Processing of Descriptive and Prescriptive Stereotypes About Men and Women and Electrophysiological Correlates

Gender stereotypes are a set of beliefs about men and women, including both descriptive beliefs, which refer to how men and women are, and prescriptive beliefs, which point to what men and women ought to be (e.g., Prentice & Carranza, 2002). To our knowledge, no electrophysiological studies have addressed the prescriptive dimension. Therefore, the present study pursued two main objectives: first, to compare the level of acceptance, reaction times (RTs), and the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) associated with the processing of incongruent descriptive and prescriptive stereotypes; and second, to compare the level of acceptance, RTs, and ERPs associated with the processing of these stereotypes depending on whether they refer to men or women. Regarding the first objective, prescriptive stereotypes present a higher number of disagreements, as well as smaller RTs, revealing certain rejection attitudes towards prescriptive stereotypes. In addition, descriptive stereotypes elicit a greater amplitude of the LPP component, revealing a higher evaluation by the participant compared to prescriptive stereotypes. On the other hand, stereotypes referring to women are resolved earlier compared to male stereotypes. Likewise, the amplitude of the N400 component also reveals some flexibilization of feminine stereotypes. Finally, female participants present faster RTs than male participants, which might be reflecting a facilitation of the processing of gender stereotypes due to a greater awareness about gender issues. These results seem to indicate a general acceptance of the conquest of traditionally male spaces by women, while the reverse process is still in an incipient state.