Gender & Body

Social Psychology 321Dr. Sanchez

Class Outline

• Body image– The role of media– Self-objectification– Mental Health and Interpersonal

Cost

• Gender Differences/Similarities– Gender identity– Backlash

The role of the media

• Product and Producer• 3,000 Images/Day• Unrealistic images of beauty for

men and women• Underrepresentation of women

of color• Overrepresentation of women

as “parts”

Unrealistic Body Images

• The ideal female body is unattainable, unrealistic, and dangerous

• Men are coming under increased pressure to obtain muscular, lean ideals (25 years)

• Naked male image is more frequent in the last decade

• “Metrosexual”• Still, this new emphasis on male

image is not equivalent to women’s.

Images of Women of Color

(Baker, 2005; Coltrane & Messaneo, 2000)

• Tokenism• Under Representation Bias

– Under 10% of mainstream TV ads include people of color

• Subtle Racism– Inconsequential– Subservient to White

• Sexual images

Women as “Parts”

• Pervasive tendency to depict women’s bodies more than their faces

• Faceism = index of facial prominence

• Lowest Faceism Index: Black Women

Video Clip

• Faceism Clip

Self-Objectification

• Living in a culture that sexually objectified women more than men

• Women learn to view themselves as objects

• Objectification = tendency to regard one’s physical self primarily in terms of appearance and to adopt an observer’s perspective on the physical self

• Mental Health and Interpersonal Costs

Self-Objectification Questionnaire

• NSTRUCTIONS: We are interested in how people think about their bodies. The questions below identify 10 different attributes. We would like you to rank order these body attributes from that which has the greatest impact on your physical self-concept, to that which has the least impact on your physical self-concept.

• NOTE: It does not matter how you describe yourself in terms of each attribute. For example, fitness level can have a great impact on your physical self-concept regardless of whether you consider yourself to be physically fit, not physically fit, or any level in between.

• Please first read over all of the attributes. Then, record your rank by writing the letter of the attribute.

• WHEN CONSIDERING YOUR PHYSICAL SELF-CONCEPT, HOW IMPORTANT IS…

• 9 = most important and 0 = least important• a. physical coordination? f. physical attractiveness?• b. health? g. energy level (e.g. stamina)?• c. weight? h. firm/sculpted muscles?• d. strength? i. physical fitness level?• e. sex appeal? j. measurements

(e.g.chest, waist, hips)?

SO Score

• Sum of appearance related traits

• Sum of competence related traits

• Subtract competence from appearance related traits

• Higher numbers = Greater objectification

States of Objectification

• Cover Story: Consumer Product Evaluation

• Two conditions:• Women and men asked to try on

speedo swimsuit or sweater• DV: Level of objectification,

shame and math performance• Measure of SO• How many cookies they ate

Swimsuit v. Sweater: Self-Esteem

19.8

20

20.2

20.4

20.6

20.8

21

Swimsuit Speedo

Self-Esteem

Swimsuit v. Sweater: Body Concerns

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

Swimsuit Sweater

Trait SO

Swimsuit v. Sweater: Body Shame

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

Swimsuit Sweater

Body Shame

Swimsuit v. Sweater: Math Performance

4.2

4.4

4.6

4.8

5

5.2

5.4

5.6

Swimsuit Sweater

MathScore

Effect of the Swimsuit

That swimsuit becomes you• Both men and women in

speedos (of various ethnicities) showed:– Lower SE– Higher Body Shame– Worse Math Performance– Greater Self-Objectification

Gender Differences

• Main effect for gender:– Women always rated themselves

higher on body shame and self-objectification.

• Different methodologies:– More recent studies show that

exposure to idealized images affects body image perceptions of both men and women

Measuring Up-Where does shame come

from?• Fallon & Rozin (1985)• What did they do?

– Ratings of average, self, and opposite sex preferences for body size

• What did they find?– Women thought they were heavier than ideal

• Men actually prefer heavier than women believe

– Men thought they were about the same as ideal

• Women actually prefer smaller than men think

• What are the implications?

Physiological Disconnect

• Insensitivity to body sensation• Women are less accurate in

estimating their heartbeat, blood glucose levels, and stomach contractions than are men.

• Women’s subjective experience of arousal correlated to a lesser degree with their physiological sexual arousal than men.

Why do we care about appearance?• Appearance is often paired with

ROMANCE and RELATIONSHIP SUCCESS

• Women hear that men value appearance over all else!– Single Ads Study

Testing the link

• Exposed men and women to relationship primes or neutral primes

• Relationship primes: marriage, romance, relationship, partner

• Neutral primes: door, house, gate, brick

• Measured SO

Link between romance and bodyfor Single Women

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

SingleW CoupledW SingleM CoupledM

RelationshipP

ControlP

The romance of self-objectification• Single women primed with

relationships self-objectified compared to single women not primed with relationships.

• What if you are someone who highly values relationships?

Basing SE in Relationships• Contingencies of self-worth• The extent to which SE is

connected to relationship status– Connected to higher body shame– Connected to greater symptoms of

disordered eating– Connected to greater mate

urgency

From the Body to Gender

Gender

• We are hardwired to notice sex– Single most remembered characteristic

• This may lead us to assume many sex differences.

• However, men and women are more alike than they are different

• Differences between men and women are smaller than inter-group differences

Bem’s Typology

• Sex (biological) v. Gender (social)• In 1970s, Sandra Bem argued that

people were not necessarily sex = gender

• Instead, masculine, feminine, a mix of both, or neither– Androgynous– Undifferentiated

• Psychologically gendered on a continuum

1970’s research

• Men and women fell into sex-typed quadrants

• She found relatively few androgynous people

• How did she measure it?• Predetermined list of attributes

known to be gender-stereotyped!

Bem Sex Role Inventory

• Confident• Leadership• Athletic• Opinionated• Decisive• Risk Taking• Aggressive• Masculine

• Compassionate• Likes Children• Agreeable• Cheerful• Nurturing• Modest• Gullible• Feminine

Contemporary Research

• Given no other choice, men and women sex typed themselves

• Better idea is to let people report the attributes they identify with.

• Then, men and women report the same, positive traits

• More positive than gender-typed

Gender similarities/difference

• What gender differences are real? • What is real?

– Product of gender-role socialization?– Product of hormones/genetic-make-up?– Product of biased research designs?

• Researchers underestimate the social context as creating gender differences.

Personality Trends (1931-1993)

• Assertiveness (Twenge, 2001)– Sociocultural– Meta-Analysis

• Social Status– Education/Work Opportunities

Women’s Assertiveness (Twenge, 2001)

Degrees Awarded to Women

Median Age of Marriage

World War II

Social Role Theory (Eagly, 1987)

• Origin of sex differences • Differences evolve from societal

roles• Divisions of labor create gender-

role expectations• Socialization Reinforcements

– Rehearsing, Anticipating and Preparing for such roles

The Vicious Cycle of Gender Stereotypes• People see gender differences

that aren’t there. • People punish those who defy

stereotypes

Sex differences in emotion?• Women are believed to be more

emotionally expressive than men

• They are expected to emote more, to show more sadness, fear, and guilt.

• There is only one emotion men are expected to show more! Can you guess?

Is this true?

• The evidence for stereotyped beliefs is strong, but not necessarily accurate

• Jussim asked people about stereotyped beliefs

• Both men and women believed women were more open emotionally expressive but few, if any, reported differences.

VERBAL/MATH PERFORMANCE

• Small gender differences favoring women on verbal (Hyde, 1981)– Socialization regarding

communication?

• Small difference favoring males (Hyde & Linn, 1988)– Mathematical expectations– Likelihood to take advanced math

courses

Consequences of GRE/SAT Gap

• Women receive better grades than men in college

• Receive lower GRE/SAT scores• Female underprediction effect• Stereotype Threat Effect

– Intervention = Teach about stereotype threat

How big are gender differences?• .80 = LARGE DIFFERENCE• .50 = MODERATE

DIFFERENCE• .20 = SMALL DIFFERENCE

ON SIMILARITIES (Hyde, 2005)

The Power of Stereotypes

• Hostile work environments

• Activation of stereotypes affects – Perceptions of female applicants– Memory for female applicants

Gender Norm Violations

• Backlash = punishments and negative judgments for gender transgressions– Disapproval, Rejection, Dislike– Losing Status

• What are the consequences of fear of backlash?

Backlash as Identity Misclassification• Fear of Identity

Misclassification– Being perceived as a social

identity that you are not

• Men’s fear of being perceived as “gay”

• Feminine = indicator of sexual orientation

Study

• All heterosexual men• Engaged in feminine/masculine

task• Confirm heterosexuality v. No

confirmation• Public v. Private

Bosson et al. (2005)

Fear of Backlash for Women• Harsh sanctions for gender role

violators• Competence v. Likable

– Women who self-promote are seen as more competence but less hireable and less socially attractive

– Men who self-promote are seen as more hireable and competence (no trade-off)

– Not seen as socially less attractive (no-trade-off)

Backlash

• Creates a vicious cycle of gender stereotyping

• Double bind

Exam Review Next Class

• Posted Slides• Bring Questions• Jeopardy