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EugeniaMandal,AgnieszkaGawor,JacekBuczny
derstereotypes“arenotaresultofscientificresearchastotheaspectsin
whichmenandwomendifer[…]butstemfromaninductiveexperience
(e.g.secretariesareusuallywomen).[…]Researchistheonlywayfor
psychologiststodiferentiatebetweenstereotypeswhicharebasedon
fact,andthosewhicharenot”(pp.1091—1092).
Socialpsychologistshaveproventhatintheprocessofperceiving
peoplewereceivebothindividual(e.g.appearance,behaviour,traits)and
categoricalinformationconcerningdiferenttypesofpeople(Wojciszke,
2002).Wecan,therefore,alsocategorizepeopleaccordingtovarious
options;basedonhowtheyaredressed,theirgender,haircolour,age,
mannerofwalking,etc.Groupingpeopleaccordingtosimplecategories
reducestheefortnecessarytounderstandthem(Allport,1954;Taylor,
1981;CrossandMarkus,2002).
Ithasbeenestablishedthat,givensomanychoicesofcategorizinga
givenperson,weusuallyconcentrateonthefirst,mostavailablecatego-
ry(BodenhausenandMacrae,1998;Nelson,2003).Thus,mostofthe
time,weresorttotheeasiestaccessibleassets,connectedwithappear-
ance,whileoneofthebasiccategoriesthroughwhichpeoplemaintain
orderinthesocialworldisgender(Nelson,2003;Wojciszke,2002).
Stereotypicalthinkingaboutgenderbeginsveryearly,eveninrelationto
infants.Weknowwhatcoloursofclothesandroomsare“suitable”for
maleandfemaleinfants.Menandwomenaregraduallyattributedan
increasingnumberofbehaviours“appropriate”fortheirgender.
Agenderstereotypeisdefinedasa“convictionastowhattraitsand
behavioursarecharacteristic(andusuallydesired)ofanygender”(Woj-
ciszke,2002,p.418),oras“simplifiedjudgementsandconceptsconcern-
ingthebehaviourofthemembersofbothsexes,sharedbythemajority
ofagivensociety,taughtintheprocessofgrowingupandsocializing
inthatsociety”(Mandal,2004,p.13;cf.Eagly,1987).Intheanaly-
sesofgenderstereotypes,onetakesintoaccounttheircontentaspect;
whatisthetypicalwomanlikeandwhatisthetypicalmanlikeinthe
eyesofothers,afectiveaspect;beingburdenedwithnegativeorpositive
judgements,andfinally,thefunctionswhichthesestereotypesfulfilin
people’ssocialbehaviour(Polkowska,Potocka-HoserandKurcz,1992;
Kwiatkowska,1999).Moreover,studiesongenderstereotypesrevealthe
existenceofsubtypesorsubschemas(ŁukaszewskiandWeigl,2001;
Wojciszke,2002).
Thisresultsfromanassumptionthatastereotypeisaspecifickind
ofcognitiveschema(Kurcz,1992;WeiglandŁukaszewski,1991).There-
foreitappearsthatapartfromschemasofprototypicalcharacter(those
representingtheidealexampleofacategory,withaclearstemandcat-
egoryboundaries)therealsoexistschemasbasedsolelyonfamilyre-
