Positive stereotypes, negative outcomes: Reminders of the positive components of complementary gender stereotypes impair performance in counter‐stereotypical tasks

Gender stereotypes are complementary: Women are perceived to be communal but not agentic, whereas men are perceived to be agentic but not communal. The present research tested whether exposure to reminders of the positive components of these gender stereotypes can lead to stereotype threat and subse...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of social psychology Vol. 57; no. 2; pp. 482 - 502
Main Authors: Kahalon, Rotem, Shnabel, Nurit, Becker, Julia C.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.04.2018
Subjects:
Adult
agency
Beauty
communion
complementary stereotypes
Female
Gender
gender inequality
Gender stereotypes
Humans
Impaired control
Intelligence
Male
Mathematics
Men
positive stereotypes
Reminders
Self Concept
Stereotypes
Stereotyping
Task performance
Threats
traditional gender roles
Women
Young Adult
agency
positive stereotypes
communion
gender stereotypes
complementary stereotypes
traditional gender roles
gender inequality
ISSN:0144-6665, 2044-8309, 2044-8309
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Gender stereotypes are complementary: Women are perceived to be communal but not agentic, whereas men are perceived to be agentic but not communal. The present research tested whether exposure to reminders of the positive components of these gender stereotypes can lead to stereotype threat and subsequent performance deficits on the complementary dimension. Study 1 (N = 116 female participants) revealed that compared to a control/no‐stereotype condition, exposure to reminders of the stereotype about women's communality (but not to reminders of the stereotype about women's beauty) impaired women's math performance. In Study 2 (N = 86 male participants), reminders of the stereotype about men's agency (vs. a control/no‐stereotype condition) impaired men's performance in a test of socio‐emotional abilities. Consistent with previous research on stereotype threat, in both studies the effect was evident among participants with high domain identification. These findings extend our understanding of the potentially adverse implications of seemingly positive gender stereotypes.
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ISSN:0144-6665
2044-8309
2044-8309
DOI:10.1111/bjso.12240