The Effect of Gender on Stereotyping

The Effect of Gender on Stereotyping

Abstract

Gender has been demonstrated to have a significant effect on the stereotyping process. Most of the studies that provide such findings are conducted at the university level and from different parts of the world. As such, it would be relatively difficult for such institutions to develop a psychology teaching curriculum that would minimize the effect of stereotypes among students to improve their mental processes. In light of this, the researcher proposes to conduct a study in a specific institution, which will evaluate the effect of gender on students’ stereotyping processes. A sample of 200 students (100 male and 100 female) will be selected randomly to take part in the study. The questionnaire attached to the appendix will be utilized to collect the data, whereas the t-test will be used for data analysis.

Keywords: stereotyping, gender, mental processes, discriminations

 

The Effect of Gender on Stereotyping

Skrypnek and Snyder (1982), Banchefsky and Park (2018), and Cadinu, Latrofa, and Carnaghi (2013) have demonstrated that gender has a significant effect on the stereotyping process. Vargas, Huey, and Miranda (2020) have gone ahead to demonstrate the possible impact that multiple discriminations, stereotypes included, might have on the mental health of the people who are victimized. Despite this, the studies’ findings are limited in the sense that research participants come from specific parts of the world. Accordingly, while they are good in general, their contribution to the topic of stereotype is limited. In view of this, I propose to evaluate the effect of gender on stereotyping. The gender, which will be defined as the sex orientation of research participants, will be the independent variable, whereas stereotyping, which will be defined as the way research participants perceive themselves and others, will be the dependent variable.

Skrypnek and Snyder (1982) evaluated the interpersonal process that perpetuates the development of stereotyped beliefs about men and women using male-female pairs of unaccustomed individuals. The male participants were the perceivers, whereas women were the targets. The pairs interacted without seeing each other under a situation that the information they received about each other was controlled. In two separate cases, the male participants were made to believe that the other person they were interacting with was either a male or female. However, in a third case, they were not provided with information relating to the gender of the person they were interacting with using the signaling system. To determine the extent to which gender stereotypes were matched appropriately, the authors evaluated the way targets chose tasks appropriately.

The study established that targets believed by perceivers to be female exhibited behaviors that were relatively feminine, whereas those perceived to be male exhibited behaviors that were masculine. While the study’s findings have significant implications for the topic of stereotyping, the participants were psychology students from the University of Minnesota. As such, its findings cannot be generalized to other parts of the world. In spite of this, the study relates to the proposed one in the sense that research participants will be university students.

Cadinu, Latrofa, and Carnaghi (2013) compared the effect of gender on out-group-stereotyping, in-group-stereotyping, and self-stereotyping among the low- and high-status groups. Because gender inequality was high in Italy at the time the study was conducted, men were grouped in the high-status group, whereas women were grouped in the low-status group. Self-stereotyping was defined as the way research participants perceived themselves in the context of stereotypes. In contrast, in-group-stereotyping was defined as the way they perceived the other people in their groups in the context of stereotypes. The out-group-stereotyping, on the other hand, was defined as the way people in a certain group perceived others in the other group in the context of stereotypes. The authors hypothesized that people in the low-status group would self-stereotype and engage in in-group-stereotyping. In contrast, their counterparts in the high-status group would neither self-stereotype nor in-group-stereotype. Also, consistent with previous studies and Mullen’s model (1991), they hypothesized that men would base their decisions on gender stereotypes more than women; therefore, they predicted that they would engage in out-group-stereotyping than women. In so doing, they presumed that the low-status group that consisted of women would be the target of stereotyping by both groups of participants.

To test the hypotheses, Cadinu, Latrofa, and Carnaghi (2013) utilized a repeated-measures design. Accordingly, the participants had the opportunity to judge men and women in general, women, and self in general. The study established that Italian men who participated in the study did not show significant levels of in-group-stereotyping and self-reporting, but they showed significant levels of out-group-stereotyping. Conversely, Italian women showed significant levels of out-group-stereotyping, in-group-stereotyping, and self-stereotyping. While the study’s findings were of great importance to the topic of stereotyping, the research participants were Italians, implying that the findings could not be generalized to other parts of the world. In spite of this, its findings relate to the proposed study in the sense that the effect of gender on stereotyping will be evaluated. In addition, like the proposed study, research participants were university students with an average age of 20 years.

