Stereotypical threat effect, gender and racial stereotypes

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Psychologist Olga Gulevich on the effect of stereotypical threat, gender and racial stereotypes.

In everyday communication, we often come across the word "stereotype". When we talk about stereotypes, we mean very simple schemes, representations, or sequences of behavior that affect our assessments or actions. It is also one of the key terms in social psychology.

It is important to understand that scientific and everyday definitions of this concept differ. In psychology, stereotypes are understood as a set of traits that a person attributes to representatives of a particular social group. For example, when it is said that women are inclined to be kind and emotional, and men are inclined to leadership and aggressive.

The nature of stereotypes

Stereotypes are a universal phenomenon for different countries and societies. They can be formed in relation to different groups, but in all countries there are stereotypes about men and women (gender stereotypes), stereotypes about people of different ages, most often the elderly and young (age stereotypes). Another two universal types of stereotypes are ethnic and racial stereotypes - perceptions of members of ethnic and racial groups.

The content of stereotypes can vary greatly. These can include both positive, socially desirable and socially undesirable traits. For example, intelligence is a plus characteristic, and aggressiveness is a minus characteristic. From the point of view of psychology, these traits in the minds of people are grouped into two large dimensions. First - competence, which includes traits associated with intelligence, knowledge, professional experience, purposefulness. Second dimension - heat, which includes the characteristics associated with kindness, honesty, good intentions, willingness to meet other people.

How do we recognize stereotypes

Stereotypes are the result of social life because people are not born with stereotypes. A person gradually remembers them from the moment of birth. First, we recognize them in the family, when the parents say: “Do this and don’t do this: you’re a boy”, “Do this and don’t do this: you’re a girl”. Then we meet these stereotypes at school, university, at work. Also, these stereotypes always accompany us thanks to the mass media, where there are examples of the behavior of stereotypical heroes in the news, feature films and advertisements.

Stereotypes continue to exist in society because people tend to make the world around them understandable and predictable. When a person finds himself in a new situation, he tries to get information about what is happening, tries to understand what kind of people are around him and what to expect from these people. In many situations, we have almost no such information. Imagine that you find yourself in a new job or in a new country for yourself, you know little about those around you, but you can get minimal information by studying the external signs of people. In such uncertain situations, we spontaneously begin to classify people on the basis of well-visible signs - we carry out social categorization, for example, based on biological sex, based on age, skin color, eye shape. When we place a person in a certain group, we say, "Aha, this is a woman," and then we start applying stereotypes. We think: "Yeah, she is a woman, so she is kind, but emotional." Or: "Yeah, he is a man, so he is inclined towards leadership or, perhaps, aggressive." As a result, we make the world around us more understandable and predictable.

The problem of stereotypes

The problem with stereotyping is that everyone is different. Psychological studies show that the differences between women and the differences between men in terms of aggressiveness, emotionality, and the level of intelligence are greater than the differences between men and women in general. When we start using stereotypes, we remove individual differences, throw them out of our perception. As a result, the judgments we make and the behaviors we choose may not be appropriate for a particular person.

Despite this problem, people continue to use stereotypes, and they have a dual effect on our assessments and behavior. Here are two examples related to gender stereotypes, they will relate to the emotional side of life on the one hand and professional activity on the other.

Gender stereotypes and emotions

Psychological research shows that people recognize emotions on the faces of men and women differently. According to stereotypes, women are emotional and friendly towards others, while men are less emotional and more hostile. If a person maintains such stereotypes, then he begins to notice signs of emotion on a woman's face more quickly than on a man's, because he expects to see these signs. We also recognize joy and sadness on a woman's face faster. On a man's face, we more quickly recognize signs of anger and contempt.

The most interesting thing is that if we saw emotions of strong sadness and even tears on people's faces, then we will explain these emotions in different ways. In women, strong sadness, accompanied by tears, is explained by their inherent psychological characteristics. Similar emotional behavior of men is usually explained by strong situational factors, external influences.

Gender stereotypes and work

The second example is related to stereotypes in professional activities. The influence of stereotypes is observed because the traits that seem to be inherent in men and women partially determine the type of activity that these people can carry out.

Something related to communication, with children is considered a traditional occupation for women. For men, the occupation is more related to technical areas and business - or it just seems that it is. If you adhere to such stereotypes, then when selecting candidates for a job, the choice will be a foregone conclusion. If a person selects people involved in programming for work in a computer organization, then preference will be given to men, because they look more competent in advance. And for the position of an elementary school teacher or kindergarten teacher, according to stereotypes, a woman is more likely to be suitable.

Even when a person has already been hired, they will be treated differently. Research shows that people who play the role of boss devote more material resources to men for specific activities. It seems that you have a position and you are fulfilling it, but the opportunities that are given to you are different. This is one side of the impact of stereotypes, associated with their influence on the perception of others.

Stereotypical threat effect

In a striking way, stereotypes affect our self-image. If we support some stereotypes, then we begin to apply them to ourselves.

A striking example of this influence is the stereotypical threat effect. He was first discovered on racial stereotypes, and then on gender. This effect occurs when there is a stereotype in a society about a specific group that includes negative features. For example, women do not do well in technical or exact sciences. As a result, people from a stereotyped group fall prey to such stereotypes. Many psychological studies show that women who are reminded of the existence of such stereotypes perform worse on math tests.

The appearance of this effect occurs for several reasons. First of all, when a person remembers such stereotypes, he begins to worry, and he has extraneous thoughts. The person is afraid to live up to these negative expectations, and in the end, because of the stress, they are justified. Also, in such situations, a person's motivation falls.

Moreover, this perception has a lasting impact. People who are under the influence of such stereotypes for a long time do not want to engage in relevant activities. For example, girls who are reminded of such stereotypes do not see themselves in the future at universities doing technical sciences. A person simply closes this activity for himself. Likewise with men who are told that teaching or linguistics is a woman's occupation. People distance themselves from such activities, so they may not even begin to engage in an area where they would have great success.

Stereotypes and society

The impact of stereotypes is viewed in the social sciences, especially in psychology, as a big and serious problem. But this does not mean that this problem cannot be solved.

There are different people in societies who agree with these stereotypes to varying degrees. Some support them, some do not. Countries differ in the degree of these stereotypes. Comparative studies show that gender stereotypes are less pronounced in the countries of Northern and Western Europe than in the countries of Southern Europe.

Most importantly, many psychological studies show that stereotypes can be changed. There are whole programs that change stereotyped expectations. This process is important because changing stereotypes and partly rejecting stereotypes allows people to do what they want to do in life themselves, and not what such ideas prescribe them.