Social Categorization: Relationship between Gender and Occupation - Coursework Example

Abstract. Gender and occupation are two variables which for long time researchers have analysed to establish the relationship. There are various analysis methods which have been used to bring out the relationship. (Roazen, 1976) One of the methods is Mauchly's Test of Sphericity. In this method, null hypothesis is tested through application of analysis of variance (ANOVA) design. The analysis is done both between and within subject. In this analysis, both dependent and independent variables are considered and their F value is calculated which determines whether the hypothesis holds or not. (DiIorio, 1991) The occupations analysed have been classified into surprising and unsurprising combinations. The unsurprising combinations include men taking mid wife jobs and ladies taking mechanic jobs. The unsurprising combination is where men opt to be in mechanic and other masculine related jobs and ladies choose feminine related jobs. The research has shown that the hypothesis that supports unsurprising combination holds. Introduction The relationship between gender and occupation has been highly analysed by many scholars. The issue of gender and occupation has been seen to start at a very tender age. Children in elementary schools usually have their goals clearly laid out in relation to occupation that they desire to be in. (Mauchly, 1940) The society is known to carry out social categorisation of people based on the characteristics that people have in common. People can be grouped as male, female, students and teachers etc. These are usually referred to as prototypes. Social psychologists have analysed the issue of people having diverse impressions about other people. This includes the feelings that people have about other people’s characteristics. (DiIorio, 1991) It is quite amazing the way people can give the characteristics of other people given their professions only. For instance, many people give the characteristics of lecturers to be fluent and intelligent while mechanic as strong and masculine. This paper therefore looks at the relationship between gender and occupation. It includes method used to have all the necessary information related to this topic. It also has the results and discussion. Finally a conclusion is drawn in line with the relationship between gender and occupation. (Stevens, 1996) Theoretical background Research has shown that the perceptions people have about characteristics of people emanate from stereotypes that they form in life. There is however some differences in the way people perceive other people’s characteristics. These differences are affected by aspects such as when people get the information, how they get it and why they source for the knowledge. (DiIorio, 1991) From prior surveys carried out by psychologists, impressions that people have about others are shown to be coherent and unified in nature. This is more so in relation to personality attributes, gender and occupation. In this case, there are various values that are associated with males and females. (Basch, 1983) These values also have a specific permissible range of variability in as far as perceptions are concerned. This means that some default values are associated with men while some are associated with male. It is quite surprising that these are extended to occupations that are and that can be held by men and women. (Mauchly, 1940) It is quite clear that in the determination of the attributes, frames that signify constituent categories are drawn accordingly. It is known that many people easily correlate nursing profession with females and doctors are highly associated with males. There are also times when analogical reasoning is used. Mental simulation and abstract rules can also be incorporated if the processing is complex in nature. (Basch, 1983) This has shown that some professions are perceived to be ‘masculine’ while others are perceived to be ‘feminine’ in nature. Any man who is in a profession known to be ‘feminine’ is perceived to be weak while a woman who is in a job perceived to be for men is seen as tough and most people think she cannot make a good wife. (DiIorio, 1991) The connectionist model also seeks to explain the relationship between gender and occupation. This is more so in relation to occupation and the amount of salaries and wages received. People in an occupation perceived to be high paying and are not getting high salaries could be perceived as being non materialistic. In connectionist model, conscious experiences are purported to emanate from processes that are preconscious in nature in an individual’s mind. The preconscious system of processing information is also based on application of structures that are multiple in nature. Method In this experiment, the hypothesis made is that females tend to be in occupations that do not need a lot of energy or masculine effort and those that do not need a lot of intellectual complexity. Females therefore tend to be in professions like nursing. Men on the other hand hold positions that are perceived to be ‘tough’ and a lot of physical and intellectual strength and knowledge are required. The analysis method used is the Mauchly's Test of Sphericity. This is a statistical analysis with assumptions in repeated measures with analysis of variance (ANOVA) designs. Where independent measures are used, the analysis makes the assumption of homogeneity of variances. (Mauchly, 1940) This method dates back in the early 1940’s where the inventor, John Mauchly used it to validate repeated measures of ANOVA factors. This analysis involves testing covariance matrix of multivariate normal distribution of data. The rule used is that when the level of significance is less than 0.05 sphericity cannot be assumed. (Roazen, 1976) Where we have repeated measures of Anova, Mauchly’s test analyses the equality of mean. This analysis is effective where the data used is taken under different conditions. As the sample is exposed to different conditions in turns, and measurement of dependent variable is taken. In repeated measures, sample members are matched according to some important characteristics. (Stevens, 1996) In our analysis, dependent variables are both word and non word, these are the between subject variables. In