Psych of Gender: Ch 3

Gender-Role Attitudes

Privilege

Some groups have privilege or an ‘edge’ over others in some areas or in general. Race, gender, religion, social class, etc

It doesn’t protect you from everything, or it doesn’t mean you can't struggle

Empirical Demonstration (Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977)

Method: College men talked on the phone with a woman after being shown a picture of either an attractive or unattractive female. All men actually spoke to the exact same woman.

Findings: Men who believed the woman was attractive were warmer. More importantly, blind judges rated the woman’s behaviour as significantly warmer and friendlier when she was talking to a man who believed she was attractive.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A phenomenon where an observer's expectations influence their behaviour toward a target, causing the target to behave in a way that confirms those initial expectations.

Ex., if you believe boys aren’t good at reading, you might not give your male preschooler as many books to read as your female preschooler. If he doesn’t have the same opportunities to read as his sister, will it be a surprise that he has more difficulty reading?

Affective Component (Sexism)

Emotional reactions or feelings toward people based solely on their sex.

Cognitive Component (Gender-Role Stereotypes)

Beliefs and schemas regarding the features, traits, and attributes assigned to men and women based on their social roles.

Behavioural Component (Sex Discrimination)

Differential treatment or action toward individuals based on their biological sex.

Gender Ideologies

Personal attitudes and beliefs regarding the appropriate roles of men and women in society. i.e., traditional, egalitarian, or transitional.

Hochschild’s (1989) Three Gender Ideologies

• Traditional: maintains that the male sphere is paid work and the female sphere is the home. Implicitly assumes men hold greater power and status.

• Egalitarian: Maintains that power should be distributed equally between men and women, with both sexes identifying equally with work and home spheres. Emphasizes personal choice over rigid social norms.

• Transitional: Fits between traditional and egalitarian. Maintains that it is acceptable for women to devote energy to both work and family, but holds that women should retain proportional responsibility for the home while men focus primarily on work/breadwinning (i.e. Canada)

Historical Trends

Survey data show U.S. gender-role attitudes became substantially more egalitarian between 1974 and 1994 due to cohort effects (younger generations holding more egalitarian views than older ones), but levelled off after 1994.

Attitudes Toward Women Scale (ATWS; Spence & Helmreich, 1972)

Developed during the 1960s women's movement to measure beliefs about traditional role divisions (e.g., child-rearing, education, swearing, locomotive driving). Limitation: Contains outdated items that no longer effectively discriminate among modern respondents.

Feminist Perspectives Scale (Henley et al., 1998)

Measures six distinct subscales of gender/feminist attitudes: Conservatism, Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism, Socialist Feminism, Cultural Feminism, and Womanism.

Fails to capture some of the specific contemporary concerns about men’s and women’s roles, such as what roles women should serve in the military, whether women and men should participate equally in child care, whether women have the right to an abortion, and whether women should take their husband’s last name upon marriage.

Conservatism

Men and women should retain traditional roles because differences are rooted in biology.

• Women should not be as assertive as men because men are the natural leaders on Earth

• Homosexuals need to be rehabilitated into normal members of society

Liberal Feminism

Men and women are essentially equal and should have equal opportunities (minimalist philosophy).

• People should define their marriage and family roles in ways that make them feel most comfortable.

• Men need to be liberated from oppressive sex-role stereotypes as much as women do.

Radical Feminism

Emphasizes male oppression and control over women.

• Men’s control over women forces women to be the primary caretakers of children.

• Society/The workplace is organized around men’s physical, economic, and sexual oppression of women.

Socialist Feminism

Emphasizes intersectionality; oppression is tied to capitalism and cannot separate sex, race, and class.

• Making women economically dependent on men is capitalism’s subtle way of encouraging heterosexual relationships.

• The way to eliminate prostitution is to make women economically equal to men.

Cultural Feminism

Views masculine values as destructive; advocates restructuring society around gentler female values (maximalist/standpoint philosophy).

