性别角色定义
Sex roles, or gender roles, consist of the social expectations about the typical and appropriate behavior of men and women. Generally, the female gender role includes the expectation that women and girls exhibit communal traits and behaviors, which focus on interpersonal skill, expressivity, and emotional sensitivity. In contrast, the male gender role includes the expectation that men and boys exhibit agentic traits and behaviors, which focus on self-orientation, independence, and assertiveness. In addition, gender roles include expectations about other elements, such as cognitive skills, hobbies and interests, and occupational choice. Because gender roles transcend many different situations, they can exert considerable influence, and thus studying them is critical to understanding the psychology of men and women.
性别角色包括描述性规范,这些规范描述了男性和女人通常观察到的行为,以及禁令或规定性规范,这些行为授权对男人和女人的社会批准的行为。这些信念通常是合意的:对各种文化的性别刻板印象或对男人和女人的信念的研究发现,尽管存在某些可变性,但不同文化的人们通常同意男人和女人的样子。总的来说,人们认为女性往往比男性更公民,而男性往往比女性更具代理性。不管这种信念的准确性如何,这一广泛的共识都可以使它们具有相当大的力量。此外,性别角色往往得到社会认可。人们不仅同意男人和女人有所不同,而且他们也同意这种差异是良好的。
作家和哲学家长期以来一直考虑过不同期望对男人和女人的影响(例如,玛丽·沃尔斯托克拉夫特(Mary Wollstonecraft)于1792年出版的妇女权利辩护)。对性角色的科学研究始于1970年代的第二波女权主义,当时心理学家开始记录和解释行为和认知能力的性别差异。与性别相关的差异的解释包括广泛的社会和生物学原因。尽管一般惯例是使用性别一词来描述社会和文化体系(例如社会化)和性别来描述男性和女人的生物群体,但越来越多的共识表明,这些原因可能不容易被分离。例如,在具有不同社会或经济需求的文化中,生物学差异(例如怀孕)可以假定或多或少的含义。
Roots of Gender Roles
Gender roles are closely intertwined with the social roles of men and women. In the traditional division of labor, men occupy high status or leadership roles more than women do, and women occupy caretaking and domestic roles more than men do. When a group of people occupies a particular type of social role, observers infer that the group possesses the internal qualities suited to such roles, thereby failing to account for the power of the role to affect behavior. In the case of the gender groups, the observation that men occupy leadership roles and women occupy care-taking roles leads to the assumption that each group possesses role-congruent personality traits. Initial evidence supporting this inferential process came from a series of experiments in which respondents read brief scenarios about individuals who were described as (a) male, female, or sex-unspecified, and (b) an employee, homemaker, or occupation-unspecified. When no occupation was specified, inferences followed traditional gender stereotypes (i.e., that women were more communal and that men were more agentic). However, when the target individual was described as a homemaker, the respondents inferred that the individual was highly communal and not very agentic—whether the target individual was male or female. Conversely, when the target individual was described as an employee, the respondents inferred that the individual was highly agentic and not very communal—again, regardless of the sex of the target individual. Thus, gender stereotypes stem from the assumption that men and women occupy different types of social roles. The expectation that men and women possess gender-stereotypic traits is then elaborated into broader gender roles, including beliefs that men and women are especially suited for their social roles and approval for gender-stereotypic traits.
Effects of Gender Roles
由于性别角色的同意和广泛认可的性质,它们对行为产生了相当大的影响。与性别有关的期望可能开始在生活中极早发挥影响力。确实,在出生后的24小时内,发现父母用性别型术语来描述男性和雌性婴儿,尽管婴儿在任何客观措施上没有差异。这种期望引起了确认行为,正如研究自我实现预言的几项实验所证明的那样。在经典的实验中,要求每个参与者与他们没有见面的伴侣一起完成一组男性和女性型任务。实验者改变了参与者是否认为他们正在与男性或女性伴侣互动。任务任务遵循性别型型线:当参与者认为他们正在与其他性别的伴侣互动时,他们就谈判了更传统的劳动分工。重要的是,无论伴侣的实际性别如何,这种劳动的性别型劳动分裂都是发生的。简单的信念是,某人是男人或女人(即使不正确)可以引起符合性别角色期望的行为。
The power of expectations to elicit confirming behavior within one specific situation is compelling, but even more so is the consideration of the power of expectations culminated over a lifetime. A wide variety of sources, including parents, teachers, peers, and the media, convey these expectations, which can have considerable impact on life choices. For example, the Eccles model of achievement choices has explicated how parent and teacher expectations about gender differences in ability lead to boys’ greater tendency to excel in achievement-related domains. Moreover, repeated experience in certain activities may lead to the development of congruent personality characteristics, which then may guide behaviors across different situations.
性别角色力量的重要组成部分是,人们因合规性而受到奖励,并因违法行为而受到惩罚。那些违反性别型期望的人,无论是由于性偏好,职业选择还是人格特征,经常在社交环境中与贬义相遇。实验发现中已经证明了这种负面情绪,与类似男性相比,采用主导或自我推广的言语和行为的女性受到惩罚。这种贬义可以包括性别歧视,异性恋和歧视。
性角色期望也会导致男女行为的差异。例如,与心理或言语侵略相比,男性比女性更大的侵略趋势(例如身体侵略)加剧了。相反,性别差异减少或逆转,以造成关系侵略,其中关系元素用于伤害他人。同样,男人更倾向于帮助他人的倾向,尤其是出现在陌生或潜在的危险情况下。对英雄行为的分析表明,女性倾向于在需要长期承诺的环境中提供帮助(例如肾脏捐赠),而男性倾向于帮助您进行身体要求或直接响应的环境。这些行为模式与性别角色期望相融合,强调了妇女的亲密关系和男性的身体状况。
性别角色的影响
尽管持久性广泛,但性别角色也表现出了延展性。自20世纪中叶以来,这些期望在美国和许多其他文化中发生了很大变化。妇女进入有偿劳动力,尤其是以前以男性为主导的职业,这导致了对妇女行为的许多限制的放松。人们普遍认为,妇女从过去采用了许多男性型品质,他们希望妇女将来能够继续采用这些品质。男性角色也揭示了一些变化的迹象,尽管比女性角色少。时间使用数据表明,自1960年代以来,男性已经增加了照顾儿童的时间,对父亲的期望继续增长。即便如此,超越性别角色界限的男人或女人仍然在许多领域都具有抵抗。但是,认为性别角色正在改变的信念最终可能会为更多的男人和女人提供遵循自己的偏好和欲望,而不是受社会期望的约束。
References:
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- Eagly,A。H.,Beall,A。E.和Sternberg,R。J.(编辑)。(2004)。性别心理学(第二版)。纽约:吉尔福德出版社。
- Eagly, A. H., Wood, W., & Diekman, A. B. (2000). Social role theory of sex differences and similarities: A current appraisal. In T. Eckes & H. M. Trautner (Eds.), The developmental social psychology of gender (pp. 123-174). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Eccles,J。S.(1994)。了解妇女的教育和职业选择:应用Eccles等。与成就相关的选择模型。妇女心理学季刊,18,585-609。
- Prentice, D. A., & Carranza, E. (2002). What women should be, shouldn’t be, are allowed to be, and don’t have to be: The contents of prescriptive gender stereotypes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 269-281.
- Skrypnek, B. J., & Snyder, M. (1982). On the self-perpetuating nature of stereotypes about women and men. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 18, 277-291.