Sex Roles

DOI 10.1007/s11199-013-0328-6

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Men in the Office, Women in the Kitchen? Contextual

Dependency of Gender Stereotype Activation
in Spanish Women
Soledad de Lemus & Miguel Moya & Juan Lupiez &
Marcin Bukowski

# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Abstract In a set of two studies, we tested whether genderstereotypical associations are automatically activated by Spanish women in a categorization task, and how this process is
conditioned by the context in which the target is presented
(kitchen vs. office). We hypothesized that gender stereotypes
would be activated implicitly when the target (men vs. women) appeared in an office context (associated with male dominant roles), but not when they appeared in a kitchen context
(traditionally associated with female roles). The studies were
conducted with two samples (N =44; N =47) of female undergraduate students from the University of Granada (Spain). In
both studies, a priming effect was found, indicating that a
traditional, role-congruent stereotype pattern (men-competence, women-warmth) emerged when primes appeared in
an office context, but not in a kitchen context. Further, negative competence traits were evaluated faster when a male
prime was presented in the context of a kitchen (roleincongruent). The purpose of Study 2 was to clarify the
implicit nature of this contextual contingency effect by manipulating the controllability of the priming effect (i.e., Stimulus Onset Asynchrony duration-SOA, and restricted response time). The results of Study 1 were replicated in only
the short SOA condition, which implies faster and presumably
less controlled processing of the stimuli. Theoretical implications for stereotyping and gender role research are discussed.
M. Moya : J. Lupiez
Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
M. Bukowski
Jagellonian University, Krakow, Poland
S. de Lemus (*)
Departamento de Psicologa Social, Facultad de Psicologa,
Universidad de Granada, Campus de Cartuja, s/n,
Granada 18011, Spain
e-mail: slemus@ugr.es

Keywords Gender stereotypes . Competence/agency and

warmth/communion . Sexism . Gender roles . Implicit
measures . Malleability . Social roles

Introduction
How do women perceive their own group and the outgroup
(men) in terms of warmth and competence, depending on the
situational context (e.g., gender role)? This is a socially relevant issue since the two dimensionscompetence/agency and
warmth/communionare considered fundamental in social
perception in the case of gender (e.g., Abele 2003, in a
German sample); moreover, they are perceived as universal
across cultures (Fiske et al. 2007). In this research, we investigate this question linked to specific situations or contexts that
are traditionally associated with power differences (e.g., an
office setting), which reinforce status-defining social stereotypes (Ridgeway 2001), or are less hierarchical and more
communal (e.g., a home kitchen) and might allow the low
status groups to challenge such pervasive social stereotypes.
We are specifically interested in the perspective of women, as
members of a disadvantaged group, in the evaluation of gender stereotypical information when male and female social
roles are primed. The experience of disadvantage for certain
individuals and groups within society differentiates them from
other groups that benefit from any such situation (Operario
et al. 1998; Tajfel and Turner 1979), and this is the case of
women compared to men. For instance, men have
higher status jobs (e.g., see Barreto et al. 2009, for
European and North American figures on job distribution by gender), and are better paid (see Kulich et al.
2011, for world figures on the pay gap) compared to
women. In particular, we focus on young Spanish women (undergraduates); however, our research is potentially
interesting for readers from different countries, as the

Sex Roles

response processes of discrimination targets could be

generalized for other culturally-specific situations.
The main research question for us is whether gender roles
influence womens categorization of gender stereotypical information with regard to competence and warmth. Furthermore, we are interested in examining whether this process
occurs at an implicit level of processing. For our purpose, we
used a word categorization task primed with men and women
appearing in two different contexts (i.e., office vs. kitchen) in
two experimental studies, using less (Study 1) or more (Study
2) constrained time-response conditions. In order to understand the meaning of these two contexts, we first conducted a
pilot study, as described below.
An office context is traditionally associated with men (e.g.,
Eagly and Steffen 1984, in the U.S.); nowadays, however, it is
no longer perceived as incongruent for women. Alternatively,
it might be associated with a higher status in men (e.g.,
director, manager) and a lower status in women (e.g., secretary). Spanish national census data (from 2001) shows that
over 59 % of women hold lower status stereotypical jobs and
earn less than men (Ibaez-Pascual 2008). Therefore, an office
context reflects congruent roles for both men and women,
although it might still be seen as a predominantly male environment, while, at the same time, reflecting status inequality
for both genders in society. We predict that, in this context,
traditional gender stereotypes (women-warmth, mencompetence) will be activated.
In contrast, a kitchen context is highly associated with
women and seen as incongruent for men, at least in Spanish
society where traditional roles continue to be differentiated
(Snchez and Hall 1999), and women are mainly responsible
for household and caregiving tasks (lvarez and Miles 2006;
Eurostat 2006; Snchez-Herrero et al. 2009). This gendered
role distribution at home is also maintained among younger
generations, as shown by research on Spanish adolescent
samples (Silvn-Ferrero and Bustillos Lpez 2007). Therefore, the kitchen context entails a low status position for
women that might be particularly threatening to their identity;
at the same time, it represents a context in which women are
in charge. Thus, women might be particularly motivated to
confront traditional stereotype activation in the kitchen context as a way of restoring their positive identity (in line with
the social identity theory, Tajfel and Turner 1979).
Gender Stereotypes
Gender stereotypes are among the first stereotypes to develop,
emerging as early as 2 years of age in North American
toddlers (Hill and Flom 2007). Such culturally-shared stereotypes prescribe specific traits or characteristics for women
(e.g., caring, sensitive, emotional) and for men (e.g., dynamic,
rational, competent) that differentiate the genders on two
dimensions: communality or expressiveness on the one hand,