• Putting women in positions of political power would bring about new systems of government that promote peace.

• R*pe is best stopped by replacing the current male-oriented culture of violence with an alternative female culture

Women of Colour (Womanist)

Highlights how poverty, racism, and sexism interlock; criticizes traditional feminism for focusing exclusively on White women.

• Women of colour are oppressed by White standards of beauty.

• Being put on a pedestal, which White women have protested, is a luxury that women of colour have not had

Ethnicity/Race Variations

Black women hold less traditional gender-role attitudes than Black men or White men/women. Black women are more likely to identify as feminists while simultaneously valuing feminine expression.

Global Perspectives: China

Historically influenced by Confucian doctrine emphasizing female lower status through the "Three Obediences" (obedience to father, husband, and son).

Asian Immigrant Context

Women entering paid employment often view work not as an independent career role, but as an extension of their traditional domestic responsibility to support family welfare.

Why Gender Stereotypes are Hard to Change

We notice information that confirms stereotypes and ignore information that contradicts them.

Traditional Sexism

Open, blatant disregard for the value of women, endorsement of traditional gender roles, and explicit beliefs that women are less competent than men.

Modern Sexism

Subtle devaluation of women is characterized by:

1. Denial of existing discrimination against women.

2. Antagonism toward women's demands for equality.

3. Resentment of preferential treatment or affirmative action.

Correlates of Modern Sexism

Associated with overestimating the percentage of women in male-dominated careers, underestimating workplace barriers, using sexist language, and failing to detect sexist language in moral dilemmas

Ambivalent Sexism Theory

Sexism consists of both negative and subjectively positive feelings toward women, measured via the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory

Hostile Sexism

Negative, hostile feelings toward women, particularly those who challenge traditional gender roles.

• Patriarchy (women seek control)

• Gender Differentiation (women easily offended)

• Sexual Reproduction (teasing men).

Predicts Social Dominance Orientation, rape myth acceptance, unfriendly interactions with women, and national gender inequality.

Benevolent Sexism

Subjectively positive, chivalrous feelings toward women (desire to protect, cherish, and adore).

• Patriarchy (rescue women first)

• Gender Differentiation (purity/culture)

• Sexual Reproduction (adoring a woman).

Rooted in gender system justification and Right-Wing Authoritarianism. Undermines performance; increases intrusive thoughts of incompetence.

Paradox of Benevolent Sexism

Hard to reject because it appears prosocial.

1. The recipient gets a benefit

2. The helper gets insulted

3. Norms dictate accepting graciously

4. Hard to explain why to reject

Hostile vs. Benevolent Sexism

Both are rooted in Patriarchy (justifying the superiority of the dominant group), gender differentiation (exaggerating the differences between men and women), and sexual reproduction. With the notion that women and men are inherently unequal

Cognitive Impact Study (Dumont et al., 2010)

Women exposed to benevolent sexism during a simulated job interview performed significantly worse on subsequent cognitive tasks and reported more intrusive thoughts about their competence compared to hostile or control conditions.

Collective Action

Exposure to hostile sexism motivates women to engage in collective action and reject it (e.g., signing petitions), whereas benevolent sexism increases system justification and suppresses social protest (Becker & Wright, 2011). Benevolence can maintain inequality more effectively than hostility

Exploitation Mechanism (Jackman, 1994)

High-status groups create an "ideological cocoon" where discriminatory control is framed as benevolent protection.

Cross-Cultural Ambivalence

Hostile and benevolent sexism are positively correlated across 19 countries. Both rest on the premise that women are inferior to men. High national scores on both scales correlate with lower female literacy, lower workforce participation, and fewer women in government.

Benevolent Discrimination Examples

Providing unrequested or protective help to women (e.g., holding doors, paying bills). Legitimizes women's subordinate status under the guise of chivalry.

