What is it about?
Two studies involving a total of 320 children aged 8- to 11-years-old found that an equal gesture - two palms placed at the same height, disrupts the transmission of gender stereotypes induced by subtle language such as, “Girls are as good as boys at math.” The results suggest that gestures can be a simple intervention to help counteract stereotypes introduced by subtle language, according to the authors.
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Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Subtle stereotypes permeate everyday language. If not counteracted, stereotypes can affect a child’s interests in, and performance on, an activity and later take a toll on career choices. In this paper, we propose a novel and easily implemented solution for effectively addressing stereotypes and promoting equality with our own hands.
Perspectives
There is much more we can learn, not only from the things we unconsciously say with our words but also from the gestures we unconsciously make. Gestures are a powerful yet often overlooked modality that can not only support children’s learning but also play an incredibly important role in social contexts, such as mitigating stereotypes. Our findings showed that children not only attended to gestures when making stereotypical inferences; moreover, they prioritize the equal messages communicated through the gesture modality in the presence of biased language.
Yihan Qian
University of Chicago
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Gesture counteracts gender stereotypes conveyed through subtle linguistic cues, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2415671122.
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