Can Gender Nouns Influence the Stereotypes of Animals?

Educating about animals in zoos and aquariums poses daily challenges for education teams, who must not only master biological content but also possess communication skills to adapt information for diverse ages and cultures. This research consists of two sequential studies designed to investigate the impact of grammatical genders on animal stereotypes and elicited emotions. In Study 1, four animals were independently chosen based on a set of predefined conditions, which were then used in Study 2. The second study explored whether the presence of grammatical genders in the Portuguese language influenced the perceived stereotypes of four animals (panda bear, giraffe, polar bear, and cheetah) using the Stereotype Content Model framework. For comparison, English-speaking participants were also surveyed, as English lacks grammatical genders. The results demonstrated that grammatical genders influenced the perceived gender, as well as, although only slightly, the warmth, competence, and elicited emotions of some animals. All animals under study were associated with the protective stereotype, regardless of the presence of grammatical gender. This study emphasizes the significance of subtle yet crucial elements in communication, such as grammatical genders, in shaping stereotypes and innate emotional associations concerning animals.

Blame it on her 'baby brain'? Investigating the contents of social stereotypes about pregnant women's warmth and competence

The Stereotype Content Model proposes that social stereotypes broadly exist along two dimensions: warmth and competence. This framework has been used to investigate the contents of stereotypes of gendered groups in a range of contexts. However, it has not been extensively applied to perceptions of pregnant women. This is important, given how pregnant women are typically framed by society to have 'baby brain' or reduced competence. Therefore, we investigated the contents of social stereotypes of pregnant women. In Study 1, participants (N = 590) rated a target group (pregnant women) and thirteen other comparison groups on perceptions of warmth (compassion, empathy and comfort) and competence (mathematics ability, logic and memory). Pregnant women were generally stereotyped to have low competence and high warmth, relative to other groups. Study 2 (N = 54) then descriptively investigated the wider contents of stereotypes related to pregnant women, new mothers, men and women using a trait generation task. Generated traits were coded within the dimensions of warmth and competence. This showed, again, that pregnant women were assigned traits related to warmth and poor competence. Taken together, these studies confirmed that perceptions of low competence and 'baby brain' in pregnancy is broadly held by a non-pregnant sample.

The Merchant of Venice in Auschwitz: Taking Apart Shylock Using the SCM and BIAS Map

In response to Frontiers’ 2020 Call for Papers on “Stereotypes and Intercultural Relations: Interdisciplinary Integration, New Approaches, and New Contexts,” my paper integrates the scientific study of stereotypes with a literary-theatrical exploration of stereotyping. The focus is on Tibor Egervari’s post-Auschwitz adaptation of Shakespeare’s anti-Semitic comedy The Merchant of Venice, with a very brief look at his related work on Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta and his 1998 collaboration with conductor Georg Tintner on a touring production of composer Viktor Ullmann’s and librettist Peter Kien’s one-act opera, The Emperor of Atlantis, or Death’s Refusal, composed in the “model” concentration camp Terezín (Theresienstadt), in 1943–1944. Egervari’s theater art critically deconstructs what he calls “the Old Jew” stereotype in specific ways highly readable using the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) and Behavior from Intergroup Affect and Stereotypes (BIAS) map. Theater performance can sometimes embody the forceful dynamic traced by the BIAS map, from cognition to affect to behavior. Egervari’s original adapation, which sets The Merchant of Venice in Auschwitz, reveals this dynamic clearly. My interdisciplinary study of Egervari’s theatrical-cultural work validates the SCM and BIAS map for literary studies and interprets the Shylock stereotype in the terms of those models and through the lens of Egervari’s anti-Nazi adaptation of Shakespeare’s Merchant.