Banchefsky and Park (2018) evaluated the likelihood of negative gender ideologies towards women among male-dominated academic disciplines using a convenience sample of 2622 university students. The authors hypothesized that students in male-dominated disciplines would justify their dominance by adopting stereotypes and gender ideologies that treat male students as superior and normative. The study established that male-dominated disciplines had a negative attitude towards women and that they were less accepting towards women. In spite of this, the study’s research participants were students pursuing general psychology. Even though most of the students pursuing that discipline were from different study backgrounds, the sample was not representative of university students. Also, the study did not evaluate the effect of students’ race on the study’s outcomes. Despite the shortcomings, the study relates to the proposed one in the sense that it will be conducted in a university environment; hence, research participants will be university students.

Vargas, Huey, and Miranda (2020) conducted a critical review of the study evaluating the effects of multiple types of discrimination on mental health using PRISMA guidelines. They sought to determine whether multiple discriminations were responsible for poor mental health or specific discrimination was responsible for it among different groups of people. They established that multiple forms of discrimination were responsible for depressive symptoms. In addition, they established that heterosexism and racism were responsible for depressive symptoms. Nonetheless, they established that the effect of multiple forms of discrimination on other forms of health problems had mixed results. While this study does not address stereotypes directly, it looks at different forms of discrimination. Because stereotype often results in a kind of discrimination among the minority and low-status groups, then the study’s findings are of great importance to the proposed study. They, in a way, depict the extent to which stereotypes may affect the health of the stereotyped people, and this necessitates the need to conduct the proposed study. The rationale behind the proposed study is that if the effect of gender on the stereotyping process would be minimized among students, then their mental processes would be improved significantly.

Hypotheses

The proposed study will evaluate the following hypotheses:

Null hypothesis: There will be no significant difference between the stereotype responses that male and female students will provide.

Alternative hypothesis: There will be a significant difference between the stereotype responses that male and female students will provide.

Stereotype will be the dependent variable, whereas gender (male or female) will be the independent variable.

Method

Participants

To evaluate the validity of the hypotheses, a total of 200 research participants from the university will be included in the study. About 100 will be male students whereas about 100 will be female students. Based on their age groups, it is expected that their mean age will be between 18 and 20 years. A simple random sampling method will be utilized for recruitment. The process of recruitment will entail introducing participants to the study and issuing them with a consent form to read and sign before they participate in the study. Given that simple random sampling method will be utilized to recruit research participants, then different races and ethnicities will be included in the study. Every student who will be at the university at the time of the study will be eligible to take part in the study (Kumar, 2011). As such, the participants included must be from this and not any other university. Accordingly, any students who will not be from this university or any other person who will not be a student will be excluded from the proposed study. However, there will be no form of favoritism during the selection process.

Design

To ensure that research participants do not answer research questions blindly, the first part of the questionnaire will start with unfavorable research questions towards men followed by the favorable ones. In contrast, the other part will start with the favorable research questions towards women and conclude with the unfavorable ones. No form of signaling will be provided to research participants on the questionnaire to indicate to them that they will be responding to different sets of the research question (Kumar, 2011). This will be the only form of manipulation in the proposed study, which is intended to distract research participants from heightening their rates of stereotyping towards each gender. Accordingly, once they are recruited to take part in the study, the research participants will be requested to fill the questionnaire on their own as researcher waits to collect filled forms.

Materials

A questionnaire derived from Cadinu, Latrofa, and Carnaghi (2013) study will be utilized to collect data from research participants. The questionnaire will consist of sixteen research questions, eight directed towards each gender. Half of these questions will be favorable to each gender, whereas the other half will be unfavorable to it. The questionnaire will be structured on a Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree (Banchefsky & Park, 2018). With the help of the questionnaire, the research participants will have the opportunity to rate their counterparts in general.

Procedure

The process of conducting the proposed study will entail seeking approval from the IRB by way of filling an IRB form detailing the process that will be followed to conduct the study. Once the study has been approved, the researcher will go ahead to recruit research participants on a random basis to participate in the study. The research participants who agree to take part in the study on a voluntary basis will be issued with consent forms to read and sign. Then they will be issued with questionnaires to fill on their own to indicate the extent to which their genders influence their stereotypes towards different genders. The t-test will be utilized to evaluate the difference between the mean responses provided by male and female respondents.

Discussion

The proposed study intends to evaluate the effect of gender on stereotyping process. In line with previous studies, it is expected that there will be a significant difference between the way male and female students stereotype against each gender and even perceive themselves (Cadinu, Latrofa, & Carnaghi, 2013). It is rather obvious that many factors influence stereotyping. As such, while the proposed study presumes that it will be influenced by gender alone, it is apparent that there might be a confounding factor that might influence it. This means that the study’s findings might be influenced by the cultural background of the students who will take part in the study. In addition, it might be influenced by historical events that occurred in their lives or anything else other than gender (Banchefsky & Park, 2018). More importantly, the study’s findings might be influenced by the instrument that will be utilized to collect the data or even by the experimenter’s bias during the selection process. These factors will threaten the study’s internal validity. Concerning external validity, it will not be possible to generalize the study’s findings to other parts of the country and even the city because research participants will be university students (Polit & Beck, 2010). Furthermore, the study’s findings will be influenced by the way stereotypes will be operationalized in the proposed study; hence, those findings may not be generalized to other studies and contexts.

