Research by University of Kent psychologist Dr Georgina Randsley de Moura and psychologists from the universities of Coventry and Sheffield considered how exposure to counter-stereotypic gender role models – for instance, a female engineer – could influence the preferences of individuals choosing between different leadership candidates.
Participants in the research were asked to form an impression of either a female mechanic (counter-stereotypic role model) or a male mechanic (stereotypic role model) and to list ten attributes that this person may have. After completing this role-model task, the participants were introduced to a leadership ‘candidate’. This candidate was either representative of the person’s group or deviated from the group’s norms.
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