and agency or instrumentality on the other (in German samples: Abele 2003; and North American samples: Bem 1974;
Eagly and Mladinic 1989; Spence and Helmreich 1978; Williams and Best 1990). These dimensions are consistent with
the distinction that the Stereotype Content Model (SCM;
Glick and Fiske 1999; Fiske et al. 2002) makes between
competence and warmth as the two axes on which we place
different groups of people according to their stereotypes
across cultures, including Spain (Cuddy et al. 2009).
It has been shown that these stereotypical associations are
activated implicitly (in Spainde Lemus et al. 2008; in the
U.S.Wade and Brewer 2006). For instance, previous research in Spain has found that at the implicit level, mens
(vs. womens) faces prime the activation of competencerelated traits, whereas womens faces trigger the activation
of warmth traits (de Lemus, et al. 2008). Furthermore, the
SCM model proposes that evaluations of competence are
related to status differences between groups, whereas evaluations of warmth are based on interdependence between the
groups (i.e., cooperation, competition). Such interdependence
goals moderate the activation of the traditional pattern of
stereotypes (men-competence; women-warmth) (in Poland
Bukowski et al. 2009; in Spainde Lemus and Bukowski
2013). For instance, in a Spanish sample, de Lemus and
Bukowski (2013) found that, regardless of participants gender, competing against a woman on a stereotypically male task
(i.e., mathematical abilities task) triggered a reversal of the
stereotype activation pattern at the implicit level, i.e., in the
competition condition, female primes (vs. male primes) facilitated the activation of competence, whereas male primes (vs.
female ones) facilitated the activation of warmth. In the control condition, however, the traditional stereotypes were activated (i.e., men-competence; women-warmth). There is further evidence for the context-sensitive nature and malleability
of gender stereotypes and subtypes (in the U.S.: Blair et al.
2001; Dasgupta and Asgari 2004; Wade and Brewer 2006;
and in Spainde Lemus et al. 2013; see Lenton et al. 2009 for
a review).
In the present research, we extend these previous findings
by examining the influence of status-related social roles on the
activation of such stereotypes at the implicit level. In order to
test whether this contextual dependency of gender stereotypes
occurs in a relatively automatic way (i.e., not influenced
by controlled processes), we manipulated response-time
conditions and the duration of the exposure to stimuli
across two studies.
The Influence of Social Roles on Gender Stereotypes
Many approaches to stereotyping and prejudice are based on
the plausible assumption that exposure to stereotype-relevant
information about groups drives our stereotypical beliefs and
promotes prejudice based thereon. Social role theory (SRT; in

