¿Which Automatic Associations Prevail? Congruency andReverse Priming Effects on Implicit Gender Stereotyping

Abstract

Objectives
. This study aimed to test whether gender stereotypes remain automatically activated following cues
related to gender, despite years of promoting equality, and how it could correspond with explicit measures.
Method
. Seventy undergraduates performed a sequential priming task, in which the gender categories were
presented subliminally. Culturally speci
fi
c gender stereotypes were used as targets. In addition, other signi
fi
cant
variables related to gender (self-assignment of stereotypes, identity and ideology) were assessed explicitly.
Results
. At
fi
rst, the results showed a non-priming effect, indicating no implicit gender stereotyping. However,
a more detailed observation of the data revealed that participants could be differentiated according to the
effects that appeared: the congruency and the reverse priming effects.
Conclusion.
While gender stereotypes
were automatically activated in Group 1 (positive socres), implicit stereotype inhibition seemed to take place
in Group 2 (negative scores). Egalitarian goal activation is assumed to explain the reverse effect. The activation
of different contents from the same primes emphatically suggests that more effort is needed to develop strong
egalitarian commitments. Results also support the potential dynamic of gender stereotypes, even at an implicit
level.