Examination of gendered self-stereotyping in terms of optimal distinctiveness theory

In this study, the effect of manipulation of individuals' need for assimilation and need for differentiation with their gender group on gender-based stereotypes was examined. According to Brewer's (1991) Optimal Distinctiveness Theory, people want to have optimal identities that meet their basic social needs, specifically, the needs for belongingness and for distinctiveness simultaneously. In the present study, those two needs of individuals are manipulated. The effect of manipulation and also the effects of participants' gender, the valence of the stereotypes, and status of one's gender group (perception of the position of one's their gender group as either above or below the other gender group) on gender self-stereotyping were examined. With these purposes, first, a preliminary study was conducted on 74 participants in order to figure out feminine and masculine stereotypes with positive and negative valence. In the main study, data were collected from 259 participants. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions (need for assimilation, need for distinctiveness, and no-need arousal condition). Next, their need for either assimilation or differentiation was manipulated through giving them false feedback regarding the similarity of their responses with the responses of their own and opposite-sex groups. In this way, it was expected that triggering any of these needs of the participants whose needs to resemble or differentiate their gender group were manipulated would lead to an increase in self-stereotyping. The results showed that the manipulation of assimilation-differentiation needs did not yield the expected results on gender-based self-stereotyping. The results were discussed such that the effect of manipulation could be seen if the manipulation is applied in a context where the participants will perceive the ingroup-outgroup similarity as a threat and the motivation to affirm themselves on the other members of the gender group.