Criminal Justice Application

Women committing nonviolent crimes receive lighter sentences due to paternalistic benevolence. However, women committing violent crimes or extreme gender-role violations (e.g., child murder cases like Myra Hindley) are judged more harshly by individuals scoring high on benevolent sexism because their actions violate prescriptive female gender norms.

Hostile Sexism toward Men

Resentment of male patriarchy, belief that men are sexually aggressive, have no morals, will always fight for control in society, and perception of men as arrogant/childish.

Benevolent Sexism toward Men

Positive views of men as natural protectors, providers, and essential partners. They are less likely to fall apart during emergencies, he should be taken care of and loved by a woman even if both work, etc

Cross-Cultural Findings (16 Nations; Glick et al., 2004)

Women score higher than men on hostile sexism toward men (especially in nations where men score high on hostile sexism toward women). Men score higher on benevolent sexism toward men to justify their higher social status.

Stigma of Egalitarian Men

Men who hold gender-equal attitudes are liked by women, but rated by both men and women as weaker, more feminine, and more likely to be gay due to their social proximity to women

Predictors of Homophobia

Traditional gender-role beliefs, hypermasculinity, modern sexism, benevolent sexism, and high Social Dominance Orientation.

Sports Link: Participation in core male sports (football, basketball) correlates strongly with homophobia in boys. While women are seen as lesbian (athleticism seen as masculine), these men are often hypermasculine, aggressive, and sexually violent towards women

Heterosexual Hassles

Verbal insults, antigay jokes, bullying, comments made by heterosexuals, typically in adolescence. People’s reactions and behavious bc of those comments shape them (”are you gay” in a laughing, joking way emphasizes that being gay is bad).

Causes elevated depression, substance abuse, and suicide risk among LGBT youth.

Social Dominance Orientation

• Reflects the desire for the ingroup to dominate and be superior to the outgroup

• Men are higher than women in SDO

• Male sex → SDO → Traditional gender role beliefs→ negative attitudes towards homosexuals and women

Transphobia

Revulsion and irrational fear of transgender and transsexual persons, cross-dressers, and feminine men and masculine women

Transphobia Scale (Nagoshi et al., 2008)

Transphobia is more pronounced than homophobia. Men report higher transphobia than women. Male-to-female (MTF) trans individuals experience higher rates of discrimination and violent crime than female-to-male (FTM) trans individuals.

Descriptive Gender-Role

Identifies how men and women are perceived to behave. Features of the stereotype.

Prescriptive Gender-Role

Dictates how men and women ought to behave due to their sex. Norm violations trigger social pressure and penalties.

Category-Based Expectancies

Assumptions made about a person based purely on their sex category when no other information is known.

Target-Based Expectancies

Perceptions based on specific individuating information about a target person. Individuating information overrides category-based expectancies

Classic & Intersectional Component Studies

Broverman et al. (1972) identified 41 stereotypic items divided into a Competency Cluster (masculine pole: aggressive, independent, logical) and a Warmth-Expressiveness Cluster (feminine pole: gentle, quiet, tactful).

Healthy Adult Finding: Mental health professionals rated the profile of a "healthy adult" as identical to a "healthy male," but significantly different from a "healthy female," indicating male stereotypic traits are more socially valued.

Intersectionality in Stereotypes

Stereotypes of specific sex-by-ethnicity subgroups contain unique attributes not present in broader sex or ethnic categories (e.g., Black women stereotyped as confident/overweight; Latina women as feisty; Latino men as promiscuous). Overall, male and female stereotypes primarily reflect White middle-class men and women.

Children’s Stereotype Development: Prior to Age 5

Children acquire gender-related information. By 18–24 months, girls associate toys with gender categories (boys do so by 31 months).

Children’s Stereotype Development: Ages 5--6

Children consolidate knowledge and apply it rigidly to sex categories, relying heavily on category-based expectancies (vertical associations). i.e., children learn that girls play with dolls and cooking sets

Children’s Stereotype Development: Ages 7--8

Children begin using individuating information (horizontal associations), making inferences across stereotype-related behaviours.

