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Using the Implicit Association Test to Investigate Gendered Perceptions of Odd and Even Numbers

Hajar Aman Key Yekani1*, Mercedes K. Sheen1 and Timothy R. Jordan2
  • 1 Zayed University, United Arab Emirates
  • 2 Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus, Cyprus

Background People consistently attribute gender to different objects (e.g. tables, toys, typefaces; see Jordan, AlShamsi, Yekani, AlJassmi, Al Dosari, Hermena, & Sheen, 2017) and this is an indication of how pervasive gender is as a framework for how we conceptualize our lives. But this attribution of gender to “genderless” objects is not arbitrarily formed and seems to be acquired through conditioning and observational learning (Bussey & Bandura, 1999). On a more abstract level, associations may also arise from processes of symbolism where cognitive representations of an item share a conceptual similarity with prototypic features of representations of gender groups (e.g., curved furniture is often regarded as feminine; Palumbo, Ruta, & Bertamini, 2015) (IJzerman & Koole, 2011). Understanding the differences between males and females, experienced from the first stages of human life (Maccoby, 1990), also provides a type of social scaffolding from which conceptual judgments are made (IJzerman & Koole, 2011). Another abstract construct that has been reliably associated with different genders are numbers. Wilkie and Bodenhausen (2012) recently found that when ambiguous stimuli were paired with odd or even numbers, these stimuli were attributed to male and female characteristics respectively. Specifically, they examined the perceived gender of babies’ faces and found that baby faces presented with an odd number were perceived as males and the same faces, paired with an even number, were perceived as female. In another experiment, Wilkie and Bodenhausen (2015) examined whether this pattern would hold true for automatic as well as deliberative reactions, with results of their Implicit Association Test (IAT) suggesting that this pattern remained for attribution of female characteristics only. The attribution of gender to different numbers may be highly consequential. Numbers are certainly pervasive in students’ learning procedures and many other domains of life, yet they consist of arbitrary symbols that are meaningless until individuals learn to associate specific values to them (Diester & Nieder, 2007). Once these associations are established, they provide a foundation for record-keeping, estimation, and comparisons that are indispensable throughout a person’s education. Explicit and implicit gender bias exists in classrooms (see Moss-Racusin, Dovidio, Brescoll, Graham, & Handelsman, 2012) and can lead to gender stereotyping during the years of education and, later, more generally in society. For example, school textbooks and supplementary resource materials tend to be filled with male protagonists and male-dominated stories, and this environment may impact on how biases are developed unknowingly towards students and affect the attitudes of people (e.g., educators) towards them. The purpose of this study was to extend previous research on implicit gender bias conducted with non-Arabic cultures to Arabic observers and so investigate the pervasiveness of such biases across cultures. In this way, the study can highlight the danger of such biases generally in educational environments and the need to address these biases in order to create a more equivalent classroom culture. Goal Whilst most studies on gender associations with numbers have been conducted in the United States, and since sociocultural factors play an important role in attribution of gender, the current study examined whether gender associations with numbers would similarly exist in a different culture like the UAE. In order to bypass conscious processes, we evaluated the participants’ attributions of gender to numbers using the IAT. Methods Twenty-eight males from the UAE volunteered to participate in this research. The experiment used the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald et al., 1998) to assess implicit attitudes toward odd and even numbers. The IAT involves the rapid categorization of stimuli into different categories. Participants completed an IAT task which consists of a total of 5 classification tasks, including 3 single categorizations for the target concept (Male faces/Female faces) and (Odd numbers/ Even numbers) and 2 combined categorization tasks - images and numbers (Male or Odd/ Female or Even) and (Male or Even/ Female or Odd) (see Figure 1). Results & Conclusion Paired sample t-tests indicated that participants’ reaction times for block 5, where odd with female and even with male were paired, was significantly shorter (M = 803.74, SD = 201.62) compared to block 3, where odd with male and even with female were paired (M = 901.94, SD = 181.04); t(27) = 3.40, p< 0.01). No difference in accuracy was found between block 3 (M=8.71%, SD=6.82%) and block 5 (M=8.37%, SD=8.16%); t(27)=0.20, p = .847.   The results indicate that gender associations for even and odd numbers exist, and the even numbers are associated with masculinity, whereas the odd numbers are associated with femininity. However, this result is in contrast with previous findings, where the odd numbers were associated with masculinity and the even numbers were associated with femininity, (Wilkie, 2012; Wilkie, & Bodenhausen, 2012; Wilkie & Bodenhausen, 2015). This inconsistency may be due to participants’ different social and cultural experiences, suggesting differences in gendered perceptions across cultures, or the presence of different types of gendered interference. Further research is required to investigate yet further the interference factors in this association.

Figure 1
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References

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Keywords: number, gender, Implicit Association Test, culture, abstract construct

Conference: 3rd International Conference on Educational Neuroscience, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 11 Mar - 12 Mar, 2018.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Educational Neuroscience

Citation: Aman Key Yekani H, Sheen MK and Jordan TR (2018). Using the Implicit Association Test to Investigate Gendered Perceptions of Odd and Even Numbers
. Conference Abstract: 3rd International Conference on Educational Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.225.00020

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Received: 26 Feb 2018; Published Online: 14 Dec 2018.

* Correspondence: Ms. Hajar Aman Key Yekani, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, hajar.amani@yahoo.com