Gender Stereotypes, Socialization, and Bias in Society

half-changed world

gender inequalities and expectations still remain in society. Need to examine who benefits from the changes and what kind of = they provide

Ex: women can have careers, but are still the default parent carrying a heavy mental load

sexism

bias based on the belief that men are superior to women

stereotype

set of beliefs about the characteristics of a particular group that are generalized to all members of that group

-may or not be true, but are problematic when we make decisions about people based on them

Primary categories of masculinity stereotypes

No Sissy Stuff

Reject anything considered feminine.

Includes rejection of emotional expression.

Big Wheel

Breadwinner

Natural leader

Status

Money

Sexual prowess

Athletic ability

Sturdy Oak

Tough

Stable

Hyper-independent

Unbothered in difficult situations

Direct communication

Give 'em Hell

Aggressive

Adventurous

Willing to use violence

Dangerous/risk-taking

Primary categories of femininity stereotypes

Relational

Caring

Helpful

Compassionate

Kind

Warm

Affectionate

Emotional

Emotionally expressive

Emotionally aware

Aware of others' feelings

Cry frequently

Demure

Humble

Gentle

Adapt to others

Modest about achievements

Spiritual

More religious

Moral center of the family

Appearance

Concerned about appearance

Makeup, nails, hair

Put together/tidy

Sexual Purity

Don't think about/want sex very much

Sexually submissive

Domesticity

Focused on home

Homemaker

Mother

Describe trends in the prevalence of gender stereotypes over time (communality, agency, competence, and intelligence):

communality: women are expected to be more rational or caring

Agency: men are more expected to be independent, assertive, and self-directed

Competence and intelligence has changed drastically

-women are now expected to do more in terms of communality, while women have also gained greater expectations/opportunities regarding agency

stereotypes are socially constructed

created and maintained by society and culture rather than being universally fixed truths

-change over time

-differ across cultures

-contradict one another

-reflect current social expectations

* if not constructed they would be the same everywhere across time

gender stereotypes that intersect with racism

Ex:

Black women: "loud," "assertive," "having an attitude."

Middle Eastern women: family-oriented, quiet, housewives.

Asian women: quiet, short, bad drivers.

Asian men: nerdy, good at math.

Black men: athletic, criminal.

Latine women: passionate/seductive.

Women and men with no race specified were generally described more similarly to White women and White men.

relationship between stereotypes and prejudicial behavior

stereotypes are beliefs while prejudice involves negative attitudes towards a group. Stereotypes contribute to prejudice and can influence behavior when ppl make decisions based on beliefs (violence, voting, hiring)

Ambivalent sexism:

a form of sexism characterized by attitudes about women that reflect both negative, resentful beliefs and feelings and affectionate and chivalrous but potentially patronizing beliefs and feelings

hostile sexism

overtly negative/derogatory beliefs:

-stupid

-incomepetent

-overly emotional

-sexuality to manipulate men

*Function is to punish those who violate gender norms

benevolent sexism

women should be treated differently bc they are special and in need of protection

-more sensitive/refined

-be protected

-weaker

-placed on a pedestal

*reward those who stay within gender roles

What are the negative outcomes of hostile sexism

Less favorable evaluations of career women.

Less likely to believe women's claims of workplace sexual harassment.

More negative evaluations of female job candidates.

Lower recommendations for women to become managers.

Can contribute to minimizing sexual violence and blaming women for rape.

What are the negative outcomes of benevolent sexism

Places women in a dependent position.

Can restrict women's opportunities.

Can increase stress.

Can negatively affect cognitive performance.

Can increase self-consciousness about one's body.

Reinforces traditional gender roles.

Can contribute to negative attitudes toward trans people.

Gender Essentialism

innate, fundamental differences between m and w

assumes sex/gender categories are fixed and different

used to rationalize discrimination and exclusion of trans and nonbinary ppl

sex/gender binary

The belief that there are only two categories of sex/gender: women and men.

It assumes there are innate fundamental differences between these two groups.