Subtyping

Creating specialized subcategories for individuals who disconfirm a general stereotype (e.g., female business executive, stay-at-home dad, successful Black athlete). Allows people to treat disconfirming individuals as "exceptions," leaving the overall stereotype intact.

Stereotypes of Feminists

Feminists are stereotyped as man-haters, unattractive, and lesbian. Rudman & Fairchild (2007) showed that plain-looking female targets were judged as significantly more likely to be feminists and lesbians than attractive targets.

Stereotype Threat & Performance

Sexist behaviour from an experimenter impairs women's math performance on standardized tests by activating negative gender stereotypes (Koch et al., 2014).

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Measures implicit, automatic associations between categories (e.g., Men/Science vs. Women/Liberal Arts) via reaction times. Nosek et al. (2009) demonstrated across 34 nations that stronger implicit stereotypes linking men to science directly correlated with larger national gender gaps in 8th-grade science scores.

Backlash Effect

Social and economic penalties imposed on individuals who display counterstereotypical behaviour. Driven by gender system justification, perceived threat, and self-esteem defence

Agentic Women Backlash

Women displaying clear agency (e.g., ambition, directness) are viewed as competent but disliked and rejected for leadership positions due to perceived lack of communality or status violation.

Male Backlash

Men seeking flexible work schedules for childcare or working in traditional female roles (e.g., counsellor) are viewed as less effective and face negative career evaluations

Attributional Biases

Stereotype-consistent behaviour is attributed to internal traits (dispositional attribution). Stereotype-inconsistent behaviour is attributed to external forces (situational attribution).

Example:

• A woman plays with a baby → "She's naturally caring." (Personality/trait)

• A man plays with a baby → "Someone probably told him to do it." (Situation)

Correspondent Inference Theory

People make strong dispositional trait attributions for unique or non-normative behaviour. Thus, an assertive woman is perceived as far more aggressive than an equally assertive man.

Prototype Approach (Rothbart & John, 1985)

Disconfirming a stereotype feature is most effective when displayed by a target who otherwise closely fits the category prototype (e.g., an emotional male who enjoys football is more persuasive at changing stereotypes than an emotional male hair stylist).

We are more likely to view disconfirming behaviour as acceptable if it is displayed by someone who otherwise fits the gender-role stereotype.

Shifting Standard

Holding different standards for defining identical behaviour depending on group membership.

Ex. "She hits well for a girl," or a father playing with children is a "great dad," whereas a mother doing the same is the norm; men who cry are rated as more emotional than women who cry. Female athletes exhibiting anger (Serena Williams, Elizabeth Lambert) receive disproportionate media scrutiny because aggressive behaviour violates female gender norms.

Job Evaluation & Hiring Bias

Gorman (2005): Law firms listing masculine job criteria hired fewer women; firms listing feminine criteria hired fewer men. Conference paper abstracts attributed to male authors are rated higher in scientific quality by evaluators holding traditional gender attitudes

Landmark Cases: David Schroer Case (2008)

A counterterrorism specialist was offered a government job, but the offer was rescinded after disclosing plans for gender reassignment surgery. Federal court ruled this constituted illegal sex stereotyping and discrimination.

Landmark Cases: Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins (1989)

Ann Hopkins was denied accounting partnership despite outstanding business performance because she was deemed "macho," needed "charm school," and was advised to wear makeup and jewelry. Social psychologist Susan Fiske provided expert testimony explaining that stereotyping is heightened when an individual is a token (only 1% female partners) and in a role incongruent with gender norms. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hopkins' favour, establishing that employment decisions based on sex-stereotype incongruence constitute illegal sex discrimination.

Landmark Cases: Wendt v. Wendt

A 30-year marriage divorce trial where the court evaluated the financial worth of a non-working corporate wife's unpaid homemaking and entertaining contributions to a $100 million estate.