of intimate partner violence, before reviewing existing research examining perceptions and judgements of abuse. It also outlines original research in the area exploring judgements towards hypothetical incidents of domestic violence occurring in opposite-sex and same-sex couples, and of differing abuse types. The way the brain decodes and responds to social situations and interactions may be in part responsible for the formulation and subsequent propagation of the “domestic violence stereotype”. Social cognition describes how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations, focusing particularly on the cognitive processes engaged by the brain when making sense of our social world. The stereotype of domestic violence outlined earlier also suggests that such violence is predominantly physical. However, statistics routinely indicate widespread prevalence of other forms of abuse.

Embodying Strength: The Origin, Representations, and Socialization of the Strong Black Woman Ideal and its Effect on Black Women’s Mental Health

Abstract: Stereotyping Black women as servant, “the mammy” is a well-known racial and gender stereotype and, if internalized, can decrease mental and physical health. Recreated via the Strong Black Woman (SB...

Death by Stereotype? Cancer Treatment in Unmarried Patients.

Abstract: Death by Stereotype? Unmarried patients are less likely to survive cancer. Is that at least partly because of physicians’ biases in recommending surgery and radiotherapy? Social support is associat...

Electric vehicle drivers use better strategies to counter stereotype threat linked to pro-technology than to pro-environmental identities

Abstract: Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) could play a crucial role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the world. Much research has examined the practical barriers to large-scale BEV uptake, but very little has examined the psychological barriers. The current study addresses this gap in the literature by investigating the effects of stereotype threat on BEV drivers. This psychological predicament occurs when an individual imagines or experiences being judged in terms of negative stereotypes about their social group. Qualitative thematic analysis of interview data revealed three distinct stereotypes that the BEV drivers imagined or reported other people to hold: eccentric, low-status environmentalists; hypocritical, high-status environmentalists; and geeky technophiles. With regard to the first and second stereotypes, drivers tended to use individualist defence strategies by downplaying their pro-environmental attitudes and dissociating themselves from the undesirable environmentalist groups. With regard to the third stereotype, they tended to use more constructive, group-level defence strategies by perceiving their BEV driver ingroup as superior on the innovative technology adopter dimension compared to their non-BEV driver outgroup. Suggestions are made for countering the psychological barrier of stereotype threat, such as promoting images of BEV drivers as future-shaping market leaders and treating them as members of an influential and desirable consumer group.

Stereotype Threat May Not Impact Women’s Inhibitory Control or Mathematical Performance: Providing Support for the Null Hypothesis

Abstract: Underpinned by the findings of Jamieson and Harkins (2007; Experiment 3, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology), the current study pits the mere effort motivational account of stereotype threat against a working memory interference account In Experiment 1, females were primed with a negative self- or group stereotype pertaining to their visuospatial ability and completed an anti-saccade eye-tracking task In Experiment 2 they were primed with a negative or positive group stereotype and completed an anti-saccade and mental arithmetic task Findings indicate that stereotype threat did not significantly impair women’s inhibitory control (Experiments 1 & 2) or mathematical performance (Experiment 2), with Bayesian analyses providing support for the null hypothesis These findings are discussed in relation to potential moderating factors of stereotype threat, such as task difficulty and stereotype endorsement, as well as the possibility that effect sizes reported in the stereotype threat literature are inflated due to publication bias

Biased media? How news content influences age discrimination claims

Abstract: Information distributed via the news media is acknowledged as a potential source of negative beliefs about, and biased behaviors toward, older workers. Focusing on the Netherlands, the current study explains age discrimination claims filed by older workers by investigating the impact of visibility and media stereotypes of older workers in the news media, while controlling for real-world events and older workers’ expectations of unemployment (2004–2014). The results, based on time-series analysis, reveal that the visibility of older workers in the news media is associated with higher levels of age discrimination claims. This effect can be partly explained with the visibility of the negative media stereotype that older workers experience health problems in the content of news coverage. Furthermore, unemployment expectations decreased the number of age discrimination claims. These results offer support for the notion that the news environment is a source of variation in the experience of age discrimination at the workplace.

A longitudinal investigation of racial discrimination, drinking to cope, and alcohol-related problems among underage Asian American college students.

Abstract: Few studies have investigated alcohol-related problems among Asian American college students, perhaps because of the model minority myth, or the false stereotype that Asian Americans are academically and economically successful and thus do not experience significant physical or mental health problems. However, drinking patterns among Asian Americans are complex and there is evidence that alcohol use may be increasing among Asian American college students. One potential risk factor for alcohol-related problems among Asian American college students is racial discrimination. Although past research has revealed a link between experiences of racial discrimination and alcohol use, few studies have examined the psychological processes underlying this association. Furthermore, only a few studies have examined the association between discrimination and alcohol-related problems using longitudinal designs. The present study longitudinally examined the direct and indirect effect of discrimination on alcohol-related problems through the frequency in which they engaged in drinking to cope within a sample of 311 underage Asian American college students. Controlling for alcohol use and baseline alcohol-related problems, Wave 2 drinking-to-cope motives were directly associated with Wave 3 (1 year later) alcohol-related problems. Wave 1 discrimination was indirectly associated with Wave 3 alcohol-related problems through drinking to cope. These findings have important implications for the prevention of alcohol-related problems among an understudied group, Asian American college students. They highlight the necessity of considering how sociocultural factors such as racism contribute to alcohol-related problems as well as examining how psychological processes such as drinking to cope put certain students at increased risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).