Division of Psychology and Forensic Sciences, School of Applied Sciences Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom.
School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2023 Aug 11;18(8):e0290122. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290122. eCollection 2023.
Pervasive gender gaps in academic subject and career choices are likely to be underpinned by social influences, including gender stereotypes of competence in academic and career domains (e.g., men excel at engineering, women excel at care), and model-based social learning biases (i.e., selective copying of particular individuals). Here, we explore the influence of gender stereotypes on social learning decisions in adolescent and adult males and females. Participants (Exp 1: N = 69 adolescents; Exp 2: N = 265 adults) were presented with 16 difficult multiple-choice questions from stereotypically feminine (e.g., care) and masculine (e.g., engineering) domains. The answer choices included the correct response and three incorrect responses paired with a male model, a female model, or no model. Participants' gender stereotype knowledge and endorsement were measured, and adolescents (Exp. 1) listed their academic subject choices. As predicted, there was a bias towards copying answers paired with a model (Exp.1: 74%, Exp. 2: 65% ps < .001). This resulted in less success than would be expected by chance (Exp. 1: 12%, Exp. 2: 16% ps < .001), demonstrating a negative consequence of social information. Adults (Exp 2) showed gender stereotyped social learning biases; they were more likely to copy a male model in masculine questions and a female model in feminine questions (p = .012). However, adolescents (Exp 1) showed no evidence of this stereotype bias; rather, there was a tendency for male adolescents to copy male models regardless of domain (p = .004). This own-gender bias was not apparent in female adolescents. In Exp 1, endorsement of masculine stereotypes was positively associated with selecting more own-gender typical academic subjects at school and copying significantly more male models in the male questions. The current study provides evidence for the first time that decision-making in both adolescence and adulthood is impacted by gender biases.
在学术科目和职业选择方面普遍存在的性别差距，可能是由社会影响所导致的，包括学术和职业领域能力的性别刻板印象（例如，男性擅长工程学，女性擅长护理），以及基于模型的社会学习偏见（即，对特定个体的选择性模仿）。在这里，我们探讨了性别刻板印象对青少年和成年男性和女性社会学习决策的影响。参与者（实验 1：N = 69 名青少年；实验 2：N = 265 名成年人）被呈现 16 道具有刻板印象的多选题，涉及女性化（如护理）和男性化（如工程学）领域。答案选项包括正确答案和三个与男性模型、女性模型或无模型配对的错误答案。参与者的性别刻板印象知识和认可度都进行了测量，青少年（实验 1）列出了他们的学术科目选择。正如预测的那样，存在着与模型配对的答案的复制偏见（实验 1：74%，实验 2：65%，p <.001）。这导致的成功概率低于随机预期（实验 1：12%，实验 2：16%，p <.001），表明社会信息存在负面影响。成年人（实验 2）表现出性别刻板的社会学习偏见；他们在男性化问题中更有可能复制男性模型，在女性化问题中更有可能复制女性模型（p =.012）。然而，青少年（实验 1）没有表现出这种刻板印象偏见；相反，男性青少年无论在哪个领域都更倾向于复制男性模型（p =.004）。女性青少年则没有表现出这种性别偏见。在实验 1 中，对男性化刻板印象的认可度与在学校选择更具典型性别特征的学术科目呈正相关，并在男性问题中显著复制更多的男性模型。本研究首次提供了证据，证明青少年和成年时期的决策都受到性别偏见的影响。
