DR. RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY LUCKNOW
SEMESTER II
PSYCHOLOGY
PROJECT
EFFECT OF GENDER STEREOTYPES ON BEHAVIOUR
Submitted by:-
Submitted to:-
Garima Parakh
Ms. Isha Yadav
Roll no. 57
PsychologyHon
B.A.LLB(Hon)
Dr. RMLNLU
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to My teacher and my mentor Ms. Isha Yadav for giving me this wonderful opportunity to work on this project and for her able guidance and advice, Vice Chancellor, Dr. Gurdeep Singh Sir and Dean (Academics), Professor C.M. Jariwala for their encouragement and Enthusiasm; My seniors for sharing their valuable tips; And my classmates for their constant support.
INTRODUCTION
Gender and gender roles are two different terms; while gender is determined from biology, gender roles are actually learned through socialization. Gender roles are the traditional or stereotypical behaviours, attitudes and personality traits that parents, peers and society ex pect us to have because we are male or female. They are generally culture specific. Origin of such gender specific stereotypes can be traced back to the biosocial theory and the evolutionary theory, which talk about the double standard (a set of beliefs and values which encourages sexual activity in men but discourages the same in women). In most cultures – especially India – women are seen to be more comfortable expressing their emotions than men. Women are said to display ‘soft’ emotions that men usually avoid expressing for fear of been seen as weak. For men raised in traditional cultures, a complex emotion of honour consists of being in control of their own family and of outperforming or impressing other men. On the contrary, women’s honour in these cultures may consist of conforming to rules of modesty and faithfulness. In such cultures, children as young as three are aware that females are more likely to express fear, sadness and happiness, and males an ger 1. Gender stereotypes can be seen even in the toys the children are traditionally expected to play with. The influence of media in reinforcing gender stereotypes too cannot be ignored. In children of an impressionable age, exposure to such stereotypes makes it a part of their cognitive process and they then begin to work in line or against these stereotypes. It of course depends from person to person whether these stereotypes make them rigid in following the social no rms or rebellious. We generally tend to divide the world in half – male and female – and suppose them to have mutually exclusive traits. The reality is that their traits usually overlap, but gender polarization creates an artificial gap and a strait-jacketed format of behaviour for each sex. Gender stereotypes are widely prevalent in society and the fact that they affect or rather can affect behaviour is well-known, an d by way of this research paper I intend to add to the already existing research on this aspect of gender stereotyping. Here, I shall study the explicit as well as subtle ways in which imposed stereotypes influence behaviour.
1
Eric Shiraev and David Levy, Cross-Cultural Psychology: Critical Thinking and Contemporary Application, 3 rd edition, Dorling Kindersley India Pvt Ltd, Pearson Education, 2009
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
GENDER, SEX AND SEXUALITY – GERDA SIANN
This book initially focuses on Freud’s psychoanalytical theory and describes why it is relevant in the study of gender stereotypes while also specifying its shortcomings in giving a holistic picture of the effects of stereotyping. It moves on to describe how sex -typing behaviour develops in children and how it affects their growth. THE CONTENT OF PRESCRIPTIVE GENDER STEREOTYPES
This is a research paper which has consolidated a number of studies on gender specific traits that are desirable in society as well as those that are undesirable. It has drawn conclusions from these studies and has said whether their imposition affects behaviour or not.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Gender stereotyping maybe a result of media influence, societal norms or both. A number of studies have been done in this area but most of them are vague and lack clarity. This study aims at throwing some light on this area of psychology to possibly help develop different and more effective ways of diagnosis of psychological anomalies. SCOPE AND AREA OF STUDY
This project includes both primary as well as secondar y research. Some specific stereotypes and their effects on behaviour have been studied.
HISTORY
In the past, the patriarchy was a dominant family model. Through the ages men have been considered to be financial providers, career-focused, assertive and independent, whereas women have been shown as low-position workers, loving wives and mothers, responsible for raising children and doing h ousework. This portrayal was reflective of the beliefs of people in those times regarding the roles of men and women. This proves the statement that gender stereotypes are closely linked to traditional social roles and power inequalities between men and women. The reason why these stereotypes prevail is that the society imposes sanctions against their violation. Such stereotypes are generally prescriptive. Initial studies on gender stereotypes were designed to develop a trait-based measure of individual differences in the internalization of societal gender prescriptions. Various studies have shown that the intensified prescriptions and proscriptions for women, reflected traditional emphasis on interpersonal sensitivity, niceness, modesty and sociability whereas, the intensified prescriptions and proscriptions for men reflected traditional emphasis on strength, drive, assertiveness and self-reliance. Moreover, the vast majority of these traits showed corresponding differences in the extent to which they were perceived as typical of women and men. This is true for those samples whose societal imperatives are strong.2 A similar study that was conducted in Princeton University surprisingly yielded results similar to the above one, and those traits that were found to be considered d esirable among women in the previous study, were considered to be so in the Princeton study as well. On the contrary, the results for men were significantly different from the previous one. Another noticeable fact is that the qualities that are desired in a woman are more extensive than those for men. From this we can reasonably infer that the society expects more out of a woman than a man, and that a woman has to work doubly hard and achieve more to be perceived as competent and successful, compared to a man. With respect to aggression, the stereotypes are wellknown and quite typical. An aggressive man is considered to be normal while the same trait in a woman invites censure. Since women are generally perceiv ed to be calm, patient and docile, aggression is seen as maladaptive and inappropriate behaviour in a woman, whereas, if a man – who is perceived to be assertive, ambitious, strong and self-reliant – displays aggressive tendencies, he is considered to be normal and even justified in displaying his ‘machoism’.
2
Deborah A Prentice and Erica Carranza, ‘What Women and Men Should be, Shouldn’t be, Are Allowed to be, Don’t Have to be: The Content of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes’ (2002) 26 Psychology of Women Quarterly 269.
STEREOTYPING CHILDHOOD
Psychoanalysts are regarded essentialist in their view of sex differences. This is because they place so determining an influence on the first few years of life. Gender identity and gender attributes are fixed in the unconscious in early childhood and continue to exert their influence throughout life. Howeve r, this is a mistaken view and empirical studies indicate that perceptions in the early childhood rarely determine the later psychological development. A number of studies have shown that during early childhood there is a developmental sequence in children’s application of their kn owledge of the sex-typing behaviour. Typically, at 4 years of age the y are aware of the sex-typing of behaviour and toys but are not too worried by the transgressions of these codes and categories. However, by between 5 and about 8 they are not only aware of sex-typing but are very condemnator y of anyone who transgresses the codes. Th is is because between the age of 5 to 8 children are centrally concerned about discovering the rules that govern social behaviour including those that are related to gender. At this stage they tend to believe that social rules are moral imperatives. Another observation is that males place a greater stress on sex-typing than females. It doesn’t matter much if females behave like men but it does if men begin to behave like women.3 But as they grow older girls acquire a growing sense of importance of being feminine, and the focus turns to establishing an attractive physical identity. This is reinforced by the cultural stereotypes of ph ysical attraction. Due to cultural concerns with image and style, a woman who shows little interest in her appearance is unlikely to succeed in the very competitive labour market or be regarded as interested in relationships with men. As predicted by cognitive social learning theo ry, parental characteristics influence gender typing in terms of the role models that are available for the child to imitate. Parental power has a great impact on sex typing in bo ys, but not in girls; femininity in girls is related to the father's masculinity, his approval of the mother as a role model, and his reinforcement of participation in feminine activities.4 A child's earliest exposure to what it means to be ma le or female comes from parents (Lauer & Lauer, 1 994; Santrock, 1994; Kaplan, 1991). Parental attitudes towards their children have a strong impact on the child's developing sense of self and self-esteem, with parental warmth an d support being key factors for the child. Often, parents give subtle messages regarding gender and what is acceptable for each gender messages that are internalized by the developing c hild (Arliss, 1991). Sex role stereotypes are well
3
Gerda Siann, Gender, Sex and Sexuality (Psychology Press, 1997). Mavis Hetherington and Ross Parke, ‘Gender Roles and Gender Differences’ < http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/0072820144/student_view0/chapter15/> accessed 1 April 2014. 4
established in early childhood. Messages about what is ap propriate based on gender are so strong that even when children are exposed to different attitudes and experiences, they will revert to stereotyped choices.5 Authoritarian parenting techniques would result in the child becomin g incapable of taking decisions on his own and would be dependent on a voice of authority. He would lack spontaneity. But this would not generally result in rebellious behaviour by children. A longitudinal study found that adult heterosexual behavior could be predicted from gender-typed interests in elementary school. Greater stability was found when a characteristic was related to culturally accepted standards; culturally nontraditional childhood behaviors tended to emerge in divergent forms in adulthood. Thus gender-typed interests tended to remain stable from childhood to maturity. Research indicates that gender roles fluctuate across the life course as adults ch ange to meet the demands of new situations and circumstances, such as child-rearing. Whatever their roles up to this point, women tend to show more expressive characteristics in parenthood and men more instrumental characteristics.6
5
Susan D Witt, ‘Parental Influence on Children’s Socialisation to Gender Roles’ (1997) Adolescence accessed 1 April 2014. 6 ibid.
