Me, myself, and my stereotypes: does retraining gender stereotypes change men’s self-concept?

Abstract

Communion–defined as a focus on caring for and connecting with others–is a fundamental value associated with well-being. Yet, men tend to identify with communion significantly less than women do. Although implicit gender stereotypes have been implicated in women’s lower STEM self-concepts, there has been no parallel examination of whether implicit stereotypes constrain men’s lower communal self-concepts. The current research tested whether automatic associations between women and communion (i.e. implicit gender stereotypes) predict and causally shape gender differences in communal self-concepts (i.e. personal identification with communion). Applying balanced identity theory, Study 1 (N = 188) revealed that men are less likely than women to implicitly associate themselves with communion (vs. agency). Critically, this gender difference in communal self-concepts was significantly larger among those with strong implicit communal=female stereotypes. In Study 2 (N = 129), experimentally retraining men to automatically associate communion with men (vs. reinforcing existing implicit communal=female stereotypes) increased men’s own implicit communal self-concepts (i.e. their self-communal associations). These findings address important practical and theoretical questions about how changes to implicit gender stereotypes directly affect men’s implicit self-concepts.