The researcher proposes that future studies should collect data from different sources contrary to the proposed one that will collect data from this university alone. In addition, they should use other methods to operationalize stereotype. Doing that would improve their external validity; hence, it would be possible to generalize their outcomes to other parts of the world and even to different contexts.

The proposed study will have the following implications on the topic of stereotype. Firstly, it will indicate the extent to which gender influences the development of stereotypes among university students. This will be critical in determining the way students perceive each other and even make important decisions. Secondly, it will be important to the university as it develops its psychology teaching curriculum and other important disciplines.

 

 

 

References

Banchefsky, S., & Park, B. (2018). Negative gender ideologies and gender-science stereotypes are more pervasive in male-dominated academic disciplines. Social Sciences, 7(27), 1-21.

Cadinu, M., Latrofa, M., & Carnaghi, A. (2013). Comparing self-stereotyping with in-group-stereotyping and out-group-stereotyping in unequal-status groups: The case of gender. Self and Identity, 12(6), 582-596.

Kumar, R. (2011). Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners (3^rded.). London: Sage.

Polit, D., & Beck, C. (2010). Generalization in quantitative and qualitative research: Myths and strategies. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 47, 1451–1458.

Skrypnek, B., & Snyder, M. (1982). On the self-perpetuating nature of stereotypes about women and men. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 18, 277-291.

Vargas, S., Huey, S., & Miranda, J. (2020). A critical review of current evidence on multiple types of discrimination and mental health. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1-17.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendices

Appendix I: Informed Consent

This form provides a clear nature of the study you are being asked to participate in by providing the necessary procedures; thereby after reading it, you can ask any question, raise any concern or ask for clarification. You can reach the researcher via Tel: _____________ and Email address ___________________ at any time prior to, during or after you participate in the study.

 

Study’s Purpose

The study evaluates the effect of gender on stereotyping process.

 

What to expect

The study will be broken into two parts and will take between five and ten minutes to complete. During the first session, you will be introduced into the study by informing you about its benefits, rationale behind it, and the general benefits you can accrue from it. During the second session, you will be provided with informed consent to sign upon agreeing to participate in the study voluntarily, after which you will be issued with a questionnaire to fill on your own.

 

Confidentiality

All the forms that you will sign, including the questionnaire that you will fill, will be confidential, meaning that they will not be shared with anybody else. You will not be asked to provide your name on any of the forms, but you will be required to append your signature on the consent form. Please note that your records will be locked in a safe cabinet and soft data will be stored in a computer protected via a strong password. The responses that you will provide, however, will be combined with those of other participants and utilized solely for this study only.

 

Risks

There are no physical risks of participating in the study, but participants may become more aware of different types of stereotypes. The advantage is that you can withdraw from the study at any given time you feel like withdrawing from it without giving any reason. If you choose to do so, kindly notify the researcher. There will be no penalty imposed on you for withdrawing.

 

I understand that the procedures of the study will involve minimal risks thereby agree to participate in the study on voluntary basis. I confirm that I have received a copy of the consent form, read, and understood everything contained in it and on this account, I agree to participate in the study.

___________________________________                           __________________________

Signature                                                                                             Date

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix II: Questionnaire

1. What is your gender?
2. Male
3. Female
4. How old are you? ________________
5. What is your race?
6. African American
7. White
8. Hispanic
9. Asian
10. Others (specify) _________
11. Are you a study at this university?
12. Yes
13. No

[If no, terminate the study]

5. If yes, kindly rate by ticking the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements. (Please note that 1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Somewhat Disagree, 4 = Neither Disagree nor Agree, 5 = Somewhat Agree, 6 = Agree, 7 = Strongly Agree)

 

	Statements about men and women	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1.	Men tend to be vigorous.
2.	Men tend to be risk-taker
3.	Men tend to be self-ironical
4.	Men tend to be powerful/sturdy
5.	Men tend to be rough
6.	Men tend to be tactless
7.	Men tend to be reckless
8.	Men tend to be insensitive
9.	Women tend to be fearful
10.	Women tend to be fragile
11.	Women tend to be nasty
12.	Women tend to be impressionable
13.	Women tend to be home-lover
14.	Women tend to be sentimental
15.	Women tend to be sensitive
16.	Women tend to be orderly

 

Thank you