THE MEDIA INFLUENCE
Before going into how gender stereotyping in the media affects behaviour, it is necessary to differentiate between gender and sex. Sex is biologically determined while gender is the socially constructed identity that is attributed to a person because of him or her being male or female. This socially constructed identity begins to affect behaviour once it is internalized. Media plays a considerable part in the process of internalization because of its ability to reach a large audienc e in a short time. According to Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan, it reinforces the stereotypes that the society traditionally attributes by shaping people’s opinions, attitudes and beliefs (1964). This attribution usually takes place according to the views of the dominant group and it is this view that the media perpetuates. For example, the hegemony of the male over female has been institutionalized by the dominant group and though the difference between their roles is very small today, the media perpetuates it by focusing only on the differences. As a result, the reflection of the real world is incomplete and distorted. Although people are aware of the unequal representation of certain social groups in mass media, it is hard to remain objective and insensitive to its influence.7 Commercials are the vast source of gender stereotyping, because they are adapted to the specific, either male or female target, and are ‘the reflection of the recipient’. Advertisement text contains dominant and well known characte ristics of the reality. Therefore stereotypes are very often used in the commercials as one of the most popular techniques of persuasion. However, they describe specific groups in relation to the whole regardless of individual differences. For example, men generally advertise cars, cigarettes, business products or investments, whereas women are shown rather in the commercials with cosmetics and domestic products. The y are also more likely portrayed in the home environment, unlike men, who are shown outdoors. In cosmetic commercials, one can observe mainly the presence of very thin actresses, which can lead to the assumption that only thin women can be beautiful and healthy. As a result, many female receivers fall into the obsession with their weight, which can have negative effects. There are a number of male stereotypes as well. For instance, most advertisements portray the ‘real man’ to be athletic, successful and professional, with a beautiful wo man by his side, along with a branded car and a smartphone. This can result in a feeling of inadequacy in men who don’t possess all these things, which can le ad to either deviant behaviour, or depression. 7
Malgorzata Wolska, ‘Gender Stereotypes in Mass Media. Case Study: Analysis of the Gender Stereotyping Phenomenon in
TV Commercials’, ( Krytyka.Org , 9 January 2011) accessed 16 March 2014.
AGGRESSION
Through the primary study the author has gathered that most young women prefer not to aggress openly and resolve matters amicably and in a mature manner. There definitely were a few exceptions where they said that expression of emotions is necessary and one shouldn’t keep them bottled up, while another response was that she wouldn’t aggress openly but would bide her time and strike at the appropriate moment. Though these responses are different, there is a common strain; not to aggress openly. This may be due to the person being fearful of being judged or rejected by the society or someone they care for. Such methods have the potential to result in passive aggressive behaviour which is often far more destructive than open aggression. Gossiping is also a way of aggressing passively
HOW STEREOTYPES AFFECT BEHAVIOUR
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
Though there have been a large number of studies trying to determine a link between men and aggression or testosterone and aggression, there is no conclusive eviden ce establishing the same. Hoffman and Hurst found that stronger stereotypes were formed when males and females were shown as differing biologically. The rationale behind it is that, if people differ biologically they are expected to portray certain traits and behaviours. Conversely, external differences lead us to postulate internal biological differences.
SOCIO-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
There is a general tendency among people to handle male and female babies differently. For example, if the baby is introduced as a girl, she is given a doll to play with and if it is introduced as a bo y, he is given a train or car. This occurs even when adults are not aware of their implicit gender typing. By observing the activities of women and men in their society, people form gender role beliefs or sex-typed expectations. For example, given that women perform more childcare than men in most industrialized societies, women are believed to be especially nurturant and caring. Given that men are more likely than women to hold higher status jobs in industrialized societies, men are believed to be especially dominant and assertive.8 Hoffman and Hurst showed how stereotypes can arise in direct response to the way that categories of individuals are distributed into social roles. They argue that common gender stereotypes or schemas are an attempt to justify a pre-existing sexual division of labour, and propos e that even if sex segregation into social roles were completely fortuitous, it requires rationalization once it exists.9
8
Wendy Wood, ‘Sex Differences in Social Behaviour’ (USC Dornsife, 2013) accessed April 2014. 9 Vita Carulli Rabinowtz and Virginia Vallan, ‘Sex, Sex Differences and Social Behaviour’ (April 2000)907 Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences accessed 1 April 2014.
