Claus Lamm and Ekaterina Pronizius contributed as data collectors to a recent large-scale paper led by the Psychological Science Accelerator: “Multi-region investigation of ‘man’ as default in attitudes.”
This global study, with data from over 5,000 participants across 40+ regions, examined whether ‘man’ is seen as the default when people form attitudes toward social groups. Results showed that attitudes toward Black people and politicians were more strongly related to attitudes toward men in those groups, suggesting ‘man’ as default in these contexts. Surprisingly, attitudes toward White people were more strongly linked to attitudes toward White women, and there was no default gender pattern for East Asian people, police officers, or criminals.
The findings highlight how ‘man as default’ in attitudes varies by region, group, and cultural gender role endorsement. For example, the default was reversed in China for politicians and absent in Nigeria for Black people. Although effects were small, this research advances understanding of gendered biases embedded in social attitudes worldwide and calls for further work on how prejudice and default assumptions intersect with gender and cultural context.
Read more here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323938
(c) Image: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/man-woman-business-people-business-76202/
