Features of men, features of women: assessing stereotypic beliefs about gender subtypes

The cognitive organization of gender subtypes was studied using a new cluster-analytic approach allowing construction of a joint classification of subtypes and features. Based on type-by-feature rating data, the joint clustering procedure yielded a clear-cut picture of how types relate to each other, how type-descriptive features relate to each other, and, most importantly, how types and features relate to each other. As to female types, only the housewife stereotype was shown to bear a high resemblance to the global female stereotype; the others were described by featural patterns deviating substantially from beliefs held about women in general. Similarly, the clustering solution for male types and features demonstrated that the global male stereotype at best captures only a small part of the cognitive structure underlying the categorization of men. In the discussion, several implications of the present methodological approach for research into gender belief systems as well as for research into social stereotypes in general are pointed out.