ANALYSIS – BUSTING COMMON STEREOTYPICAL MYTHS
After analyzing the various responses of the primary study conducted, the author has noted a marked change in attitudes of young women today from those of a few years ago. The study was conducted using a few common stereotypes as parameters. With respect to disproving stereotypes while a majority of the women said they would feel a compulsion to disprove it, there were a few who said that that they wouldn’t feel any compulsion to disprove it though they did not agree to it. Another parameter studied was expression of aggression where nearly all them exp ressed that they would not give vent to their anger in the form of an outburst and would prefer resolving issues amicably or would just not express it just because they are better people and wouldn’t want to destroy their relationship with that person. Social acceptability was not mentioned but they agreed that expression of anger by a woman wasn’t appropriate. A marked change was observed in the attributes that they believed that men and women should possess. While most of them agreed that women should be cheerful, sensitive and affectionate, a significant number of them also expressed that both men and women should be cheerful. It was also observed that most of them perceived that women should be more assertive and a significant number thought that this attribute is desirable in both. With respect to competitiveness and willingness to take risks, majority of them agreed that these traits are more desirable in men and a significant number regarded competitiveness to be desirable in both. When the parameters of self-sufficiency and ambitiousness were surveyed, the response was divided with some saying its more desirable in men, others in women, and yet others in both. The responses were quite different from earlier studies where people were of the opinion that affection, sensitivity and cheerfulness are feminine traits wh ile, self-sufficiency, assertiveness, competitiveness, and willingness to take risks were regarded as predominantly masculine traits. This shows a marked change in how women perceive themselves. However, with respect to role in a relationship, most girls expressed that they would prefer the guy to approach them; a minority did say that the y would approach the guy if they like him. This shows that while views are changing, some social norms still remain. As far as observing behaviour contrary to the general norm in the society is concerned, all of them were very liberal in their approach and expressed that it is the individual’s wish to lead life as he/she pleases and they would not interfere unless the action concerned actually caused some harm to someone. None of them had rebellious tendencies and this may be attributed to the fact that almost all of them belong to families who have a liberal stance with respect to social norms. However, they believe that being a girl restricts their freedom in ways such as not being allowed to stay out till late at night, go to late night parties, go alone wherever they want to etc. Though they didn’t feel that being born female restricted their
potential in any way, they were of the opinion that women who belonged to conservative families (which they thought is mostly the case) did experience this as well. When asked to describe what the word feminine meant to them, the responses from the young women were quite creative, with most of them associating feeling empowered, being patient, confident, independent and aware, with it. When their behaviour towards minor stereotypes like women are n ot as good as men at maths was analysed, nearly all of them said that they would feel a compulsion to disprove it, if it was personally directed against them.
CONCLUSION
The primary data collection through a survey of a certain sample of normal young women has shown that the background that one comes from has an important role to play in how these women perceive themselves and the environment in which they live. This has been further substantiated by the literature that the author has studied. The research has proved that adult behavior of young people is largely determined by the family they belong to and the norms they have grown up with. It has also proved that parental role in a child’s life in shaping gender ideas and stereotypes, is very important though not the only factor in developing his idea of gender roles. However, having overly strict parents does not generally result in rebellious behaviour. Therefore the hypothesis that enforcing stringent norms on t he child and expecting him/her to follow results in rebellious behaviour has been disproved.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wolska, Malgorzata, ‘Gender Stereotypes in Mass Media. Case Study: Analysis of the Gender Stereotyping Phenomenon in TV Commercials’, ( Krytyka.Org , 9 January 2011) accessed 16 March 2014
Siann G, Gender, Sex and Sexuality (Psychology Press, 1997)
Deborah A Prentice and Erica Carranza, ‘What Women and Men Should be, Shouldn’t be, Are Allowed to be, Don’t Have to be: The Content of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes’ (2002) 26 Psychology of Women Quarterly
Eric Shiraev and David Levy, Cross-Cultural Psychology: Critical Thinking and Contemporary Application, 3rd edition, Dorling Kindersley India Pvt Ltd, Pearson Education, 2 009
Wood W, ‘Sex Differences in Social Behaviour’ (USC Dornsife, 2013) accessed March 1 2014
Rabinowtz V and Vallan V, ‘Sex, Sex Differences and Social Behaviour’ (April 2000)907 Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences accessed 1 April 2014
Witt S D, ‘Parental Influence on Children’s Socialisation to Gender Roles’ (1997) Adolescence accessed 1 April 2014
Hetherington M and Parke R , ‘Gender Roles and Gender Differences’ accessed 1 April 2014