Sex Roles

the U.S.: Bosak et al. 2008; Eagly and Steffen 1984) emphasizes the role of context on determining gender stereotypes
and prejudice. SRT proposes that social roles underlie the
content of stereotypes, such that if men and women occupy
the same roles, stereotypical judgements should disappear.
Consistent with this approach, research has found that the
presentation of women in counter-stereotypical (leadership)
roles or just the mere mental imagery of such examples
reduced automatic gender stereotypical associations in U.S.
samples (Blair, et al. 2001; Dasgupta and Asgari 2004).
However, the role congruity theory that was proposed by
North-American scholars (RCT; Eagly et al. 2000; Eagly and
Diekman 2005; Eagly and Karau 2002; Wood and Eagly 2002)
refines this approach by acknowledging that undermining prejudice simply by redistributing the roles may not be so straightforward because prejudiced evaluations may also reflect the
perceived mismatch (i.e., incongruity) between the stereotypical traits associated with a person and the relevant skills associated with a particular role (e.g., the case of women in leadership roles). According to the traditional distribution of social
roles between men and women, there are congruent (e.g.,
housewife, career men) and incongruent (e.g., career women;
male homemaker) roles. We know that, at least in the case of
women, role-incongruent occupations (e.g., leader) promote
more negative social judgments both in U.S. (Eagly and
Karau 2002; Rudman 1998) and Spanish (Garcia-Retamero
and Lpez-Zafra 2006, 2009; Lpez-Zafra et al. 2009) samples.
Nonetheless, we do not know whether the same effect occurs
for men performing role-incongruent activities (e.g., homemaker), though it is theoretically argued that this should also be the
case (Eagly and Diekman 2005).
Consistent with this theory, Rudman and Kilianski (2000)
found in the U.S. that when both genders were assigned to
high status positions, a positive bias towards men (the group
that was in the role-congruent position) was shown, whereas
when they were both assigned to low status positions, there
was a tendency to show a positive bias towards women (in this
case, those performing a role-congruent activity). Further, a
recent study in Spain, reminding women about the traditional
distribution of roles by reinforcing stereotypical versus
counter-stereotypical associations (using an associative learning paradigm), led women to a stereotype reversal (i.e.,
women-competence, men-warmth). Furthermore, this stereotype reversal was predicted by womens support for affirmative action policies to increase female representation in high
status positions. This outcome was interpreted by the authors
as a motivated tendency to resist traditional stereotypes based
on participants endorsement of egalitarian beliefs (de Lemus
et al. 2013). The question remains whether women endorse
traditional stereotypes under standard conditions, when neither stereotypes nor counter-stereotypes are enhanced, depending on the context in which the social roles are portrayed.
What stereotypical associations do women activate when

confronted with paid-work related roles that resemble the

gender status difference in society vs. domestic roles where
the ingroup is stereotypically in charge?
Finally, we focus on examining whether such contextdependent stereotype activation occurs in a more (or less)
automatic way. To this end, we compare a more cognitively
restrictive condition with a less restrictive one, by manipulating the duration of the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA;
Neely 1977). Additionally, we manipulate the length of the
response-time window across two studies in order to further
restrict the impact of reflexive (controlled) processing, thus
increasing the chance of obtaining spontaneous responses to
the context-gender associations. Following a gradual approach to automaticity, the activations that occur under the
most restrictive time condition are considered to be faster,
more efficient, and less controllable (Moors and De Houwer
2006). At more controllable levels, women might be able to
inhibit stereotype activation, regardless of the context, due to
other factors such as social desirability concerns.
Overview of the Hypotheses for Studies 1 and 2
In the office context, we expect to find a traditional activation
of gender stereotypes, as this context resembles the stereotypical power distribution in society. Both men and women could
be seen as congruent in an office context; however, gender
could imply certain status connotations (i.e., in an office, men
might be perceived as having higher status, and women lower
statuse.g., secretaries, subordinates). Hence, male primes
will facilitate the categorization of competence, whereas female primes will facilitate the categorization of warmth traits,
as found in previous research with similar samples when
gender is primed without a background (i.e., de Lemus et al.
2008, 2013; de Lemus and Bukowski 2013) (Hypothesis 1).
In contrast, the kitchen context represents the domestic
world, which is occupied mostly by women in Spanish society
nowadays (e.g., lvarez and Miles 2006; Eurostat 2006;
Snchez-Herrero et al. 2009). To this end, the kitchen context
reinforces traditional female gender roles, yet, at the same
time, it is in this context where women, paradoxically, are
the ones who take the leading role. Therefore, we expect to
find a significant reduction or even a reversal of the stereotype
activation pattern in the kitchen context . Consistent with the
incongruence of this role context in relation to men (i.e., Eagly
and Diekman 2005), such reversal could occur in the competence dimension, as men might be seen as less capable than
women in this role. However, we do not expect women to
show a backlash towards men in terms of warmth, since
disliking men in low status positions would work against
womens interests as a group. In other words, we predict that
men (vs. women) might be associated with less competence in
the kitchen context as a result of the perceived role incongruence, but not with less warmth than women (Hypothesis 2).

Sex Roles

Finally, we predict that the activation of context-dependent

gender stereotypes is a fairly implicit and automatic process;
hence, it will be moderated by SOA duration. Thus, the
predicted effects will occur in short SOA conditions in which
it is more difficult to implement controlled processing strategies that might be influenced by other motivational factors
(e.g., social desirability concerns) (Hypothesis 3).
In summary, we will test the following three hypotheses
across two experimental studies:
Hypothesis 1 Male primes will facilitate the categorization of
competence, whereas female primes will facilitate the categorization of warmth traits in the office context.
Hypothesis 2 Female primes will facilitate the categorization
of competence, compared to male primes, in the kitchen
context, but not the categorization of warmth traits.
Hypothesis 3 The predicted effects will occur in short SOA
conditions.
Before presenting the main studies, we will briefly describe
a pilot study in which the materials used in both studies were
pre-tested.

