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Gender stereotypes in contemporary Swedish society: Does gender still matter? An investigation of prescriptive stereotypes, self-views in gendered traits and evaluation of role (in)congruity.

Karatzia, Maria Evangelia LU (2021) PSYP01 20211
Department of Psychology
Abstract
The present study aimed to further investigate the current state of gender stereotypes and their function in Swedish population in a two-fold way: Primarily by investigating the content of prescriptive stereotypes (how people should be) in relation to people’s self-views in gendered traits, and secondarily by investigating how people who behave stereotypically and counter-stereotypically are perceived and evaluated in Sweden today. Results supported the existence of a strong traditionally gendered prescription but also revealed a self-prescription discrepancy such that participants’ self-views in gendered traits were found to be less gender stereotypically pronounced. Nevertheless, women tended to comply more strongly to their gender norms... (More)
The present study aimed to further investigate the current state of gender stereotypes and their function in Swedish population in a two-fold way: Primarily by investigating the content of prescriptive stereotypes (how people should be) in relation to people’s self-views in gendered traits, and secondarily by investigating how people who behave stereotypically and counter-stereotypically are perceived and evaluated in Sweden today. Results supported the existence of a strong traditionally gendered prescription but also revealed a self-prescription discrepancy such that participants’ self-views in gendered traits were found to be less gender stereotypically pronounced. Nevertheless, women tended to comply more strongly to their gender norms than men. Regarding perception and evaluation of role (in)congruity, results did not support neither the existence of devaluation for the role incongruent behaviors nor the existence of a preference for the role congruent behaviors as manipulated through descriptions of fictitious agents exerting stereotypically agentic or communal orientation. This finding may indicate that gender stereotypes do not operate as they used to in determining people’s perceptions but should also be interpreted with consideration to the study’s limitations. Despite this finding, the fact that prescriptive stereotypes seem to be strongly gender stereotypical is still concerning, since prescriptive stereotypes set the stage for prejudice and bias, and the self-ideal discrepancy can yield serious consequences for the individuals. Thus, this study seems to add some valuable knowledge to the investigation of the current state of gender stereotypes in Sweden and also raises a variety of intriguing questions for future research. (Less)
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author
Karatzia, Maria Evangelia LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYP01 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
prescriptive stereotype content, self-views in gendered traits, agency, communion, self-prescription discrepancy, role congruity, role incongruity, devaluation.
language
English
id
9065479
date added to LUP
2021-09-17 10:51:42
date last changed
2021-09-27 14:39:48
@misc{9065479,
  abstract     = {{The present study aimed to further investigate the current state of gender stereotypes and their function in Swedish population in a two-fold way: Primarily by investigating the content of prescriptive stereotypes (how people should be) in relation to people’s self-views in gendered traits, and secondarily by investigating how people who behave stereotypically and counter-stereotypically are perceived and evaluated in Sweden today. Results supported the existence of a strong traditionally gendered prescription but also revealed a self-prescription discrepancy such that participants’ self-views in gendered traits were found to be less gender stereotypically pronounced. Nevertheless, women tended to comply more strongly to their gender norms than men. Regarding perception and evaluation of role (in)congruity, results did not support neither the existence of devaluation for the role incongruent behaviors nor the existence of a preference for the role congruent behaviors as manipulated through descriptions of fictitious agents exerting stereotypically agentic or communal orientation. This finding may indicate that gender stereotypes do not operate as they used to in determining people’s perceptions but should also be interpreted with consideration to the study’s limitations. Despite this finding, the fact that prescriptive stereotypes seem to be strongly gender stereotypical is still concerning, since prescriptive stereotypes set the stage for prejudice and bias, and the self-ideal discrepancy can yield serious consequences for the individuals. Thus, this study seems to add some valuable knowledge to the investigation of the current state of gender stereotypes in Sweden and also raises a variety of intriguing questions for future research.}},
  author       = {{Karatzia, Maria Evangelia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Gender stereotypes in contemporary Swedish society: Does gender still matter? An investigation of prescriptive stereotypes, self-views in gendered traits and evaluation of role (in)congruity.}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}