Automatic activation of competence and warmth dimensions in the case of gender stereotyping.

Abstract

An experimental study was conducted with a sample of 43 Psychology students who volunteered for it. The main goal was to measure gender stereotypical dimensions activation using a priming paradigm as an indirect measure, and under highly restrictive experimental conditions that reduce the availability of cognitive resources to maximize the use of automatic processing. Two gender stereotypical dimensions were used: warmth or expressiveness (more related to women) and competence or agency (mostly related to men). We used a priming task in which competence and warmth traits were primed with pictures of men and women. Participants were asked to categorize the traits as positive or negative. Results showed priming effects for the stereotypical information, supporting the hypothesis about automatic activation of stereotypic dimensions (competence and warmth) and emphasizing the relevance of the person’s evaluation in differential dimensions depending on their gender group.