The immediate influence of gender stereotypes on reading

Abstract

We extend the work of Garnham et al. (2002) and examine the immediacy of the impact of gender stereotypes on reading. We report the results of a reading time study that shows a reading time penalty as soon as it is apparent that the gender and behaviour of a character mismatch. However, this congruency effect arises only when the characters are female. Our results indicate that some gender stereotypes have an immediate influence on reading.