Pilot Study and Pre-Testing of Materials

Sixty-six female undergraduates from the University of Granada responded to several questions regarding the distribution of
women (vs. men) in high (i.e., director, chef) and low status
(secretary, housewife) occupations related to kitchen and office
contexts. Participants were asked: Compared to men, what
percentage of women in Spain do you think occupy the role
of? for each of the aforementioned roles, which were
presented in counterbalanced order (i.e., secretary, housewife,
director, chef). The results of this pilot showed that participants
estimated that 74 % of Spanish women occupy low status
positions (housewife, secretary), whereas only 39 % occupy
high status positions (chef, director), compared to men, F(1,
65)=246.14, p <.0001, p2 =.80. Moreover, within the low
status positions, the percentage of women (vs. men) associated
with the role of housewife (M =78 %, SD =12.58) was higher
than the percentage of women (vs. men) associated with the
role of secretary (M =70 %, SD =13.78), F(1, 65)=15.91, p
<.001, p2 =.20. These results suggest that, in keeping with
general statistics (e.g., Eurostat 2006) and our rationale, young
female undergraduates are aware of the higher representation of
women in low status jobs. Further, the role of housewife (i.e.,
related to the home context) is still more strongly associated
with women than the role of secretary (i.e., paid job, related to
the office context). We also asked the participants indirectly
about the perceived status of the office and kitchen

backgrounds used for the studies (To what extent does this
picture represent the following contexts?) on a scale from 1
(home kitchen/secretarys office) to 7 (restaurant kitchen/
directors office). Overall, the office context was consistently
rated as higher in status (M =4.21) than the kitchen context
(M =1.49) on a 7-point scale, F (1, 65)=217.87, p <.001,
p2 =.77. The kitchen was clearly seen as a home kitchen,
whereas the office context was not clearly differentiated as
either a directors or a secretarys office (no difference from
the midpoint of the scale, F <1, ns). Altogether, these results
suggest that the office context is perceived as congruent for
women as well as for men. On the other hand, the kitchen
context is perceived as congruent for women, but not for men.
Finally, the kitchen context is perceived as more stereotypically
female than the office context.
Further, we presented all the images used as primes (four
women and four men appearing in the context of a kitchen or an
office) to a different sample of 72 female undergraduates from
the same university. We asked participants to rate how prototypical each one of the pictures was in our society nowadays on
a scale from 1 (not at all typical) to 7 (very typical). Pre-testing
of the prime stimuli showed that the pictures in which a man
(M =6.08, SD =1.02) vs. a woman (M =4.75, SD =1.15)
appeared in an office background were seen as currently more
prototypical in society, F(1, 71)=72.70, p <.001, p2 =.51. On
the other hand, women (M =5.56, SD =1.33) vs. men (M =2.89,
SD =1.12) were seen as more prototypical when they appeared
in a kitchen background, F(1, 71)=146.41, p <.001, p2 =.67.
These results are in line with the previous findings in the pilot
study about the representation of women in different roles.
Finally, we asked them to rate how much they liked each one
of the pictures on a scale from 1not at all, to 7very much.
Results showed that they liked the picture of women in an office
more (M office =6.27, SD =.94) than the picture of women in the
kitchen (M kitchen =4.23, SD =1.39), F(1, 71)=114.72, p <.001,
p2 =.62; however, they liked men equally in both contexts
(M kitchen =5.57, SD =1.42; M office =5.77, SD =.99), F =1.00,
ns. Contrast analyses indicated that they liked women in the
kitchen less than a man in the kitchen or a woman in the office
(C1), F(1, 71)=91.15, p <.001; and they liked women in the
kitchen less than a man either in the kitchen or in the office (C2),
F(1, 71)=85.36, p <.001. These results suggest that the kitchen
context is the least preferred by this sample of Spanish female
undergraduates, in line with our rationale that the kitchen context is strongly stereotypical for women, and therefore, the most
identity-threatening for women as a low status group.

Study 1
The three hypotheses about stereotype activation in the office
context (Hypothesis 1), stereotype inhibition or reversal in the
kitchen context (Hypothesis 2), and automaticity of the effects

Sex Roles

(Hypothesis 3), were first tested in a study in which female

participants had to categorize competence and warmth target
words as rapidly as possible, after being primed with images
of men and women appearing in one of the two selected
contexts (kitchen, office).
Method
Participants
A total of 50 first-year Psychology students (all female; nine
men were excluded) at the University of Granada participated
in this experiment voluntarily in exchange for course credits
for a social psychology course. Data from four participants
who consistently failed to answer some of the trial questions,
one participant who had a high error rate (12 %), and one
participant aged 37, were excluded from the analyses, leaving
the data from 44 participants for formal analysis (Age range:
1822 years old; M =18.70; SD =0.99).
Materials
To program the priming task, show the stimulus, and register
the responses, we used E-prime 1.1 (Schneider et al. 2002).
Target stimuli (in English and Spanish) We used eight competence traits, four positive (constancyconstancia; motivation motivacin ; efficacy eficacia ; intelligence
inteligencia) and four negative (demotivationdesmotivacin;
inconstancyinconstancia; inefficacyineficacia; intransigenceintransigencia); and eight warmth traits, four positive (goodness bondad ; understanding comprensin ;
sensitivity sensibilidad ; friendlinesssimpata ) and four

Fig. 1 Examples of stimuli used as primes in Studies 1 & 2

negative (antipathyantipata; hostilityhostilidad; indiscretionindiscrecin; misunderstandingincomprensin).

We added eight filler words, four positive and four negative,
which were not related to the gender stereotypes in order to
make the trait-gender connection more subtle and the cover
story more credible. Target words were selected based on their
differences in attributed agency/competence and communion/
warmth, as well as positivity vs. negativity, from a prior study
using a similar sample of 149 Psychology students from the
same University (Puertas 2003).
Primes We used pictures of four men and four women with an
emotionally neutral face, taken by us for the purpose of this
experiment, in two different contexts (kitchen and office),
similar to those shown in Fig. 1 (colour originals can be
provided upon request).
Procedure
We asked participants to do a categorization task in which they
had to categorize a target word as positive or negative as
quickly as possible while trying not to make any mistakes.
At the beginning of each trial, a fixation point (+) appeared
on the middle of the screen for 1,000 ms. The fixation point
was followed by a prime picture that was presented for 28 ms
at the same location. The picture was followed by a blank
screen, which was presented for 70 ms (in the short SOA
condition) or 602 ms (in the long SOA condition) until the
target word appeared. The target word remained in the centre
of the screen until the participant gave a response, or for a
maximum of 2,000 ms. A visual description of the priming
sequence can be seen in Fig. 2. As a cover story, participants were told that the experiment was trying to

Sex Roles

Fixation

Fig. 2 Priming sequence for

Study 1

1000 ms

+
Prime
28 ms

70/602 ms
Target
SOA
Intelligence

TIME
Until response is given or
2000 ms max.

measure automaticity in word perception and judgement;

consequently, this process should not be affected by
interfering images.
Design
The experimental design was a 2 (prime gender: male
vs. female) 2 (context: kitchen vs. office) 2 (target
dimension: competence vs. warmth)2 (valence: positive vs. negative) 2 (SOA: short = 98 ms vs. long =
630 ms) within-subject design. The order of the trials
was fully randomized. The variables of dimension and
valence refer to the nature of the target word; filler
trials were not analysed.
Each target word was presented eight times, preceded by
pictures of men and women either in a kitchen or an office;
there were 16 observations for each experimental condition.
The dependent variable was the reaction time (RT) taken to
classify target words as positive or negative. We were interested in the modulation of gender priming on the trait processing and wanted to avoid individual differences between
the words due to uncontrolled variables (frequency of use,
subjective familiarity, etc.). For that purpose, and for the sake
of simplicity in the representation of results in figures,
relative-speed scores were computed for each word and participant by subtracting, for each participant, the average RT to
each word from the corresponding reaction times per experimental condition. These relative-speed scores were computed
separately for the two SOA conditions in order to avoid
the usual temporal preparation effect, which shows
faster RTs for long SOAs compared to short SOAs.

Thus, a negative index shows a faster relative RT, and

a positive index shows a slower relative RT for each
experimental condition. Lastly, average relative-speed
indexes were computed for each participant and experimental condition. Since all factors are repeated measures, the analyses are the same, regardless of whether
we use raw response times or facilitation scores.
Results and Discussion
Trials with incorrect responses (2 %) and no response (0.2 %)
were eliminated from the analyses. Trials with reaction times
faster than 200 ms, or greater than 1,500 ms were likewise
discarded, being considered as anticipations and lack of concentration respectively; thus, a further 0.7 % of the trials were
discarded. A 2 (prime gender)2 (context)2 (target dimension)2 (valence)2 (SOA) repeated measures ANOVA was
conducted. In order to test our hypotheses regarding the
contextual moderation of stereotype activation (Hypotheses 1 & 2), we were interested in the interaction Prime
gender x Target dimension and whether it was moderated by context. In order to test our Hypothesis 3,
regarding the automaticity of these effects, we were
interested in the moderation by SOA, i.e., Prime gender
x Target dimension x Context x SOA.
There was a significant interaction of Prime gender x
Target dimension, F(1, 43)=4.17, p =.047, p2 =.09, indicating a tendency to evaluate competence words faster when they
were primed with a male picture compared to a female picture,
F(1, 43)=3.83, p =.056. The reverse effect was not significant
for warmth traits, F <1, ns.

Sex Roles

Further, there was a significant four-way interaction Prime

gender x Context x Target dimension x Valence, F(1, 43)=
9.98, p =.003, p2 =.19, as shown in Fig. 3, that allowed us to
test Hypothesis 1 and 2 regarding the contextual modulation
of the stereotype activation.
The interaction Prime gender x Target dimension x Context
was significant for positive traits, F (1, 43)=5.88, p =.02,
p2 =.12, and for negative traits, F (1, 43)=4.46, p =.04,
p2 =.09. To analyse these interactions, we looked separately
at the Prime gender x Target dimension interaction for the four
combinations of context and valence conditions.
We found that the Prime gender x Target dimension interaction was significant for positive words in the office context,
F(1, 43)=8.76, p =.005, p2 =.17, but not for negative words,
F <1, ns. In the office context, participants were categorizing
positive warmth traits faster when they were primed with
pictures of women compared to men, F (1, 43) = 5.98,
p =.02, p2 =.12, whereas no effects were found on competence traits, F <1.5, ns.
The interaction Prime gender x Target dimension was
marginally significant for negative words in the kitchen
context, F (1, 43)=3.67, p =.06, p2 =.08, but not for
positive words, F <1, ns. Participants were categorizing
negative competence-related words faster when they
were primed with pictures of men in a kitchen, compared to women, F (1, 43)=5.71, p =.02, p2 =.12. No
differences appeared for negative warmth traits in the
kitchen context, F <1, ns.
In summary, results partly support our hypotheses, showing an activation of gender stereotypes in the office context
(Hypothesis 1), and a role-incongruity backlash effect for men
in the kitchen context (Hypothesis 2). However, these effects
were not moderated by the SOA factor, F <1; therefore, we
have no clear evidence for the contextual moderation of
gender-stereotype activation occurring in an automatic way,
at least relative to our long SOA condition (Hypothesis 3).
Despite this lack of effect, visual exploration of the data
shows that the described effects are greater in the short
SOA condition.
Fig. 3 Relative speed scores in
Study 1 for the interaction of
Prime genderTarget
dimensionValenceContext.
Lower indexes indicate faster
RTs, and stronger activation of
those traits in each condition

Study 2
In order to replicate the results found and to further explore the
contextual modulation on automatic activation of stereotypes,
we ran a second study. Again, we tested Hypothesis 1 regarding the activation of traditional stereotypes in the office context, and Hypothesis 2 regarding the inhibition of such stereotypes, or even confrontation, on the competence dimension in
the women-related context (kitchen). Additionally, to test
whether these effects occurred at a more automatic level, as
proposed in our Hypothesis 3, besides manipulating the SOA
as in Study 1, we restricted the response conditions further by
limiting the time participants had to categorize the target word
to 1,000 ms (instead of to 2,000 ms, as was the case in Study
1). Also, filler trials were removed to reduce the total duration
of the study.
Method
Participants
A total of 53 first-year Psychology students (all females; two
males were excluded) from the University of Granada voluntarily participated in this study in exchange for course credits
for a social psychology course. Data from four participants
who consistently did not answer some of the trials, and from
two participants who had a high error rate (17 % and 19 %),
were excluded from the analyses, leaving data from 47 participants for formal analysis (Age range: 1822 years old; M =
18.69; SD =0.96).
Materials and Procedure
The materials used in Study 2 were the same as those used in
Study 1, excluding the eight non-related words previously
used as fillers.
The task and the priming sequence were the same as in
Study 1, the main difference being that the target word
appeared on the screen for only 100 ms, followed by a blank
*

