The effects of contextual cues on making occupational and gender categorizations.
We report one study investigating how persons are categorized when the targets are presented with contextual cues. Using photos of either persons in occupational clothing and in occupational contexts or photos of college students and without distracting stimuli, the response times to verify various group memberships were tested, with the underlying interest of determining how persons are perceived when the persons are clearly members of multiple categories. Consistent with past research, when using rather simplistic photos, women were categorized as women faster than men were categorized as men. With occupational photos, however, women were not categorized as women faster than men were as men, nor were men categorized by occupation faster than were women, contrary to predictions derived from the 'white male default' (Zárate & Smith, 1990). Rather, for female stereotypic occupations, female targets were classified by occupation faster than were male stereotypic occupations, male targets were classified by occupation faster than were female targets. Across all comparisons, subjects categorized same-sex targets faster than other sex targets. Results are discussed for their implications for various person perception models.
Zárate
M A
MA
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at El Paso 79968-0533, USA.
Sandoval
P
P
D000328:Adult; D002321:Career Choice; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D012931:Social Environment; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping