Abstract Feminine: Lack of Effect, or Issues with Implicit Measures?
Carmen Cervone (University of Padova)
Across multiple studies, we have demonstrated both a grammatical and psychological association between semantic abstraction and femininity: abstract words tend to be perceived and imagined as feminine, by virtue of their grammatical gender. Two studies using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) further revealed a robust association between abstraction – “woman” and concreteness – “man” — though this effect was present only in male participants. To better understand which of the two associations was driving the effect, we conducted a study using a Semantic Matching Paradigm (SMP), in which participants were presented with abstract and concrete primes (all grammatically feminine words), followed by a task requiring them to categorize ideograms as either “male name” or “female name.” However, results showed that regardless of the prime type or participant gender, the “female” category was generally selected — in line with the grammatical gender of the word. How can we explain the disappearance of the effect? Is the SMP an unsuitable procedure in this context? Or did the IAT artificially reveal this pattern? All kinds of feedback are welcome!
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