Important social category for children:

"Men's" vs. "women's" clothing

Bathrooms divided into men/women

Toys marketed as "for boys" vs. "for girls"

Gendered expectations for appearance and behavior

Assuming someone is a man or woman based on appearance

sources of bias in research

-who is the researcher: bring own experience and assumptions

-Question: what is important, what questions do they (not) ask

-who are the participants: sampling bias, overrep of certain groups, limited generalizability

-how are variables measured

-what kind of data is collected/analyzed

-results interpreted

-how are results published

Hyde's Similarities Hypothesis. How did she test this hypothesis and what were her main findings

examined effect sizes from studies of sex/gender differences with 46 meta-analyses

-About 30% of the meta-analyses found gender/sex differences.

Of those differences, 30% were negligible according to your notes.

48% reported a small effect size.

A small effect size still means approximately 92% overlap between groups.

Even the largest effect sizes showed substantial overlap

How to interpret effect size

how large the difference between groups is/how much the groups overlap.

d=.10 = negligible --> 96%

small effect = small difference 92%

largest effects = still substantial overlap ~ 70%

Statistical sugnificance

does not equal effect size, it tells you whether the observed difference is unlikely to be due to chance under the statistical model

Effect size = HOW LARGE the difference actually is

meta analysis

statistically analyzing the results of many studies on the same topic.

-Combines findings from multiple studies.

Gives researchers a "big picture."

Allows researchers to examine overall effect sizes rather than relying on one study.

Cognition:

IQ --> NO significant difference in overall IQ/general intelligence

Persistent stereotype: men/boys are better at math.

Research found a very small male advantage in achievement (d < .15).

There is substantial variation between countries.

Overrepresentation of boys at the highest levels of math achievement was only true for White students.

verbal abilities

Small female advantage in verbal skills, such as vocabulary

Mental Rotation

One of the most consistent findings for a sex difference.

Men have stronger mental rotation abilities.

d = .65, a medium-large effect.

Familiarity with the objects/tasks affects performance.

personality

The five-factor model includes:

Openness

Conscientiousness

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

Assertiveness

Tender-mindedness

Anxiety

Results can change depending on whether researchers use:

Self-report

Behavioral observation

Hormones

All sexes/genders produce estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

Hormone levels are much more similar than different.

Men have higher testosterone levels on average.

The relationship between testosterone and masculinity stereotypes is inconsistent.

Hormone levels change across the lifespan, month, week, and day.

The biggest difference is between pregnant people and everyone else.

gender socialization

Messages from society about gender that shape how people believe they should look, act, and behave. --> intersect with other identities

Psychoanalysis

Early childhood and psychosexual development

behavioral/social learning

environment, learning, reinforcement

cognitive development

children develope schemas about sex/gender and actively make sense of gender

social construct

gender developes within culture and can help maintain the status quo/interests of ppl in power

elements of tripartite model of socialization

families/parents

peers

media

how do parents treat boys/girls differently

Research finds gender differences in:

Chores

Responses to emotions

Rules

Communication about danger

Parents often say they treat children equally, but research finds consistent gender differences.

Children may also show more gender flexibility when:

Parents have egalitarian attitudes.

Household labor is more equally distributed.

They have an other-gender sibling.

Why do we teach girls it's cute to be scared

Parents communicate more about dangers to daughters than sons.

This can reinforce girls' fear:

"I get more affection or attention when I am afraid."

Meanwhile, boys receive more messages about:

Fighting fears

Being brave

Possible outcome: Girls may have lower confidence/mastery in certain areas, particularly physical activities.

socialization through media

Books — proportion of girls to boys as main characters

There has been a large increase in female characters.

Boys still outnumber girls.

Boys are still more likely to be the main character.

There is little/no representation of nonbinary and trans characters.

Intersectional representation is worse.

books and gender stereotypes

Recent changes:

Girls are more likely to be portrayed as active and goal-oriented.

Boys are still rarely portrayed using feminine stereotypes such as:

Caregiving

Anxiety

Domesticity

Interest in romance

screen media

Boys/men are represented more frequently.