Sex Roles

screen that was presented until a response was given by the

participants or for a time limit of 900 ms. Therefore, participants had a maximum of 1,000 ms to categorize the word.
Design
We used the same design as in Study 1: 2 (prime gender: male
vs. female)2 (context: kitchen vs. office)2 (target dimension: competence vs. warmth)2 (valence: positive vs. negative)2 (SOA: short=98 ms vs. long=630 ms) within-subject
design. Here again, relative-speed scores were calculated for
each experimental condition.
Results and Discussion
As in Study 1, trials with incorrect responses (4.67 %) or no
response (1.2 %) were eliminated from the analyses. Trials
with RT faster than 200 ms were equally discarded, being
considered anticipations, which meant that an additional
0.13 % of the trials were discarded.
Relative-speed scores were analysed by means of a 2
(prime gender) 2 (context) 2 (target dimension) 2
(valence)2 (SOA) repeated measures ANOVA.
In this case, there was a significant five-way interaction
Prime gender x Context x Target dimension x Valence x SOA,
F(1, 46)=7.06, p =.01, p2 =.13, allowing us to test for our
hypotheses 1 and 2 in the different SOA conditions. As
predicted in Hypothesis 3, the interaction Prime gender x
Context x Target dimension x Valence was only significant
in the short SOA condition, F (1, 46)=7.60, p =.008, p2 =.14,
whereas there were no effects in the long SOA condition, F <
1, ns. Therefore, we conducted the analyses in the short SOA
condition as shown in Fig. 4.
In the short SOA condition, the interaction Prime gender x
Target dimension x Context, F (1, 46) = 8.36, p = .006,
p2 =.15, was significant for positive traits. Hence, we analyzed the responses for positive traits in the two contexts
separately. The interaction Prime gender x Target dimension
was significant for positive traits in the office context, F (1,
Fig. 4 Relative speed scores in
Study 2 for the interaction of
Prime genderTarget
dimensionValenceContext in
the short SOA condition. Lower
indexes indicate faster RTs, and
stronger activation of those traits
in each condition

46)=13.55, p <.001, p2 =.23, showing a priming effect such

that participants categorized competence-related words faster
when they were primed with a man compared to a woman,
F(1, 46)=9.00, p =.004, p2 =.16, whereas they categorized
warmth-related words faster when they were primed with a
woman compared to a man, F(1, 46)=4.24, p =.04, p2 =.08.
There was no significant Prime gender x Target dimension
interaction in the kitchen context, F<1, ns. These results
replicate and extend the results of Study 1, confirming Hypothesis 1 in the office context and showing automatic activation of traditional gender stereotypes in the office, but only
for positive traits.
The interaction Prime gender x Target dimension x Context
was not significant for negative traits, F <1, ns. However, in
order to test whether our Hypothesis 2 was replicated in Study
2, we analyzed the specific predictions about competence and
warmth in the kitchen context. Replicating the results of Study
1 (Hypothesis 2), we found the same tendency to react faster
to negative competence traits when participants were primed
with men compared to women in the kitchen context, F (1,
46)=3.94, p =.05, p2 =.08. No differences appeared on
warmth when comparing male and female primes, F <1, ns.
To summarize, when automatic processing is enhanced in
Study 2, we find that context moderates the activation of
gender stereotypes in the short SOA condition, providing
support for our Hypothesis 3. In an occupational context
(office), participants activate the traditional gender stereotype
(menhigh competence; womenhigh warmth), although they
do not activate this pattern in the long SOA condition (tending
rather to reverse this effect). Hypotheses 1 and 2 were also
supported in our second study.

General Discussion
The main goal of this research was to examine the effects of
context (social roles) in the automatic evaluation of gender
stereotypical traits by women. The current investigation provides three main conclusions that shed some light on our main
*

Sex Roles

research questions: a) The stereotyping priming effect (Prime

gender x Target dimension) found in both studies is moderated
by the context in which the target person appears, showing an
activation of traditional gender stereotypes (mencompetence,
womenwarmth) in the context of an office, but not in the
context of a kitchen (Studies 1 & 2); b) In a kitchen context,
traditional gender stereotypes are not activated; rather, men
activate negative competence in this type of role-incongruent
context (Studies 1 & 2); c). This effect occurs in a relatively
automatic way in the most restrictive condition (Study 2).
The traditional gender stereotypes are activated (menhigh
in competence, womenhigh in warmth) in an office context,
which is consistent with previous research conducted in the
U.S. (Eagly et al. 2000; Eckes 2002). This context seems to
reproduce the general distribution of power and status in
society that favours men (who are seen as more competent,
although less warm) over women (who are seen as warmer,
but less competent). In line with the results found in the pilot
study and pre-testing of the images used for this research,
some of the information collected during the debriefing session supports this argument: when participants were asked to
describe what images they had seen during the experiment,
some of them referred to different gender subtypes in the same
context such as secretarias (i.e., female secretaries) or
directores (i.e., male managers) and abogados (i.e., male
lawyers). Therefore, a man in an office context is more likely
to be seen as holding positions of authority such as businessman, manager, or lawyer, and is therefore associated
with high status and competence. In contrast, a woman in
the same context is seen as holding low status positions such
as secretary or employee, thus being more associated with
warmth, which is consistent with findings across cultures
(Cuddy et al. 2009). This subtyping explanation needs to be
further examined in future research.
The stereotyping effect found in the office context (but not in
the kitchen) replicates previous research on Spanish samples
(de Lemus, et al. 2008; de Lemus and Bukowski 2013), showing automatic activation of the stereotypical dimensions of
warmth and competence. This effect appears under cognitively
restrictive conditions (SOA of 98 ms) in which controlled
processing is difficult to implement, and the effect disappears
when a longer SOA (630 ms) is used. This suggests that the
influence of context on stereotype activation is a fairly automatic effect (in terms of processing speed). When participants
have more time to use some controlled processes, the effect
disappears or even tends to reverse in some conditions. These
results suggest that women activate culturally-shared knowledge of stereotypes in quite automatic ways. However, they
inhibit stereotype activation as soon as controlled processing is
possible. This is perhaps not surprising, since women as a group
have a vested interest in not perceiving their group in a stereotyped way, especially in status-defining roles. This result is
consistent with previous literature on malleability of automatic