The Impact of Response Instruction and Target Group on the BIAS Map

Response instructions—inviting participants to respond from a certain perspective—can significantly influence the performance and construct validity of psychological measures. Stereotype Content Model (SCM) and then the BIAS map (“behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes”) were originally developed as universal measures of shared cultural stereotypes—participants’ perceptions of what most of the people in a society think about the target group—and their related social-structural antecedents, emotions and behavioral tendencies. Yet a number of studies have adopted a different response instruction focusing on individual stereotypes—what the participants personally think about the target group. So far, there is little evidence to suggest how these two different response instructions (individual vs. shared cultural perspective) might influence the performance of the BIAS map, especially when applied to target groups that elicit different normative and social desirability concerns. To provide novel evidence, we conducted an experiment with a representative sample of ethnic Slovaks (N = 1269). In a 2 × 2 factorial design, we found response instruction (individual vs. shared cultural perspective) and target group [stigmatized ethnic minority (the Roma) vs. non-stigmatized ethnic minority (the Hungarians)] had significant effects on the BIAS map and their interaction had significant effects on the social structure and behavioral tendencies (but not on stereotypes and emotions) scales. Exploratory analysis also points to partial influence on the mediation hypothesis underlying the BIAS map and minor effects on its scale properties. Our evidence suggests that the difference between individual stereotypes and shared cultural stereotypes partially depends on the target group in question and that they should be treated as two potentially separate constructs.

Doddering but dear … even in the eyes of young children? Age stereotyping and prejudice in childhood and adolescence

This study aims to explore age prejudice, and to examine age stereotyping in children and adolescents by adopting the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) as a theoretical framework. It was hypothesised that children are socialised into adopting an ambivalent representation of old age (socialisation hypothesis) and that this cognitive bias becomes weaker in adolescence due to greater cognitive maturity (developmental hypothesis). By analysing representative data from Portugal (European Social Survey; N = 2367), it was ascertained that the ambivalent age stereotype (higher evaluations of warmth than competence for older people) is indeed a shared social representation of older people in Portuguese society. A total of 103 Portuguese children (6-10 year olds) and adolescents (11-15 year olds) were then sampled from a local school and responded to age-appropriate measures assessing age prejudice as well as age stereotypes. Contrary to previous studies, the findings do not provide evidence for the existence of age prejudice because both children and adolescents reported positive feelings towards older people. However, the socialisation hypothesis was corroborated by showing that the ambivalent old age stereotype was already present in childhood. Contrary to the stipulated developmental hypothesis, the magnitude of this cognitive bias was very similar in adolescence.

What emotional tears convey: Tearful individuals are seen as warmer, but also as less competent

Earlier research found that the mere sight of tears promotes the willingness to provide support to the person shedding the tears. Other research, however, found that deliberate responses towards tearful persons could be more negative as well. We think this is because tears have ambivalent effects on person perception: We predicted that tearful people are seen as warmer, but also as less competent. In three studies, we asked participants (total N = 1,042) to form their impression of someone based on a picture. The depicted person either displayed visible tears, or the tears had been digitally removed. Tearful individuals were perceived as being warmer, but also as less competent. In Study 2, we also added a measure of perceived sadness. Seeing a tearful face increased perceived sadness, and this (partially) explained the reduction in perceived competence of the target person. There was no such indirect effect of the tear on perceived warmth via perceived sadness. Study 3 found that people would be more likely to approach a tearful person to offer help than a tearless individual. At the same time, tearful individuals would be more likely to be avoided in situations in which the observer needs assistance for an important task.

Stereotypes, Emotions, and Behaviors Toward Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexual Women, and Bisexual Men

The utility of the Stereotype Content Model (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002) and the Behaviors from Intergroup Affect and Stereotypes map (Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2007) were examined in the context of heterosexuals' attitudes toward sexual minorities. Heterosexual adults completed a survey measuring stereotypes, emotions, and behavioral tendencies toward lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men. Stereotype content differed across groups and showed "gendered" and "valenced" effects on emotions and behavioral tendencies. Competence predicted behaviors for men, whereas warmth and competence predicted behaviors for women, and, for the most part, more was better. Admiration and contempt mediated most of these relationships across most subgroups, but pity and envy played smaller roles for some subgroups. Across all groups, competence played a more predictive role than warmth.