Exploring the Dynamics of Incongruent Beliefs about Women and Leaders
通过两个实验考察人们对女性角色和领导力要求随时间变化的感知，发现女性与领导者刻板印象之间的不一致性会因女性角色感知的变化而减弱。
People tend to have similar beliefs about leaders and men but dissimilar beliefs about leaders and women. A decrease in this perceived incongruity between beliefs about women and leaders might follow from perceived changes in either or both of these stereotypes. In two experiments we investigated the dynamics of this stereotype incongruity by examining cross-temporal perceptions of change in women's roles and leadership demands. In Experiment 1, participants judged a target group (leaders, men, or women) in a specified year in the past, the present and the future with regard to gender-stereotypic traits. In Experiment 2, participants evaluated the same target groups in a future society in which the role distribution between the sexes was described as traditional, same-as-today, or equal. Altogether our findings indicate that the perceived incongruity between the leader stereotype and the female stereotype is a dynamic phenomenon. Participants' beliefs indicated erosion of the perceived incongruity between leaders and women because of a perceived change in women's roles. We discuss the implications of these beliefs for future social change.