Groups in space: Stereotypes and the spatial agency bias

Maass, Anne; Suitner, Caterina; Favaretto, Xenia; Cignacchi, Marina

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.01.004

Cited by 65 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…These studies bear a family resemblance to other research demonstrating subtle effects of gender stereotypes on the ordering of information in pictures (Maass et al, 2009) and graphs (Hegarty et al, in press). However, we would caution against the interpretation that effects of gender stereotypes on order are manifestations of identical processes in verbal and visual domains.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

“…However, we would caution against the interpretation that effects of gender stereotypes on order are manifestations of identical processes in verbal and visual domains. To be sure, people prefer to position more agentic entities first in pictures (Maass et al, 2009) and in binomial phrases (McDonald et al, 1993). Furthermore, Maass et al (2009) argue that the subject-object order of human languages is partially responsible for the bias to position more agentic groups first in the leftright axis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…To be sure, people prefer to position more agentic entities first in pictures (Maass et al, 2009) and in binomial phrases (McDonald et al, 1993). Furthermore, Maass et al (2009) argue that the subject-object order of human languages is partially responsible for the bias to position more agentic groups first in the leftright axis. However, in contrast to the results of the experiments above, Hegarty et al (in press) showed that powerful groups are positioned first in graphs, but masculine groups are not.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Speakers of languages read from left-to-right, such as English, draw and interpret visual images from left-to-right (Chatterjee, Southwood, & Basilico, 1999;Maass & Russo, 2003). Such people also position men to the left of women in pictures to the extent that they stereotype men as more agentic than women (Maass et al, 2009). Similarly, data representing men is spontaneously graphed first, ahead of data representing women, and powerful groups are graphed ahead of weaker groups (Hegarty & Buechel, 2006: Hegarty et al, in press).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, data representing men is spontaneously graphed first, ahead of data representing women, and powerful groups are graphed ahead of weaker groups (Hegarty & Buechel, 2006: Hegarty et al, in press). Indeed, Maass et al (2009) [page 23] theorized that preferences for ordering the genders in images are causally related to the tendency to position agents before subjects in human languages. In this context, our hypothesis that gender stereotypes affect word order appears considerably less surprising.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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When gentlemen are first and ladies are last: Effects of gender stereotypes on the order of romantic partners' names

Hegarty

Watson

Fletcher

et al. 2011

British J Social Psychol

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A preference to name stereotypically masculine before stereotypically feminine individuals explains why men are typically named before women, as on the Internet, for example (Study 1). Heterosexual couples are named with men's names first more often when such couples are imagined to conform to gender stereotypes (Studies 2 and 3). First named partners of imaginary same-sex couples are attributed more stereotypically masculine attributes (Study 4). Familiarity bounds these effects of stereotypes on name order. People name couples they know well with closer people first (Study 5), and consequently name familiar heterosexual couples with members of their own gender first (Study 6). These studies evidence a previously unknown effect of the semantics of gender stereotypes on sentence structure in the everyday use of English.William Shakespeare never wrote plays titled 'Juliet and Romeo', 'Cressida and Troilus', or 'Cleopatra and Anthony'. Had he done so, he would have flouted the prescriptions of grammarians of his time who advised that 'in speaking at the leaste, let us kepe a natural order, and set the man before the woman for manners sake' (Wilson, 1553, cited in Bodine, 1975. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, English grammarians argued for the correctness, naturalness, and propriety of naming men before women on the grounds that men were the worthier and the more comprehensive sex (Bodine, 1975). Few psychologists are familiar with this history of proscribing a male-first order in binomial phrases (Malkiel, 1959) such as 'king and queen', 'his and hers', 'Mr and Mrs', or the names of romantic couples in the titles of Shakespeare's plays. To our knowledge, Brown (1986, p. 484) is the only psychologist who has ever described the prescription to name men before women as a case of sexist language.We think that Brown (1986) was right, and his recognition went unacknowledged. Specifically, we propose that while the original sexist prescriptions to name men before women may be largely forgotten, gender stereotypes continue to affect how people order the names of romantic partners. Indeed, far from being a phenomenon of the past, such [page 22] effects are evident in very modern contexts, such as Internet websites and the naming of lesbian and gay couples. Our hypothesis that gender stereotypes affect the ordering of names draws together social psychological research on gender stereotypes, cognitive, and linguistic studies of word order, and recent findings that gender stereotypes affect the ordering of visual representations of women and men in pictures (Maass,

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

When gentlemen are first and ladies are last: Effects of gender stereotypes on the order of romantic partners' names

Hegarty

Watson

Fletcher

et al. 2011

British J Social Psychol

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Take a Walk on the Cultural Side: A Journey into Embodied Social Cognition

Bettinsoli¹,

Suitner

Maass

2021

Handbook of Embodied Psychology

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Numbers reorient visuo-spatial attention during cancellation tasks

et al. 2013

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Numbers induce shifts of spatial attention on the left or the right sides of external space as a function of their magnitude. However, whether this number-space association is restricted to the linear horizontal extensions, or extends to the whole visual scene, is still an open question. This study investigates, by means of a cancellation paradigm, the influence of numerical magnitude during scanning tasks in which participants freely explore complex visual scenes unconstrained towards either the horizontal or the vertical unidimensional axes. Five cancellation tasks were adapted in which Arabic digits were used as targets or distracters, in structured (lines and columns) or unstructured visual displays, with a smaller (2 or 3 types of distracters) or larger (10 or more types of distracters) sets of stimuli. Results show that the participants' hits distribution was a function of number magnitude: shifted on the left for small and on the right for large numbers. This effect was maximised when numerical cues were sparse, randomly arranged and, critically, irrelevant to the task. Overall, this study provides novel evidence from visuo-spatial exploratory cancellation tasks for an attentional shift induced by number magnitude.

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Groups in space: Stereotypes and the spatial agency bias

Cited by 65 publications

References 46 publications

When gentlemen are first and ladies are last: Effects of gender stereotypes on the order of romantic partners' names

When gentlemen are first and ladies are last: Effects of gender stereotypes on the order of romantic partners' names

Take a Walk on the Cultural Side: A Journey into Embodied Social Cognition

Numbers reorient visuo-spatial attention during cancellation tasks

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