Girls/women are more likely to be represented stereotypically.

Girls/women can be sexualized even in children's media.

Boys are more likely to be shown as:

Tough

Brave

Powerful

Girls are more likely to be shown as:

Sidekicks

Academic/indoors

Domestic

Children's movie posters have historically featured more male main characters and portrayed them with power and strength.

disney

modern princesses are less gender-stereotypes and more active/assertive but still communicate messages about beauty, sexuality, and physical ideals

How does the structure of social media contribute to gender socialization

Provides idealized images that inform gender schemas.

Uses likes, comments, and engagement to reinforce certain appearances/behaviors.

Appearance-based comments can influence behavior.

Sexualized comments and harassment can reinforce gender expectations.

Can also provide community for people who share identities and values.

gender segregation

children's tendency to associate with same-gender peers and to avoid other-gender peers (90% of time playing with same-sex peers)

gender segregation influence gender socialization

Because children spend so much time with same-gender peers, peers reinforce:

Gender norms

Gender stereotypes

Appropriate/inappropriate play

Appearance expectations

Communication styles

*important during teen and adolescence

gender policing in peer interaction

Bullying/rejection for not following traditional gender expectations.

Criticism of appearance.

Criticism of toys/play.

Policing communication.

Policing interests.

Rejecting nonbinary children or gender-nonconforming children.

Sex assignment vs Gender Identity vs expression

genital anatomy at birth

a person understanding of themselves as gendered

outward appearance, mannerisms, and behaviors associated with gender

Gender dysphoria

psychological distress associated with incongruence/mismatch between assigned sex and gender identity/expression

*Not everyone with gender dysphoria is trans.

Not all trans people experience gender dysphoria.

The DSM-5 includes gender dysphoria when it is persistent and has a clinically significant impact on functioning.

How has stigma influenced the experiences of intersex people and people with differences in sex development

Stigma surrounding the sex/gender binary has contributed to pressure to make infants fit into one of two sex categories.

The textbook states that there is no medical consensus regarding what exact combination of bodily markers defines sex, making sex assignment for infants with differences of sexual development challenging

What are the current recommendations regarding surgical interventions for infants with differences of sex development

surgeons general concluded there was little evidence that genital surgery on infants was necessary, while additional evidence suggested it could be harmful.

Human Rights Watch and InterACT concluded that the practice should end because there was insufficient evidence of effectiveness or safety. A major concern is that these procedures can be irreversible and infants cannot provide informed consent

objectification and self-objectification

Viewing a person as an object to be looked at rather than as a full human being vs Turning the objectifying gaze on yourself and evaluating whether your body conforms to societal beauty standards

Self-objectification theory explain the relationship between social objectification and individual psych health outcomes

Exposure to objectification ↓ Internalization of beauty norms ↓ Self-objectification ↓ Body surveillance ↓ Body shame ↓ Negative outcomes such as:

Decreased task performance

Lower self-esteem

Depression

Disordered eating

normative discontent

he idea that the normal state for women regarding their bodies is to feel unhappy or dissatisfied.

common norms/standards for women in culture

Traditionally feminine

White or close to white/colorism

Thin

Able-bodied

Cisgender

Little/no body hair

The textbook organizes these as racialized, able-bodied, cisgender, thin/fit, and hairless beauty norms.

How do parents build body image/beauty standards in their children?

Parents are an important source of information about beauty norms, with mothers particularly important.

Parents can communicate beauty standards through:

Comments about appearance

Feedback about children's bodies

Modeling beauty behaviors

Messages about what is attractive/unattractive

The tripartite model of social influence identifies parents, peers, and media as key influences on body image.

cultivation theory and how does it affect body image

The idea that greater exposure to media makes the images seen there seem more realistic and believable

Media repeatedly shows idealized bodies.

Greater exposure can make those bodies seem typical/realistic.

Girls and women may desire a similar appearance.

Greater media exposure is associated with feeling worse about one's body.

Social comparison can contribute to body dissatisfaction and depression