Psychology

Implicit Gender Stereotypes and Their Impact on Men vs Women Who Choose to Remain Child Free

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Location

Indianapolis, IN

Subject Area

Psychology

Start Date

11-4-2014 10:15 AM

End Date

11-4-2014 12:00 PM

Description

Through socialization, gender stereotypes become learned and embedded at a young age. American society associates men with the gender stereotype of being career-oriented and women with the gender stereotype of being a homemaker. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of these learned gender stereotypes on impression formation, particularly on those individuals who deviate from gender stereotypes. Previous research studies show that women who violate these stereotypes are more likely to be seen negatively than men. We examine the relationship between implicit gender stereotypes and the role these associations play when forming impressions of women vs. men who choose to have vs. not to have children. There will be 300 male and female participants in the study. They will be asked to complete two ostensibly unrelated studies. Participants will complete an Implicit Association Test that will assess how strongly they automatically associate women with family and men with career. Participants will also read a scenario and evaluate a target character: a man vs. a woman who has chosen to have 0 vs. 2 children. We predict that a woman who remains child free will be rated more negatively than a male, especially by participants who strongly implicitly associate women with family and men with career.

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Apr 11th, 10:15 AM Apr 11th, 12:00 PM

Implicit Gender Stereotypes and Their Impact on Men vs Women Who Choose to Remain Child Free

Indianapolis, IN

Through socialization, gender stereotypes become learned and embedded at a young age. American society associates men with the gender stereotype of being career-oriented and women with the gender stereotype of being a homemaker. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of these learned gender stereotypes on impression formation, particularly on those individuals who deviate from gender stereotypes. Previous research studies show that women who violate these stereotypes are more likely to be seen negatively than men. We examine the relationship between implicit gender stereotypes and the role these associations play when forming impressions of women vs. men who choose to have vs. not to have children. There will be 300 male and female participants in the study. They will be asked to complete two ostensibly unrelated studies. Participants will complete an Implicit Association Test that will assess how strongly they automatically associate women with family and men with career. Participants will also read a scenario and evaluate a target character: a man vs. a woman who has chosen to have 0 vs. 2 children. We predict that a woman who remains child free will be rated more negatively than a male, especially by participants who strongly implicitly associate women with family and men with career.