stereotypes and prejudice activation (cf., reviews by Blair 2002;

Bosak and Diekman 2010).
Further, the moderating effect of social roles showed that
women activate more negative competence traits after being
presented with a male prime in an incongruent role (i.e.,
kitchen). This result could be seen as a negative bias consistent with role-congruity theory predictions (Eagly and Karau
2002; Wood and Eagly 2002). The lack of fit between the
male stereotype and the social role of homemaker leads to a
negative evaluation of the target outgroup. This result is
consistent with previous research that has shown facilitation
of negative responses after being exposed to incongruent
priming pairs (Klauer and Musch 2003). The observed effect
might also be viewed as a backlash towards men and could be
interpreted in two different ways. On the one hand, one could
argue that it is a way of reinforcing traditional roles and
stereotypes, by resisting social change in role distributions.
However, in more basic terms of group identity, it could
simply reflect a motivated ingroup bias to protect and affirm
their (otherwise disadvantaged) ingroup identity as women.
The fact that the bias occurs only for competence traits (i.e.,
mennegative competence), but not for warmth, supports this
motivational interpretation. Competence is the dimension on
which the status difference between men and women is anchored (Ridgeway 2001); accordingly, challenging the traditional men-competent stereotype on this dimension might be
particularly important for womens goals. Further, there is no
backlash on the warmth dimension, suggesting that presenting
men in the kitchen is not activating negative interdependence
between the groups. Therefore, it is not a diffused negativity
effect towards men that do not conform to societal roles, but a
specific way of challenging the status-defining dimension of
gender stereotypes (i.e., competence). This interpretation is
consistent with recent findings of implicit resistance to gender
stereotypes after being extensively exposed to traditional gender roles, an effect that is predicted by womens egalitarian
goals (de Lemus et al. 2013).
Nevertheless, our research presents several limitations that
would need to be resolved in future studies. First, we have
focused solely on the perspective of female Spanish students.
In future studies, it would be worthwhile examining these
predictions with a male sample. Men presumably have different social interests (e.g., holding the high status position) that
might reinforce the strength of the activation of traditional
stereotypes in the office context, even in the less restrictive
response conditions (long SOA). Second, the subtyping explanation of our findings needs to be further examined. As
discussed above, we are aware of the fact that the man-office
and the woman-office pairs could be differently interpreted as
high or low in status respectively. This needs to be measured
more directly in future research. Further, the man-kitchen and
the woman-kitchen pairs could also potentially be interpreted
differently in terms of status (e.g., the man could be seen as a

Sex Roles

chefhigh status, whereas the woman is seen as a housewifelow status). We know that this is not the case with the
set of stimuli currently being used (as the pre-test data
shows), but it might be interesting to further explore
this idea in future research.
In conclusion, the interaction between gender and context
guides social perception and judgement from a very early
stage of processing, supporting Blairs argument regarding
malleability of the automatic activation of stereotypes and
prejudice (2002). The contextual moderation effects we have
found can reinforce stereotypes (and) prejudice at one level,
since the influence of the context is strongly determined by a
traditional distribution of roles, and the gender stereotypical
associations of warmth and competence are still activated in
an occupational context (office). Nevertheless, the effects
found could be paradoxically interpreted in more optimistic
ways at another level, suggesting that gender stereotypes do
not apply in certain (albeit traditional) contexts, in which
women are able to challenge the traditional men-competent
stereotype.
Acknowledgements This research was supported by Grants No.
PSI2010-15139 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
(Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacin) and No. SEJ2010-6225 from the
Andalusian Regional Government (Junta de Andaluca). The authors
would like to thank Russell Spears and Wolfgang Stroebe, as well as
the editors and blind reviewers, for their helpful comments to previous
versions of this article.

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