this case we have considered two genderprime: male and female. We have also considered two occuprime subject factors, which are mechanic and midwife. These subject factors are then subjected into multivariate tests. These tests have four factors: pillai’s trace, Wilki’s lambda, Hotelling’s trace and Roy’s largest root. (Mauchly, 1940) The analysis also considers the within subject factors. The analysis is done on intercept of gender prime and occuprime. The factors considered include Sphericity assumed, Green house-geisser, Huynh-feldt and lower bound. In this analysis, sum of squares and significance levels are considered. The analysis also considers the linear factors based on both gender prime and also on occuprime. The linear error factor is also considered with respective significance levels. Effects on within subject is then analysed giving an average transformed variable. Result The analysis focused on occuprime factors where it considers a female nurse and a male mechanic which are considered unsurprising combinations. The analysis further considered the surprising combination where male nurse and a female mechanic were the factors in the analysis. From the analysis, hypotheses were developed based on surprisingness of the combinations. (Mauchly, 1940) The results of multivariate tests were as follows: In gender prime factor, Wilki’s lambda had the highest value of 0.985, followed by Pillai’s Trace, Hotelling’s Trace and Roy’s largest Root each having a value of 0.015. In occuprime tests, Wilki’s lambda maintained high value of 0.996 while Pillai’s Trace, Hotelling’s Trace and Roy’s largest Root each had a value of 0.04. (Roazen, 1976) Analysis on the tests between subject effects produced transformed average variables. This resulted in intercept sum of squares of 1.545E8 with an F figure of 12653.202 with a significance level of 0.00.Genderprime had a mean square figure of 12815.814, F figure of 1.050 with a significance level of 0.307.Occuprime had a mean square figure of 4258.199 F figure of 0.349 and significance level of 0.556.The error factor had a sum of squares figure of 1916473.317 and a mean square figure of 12206.836. (DiIorio, 1991) Discussion The analysis was based on word and non word factors, Gender prime and occuprime. The factors used are polynomial whereas the method used was SS Type (3) and the criterion was Alpha (0.05). The analysis was based on general linear method and the statistics are based on valid data of all the variables in the model. It was subjected to multivariate analysis to test the correlation of gender and occupation. (Roazen, 1976) The analysis tests the hypothesis that occuprime is dependent on genderprime. The F value associated with the multivariate is then noted. The null hypothesis is then proved to hold for the analysed variables. Since the F value is high for the analysed data the hypothesis is proved to hold that occupation choice is to a greater extent influenced by the gender. (Mauchly, 1940) Further tests conducted on the multivariate analysis reveals a consistent relation between occupation and gender. This analysis is based on tests done on the following considerations: Sphericity assumed, Green house Geisser, Huynh-Feldt and Lower bound. On Gender prime factor, it gives a sum of squares value of 27809.700 on all the four considerations above. It thus gives the same figure for mean square which is a value of 27809.70. (Stevens, 1996) The same analysis is done on gender prime which gives a sum of squares value of 7667.903 and an equal figure of mean square value of 7667.903.The error factor is also equal for all the four considerations, this gives a mean square value of 11955.744 for all the four variables and a sum of square value of 1877051.794 for the four variables. (DiIorio, 1991) Research has shown that when the same test is repeated on different individuals across different ages and different occupations, a conclusion can be made on the relationship between gender and occupation. Such data when plotted on a graph and a line of best fit drawn, will give a consistent correlation between the two. (DiIorio, 1991) The analysis reveals that many ladies consider becoming a mid wife more compatible with their feminine aspirations. When the analysis is carried out on men, it reveals that they will consistently choose to be mechanics which they consider to rhyme with their masculine bodies. The Mauchly’s Sphericity analysis as carried out above reveals the same across other professions that are gender related such as machine operation which is associated with men whereas baby sitting has for long been associated with ladies. (Mauchly, 1940) The hypothesis used in this analysis related to time required to complete a specific task as accorded to different individuals. From the impression formation model, it is assumed that it would take less time to handle a task in a non surprising combination. It is also assumed that it would take more time in a surprising combination such as a male mid wife or a female mechanic. (Roazen, 1976) Conclusion It is inferred that attribute emergence cannot be based on automatic and pre-conscious incident but requires great magnitude of cognitive efforts. The research has also shown that cognitive resources are required in attribute emergence but their absence has not hampered the emergence of related attributes. Other researchers have indicated that the development of more emergent attributes was generated on no-load circumstance than in high-load conditions. The analysis also reveals that engaging an individual in a rather surprising combination does not necessarily give rise to strenuous cognitive processes. On the other hand, the individual are seen to invoke extra progressive stages. Therefore, whereas individuals are able to create a notion of others in the consideration on impression formation model on the attributes they possess and the occupation they are in, the Mauchly’s test of sphericity has greater reason on the way occupation relates to gender. Read More

This paper, therefore, looks at the relationship between gender and occupation. It includes the method used to have all the necessary information related to this topic. It also has the results and discussion. Finally, a conclusion is drawn in line with the relationship between gender and occupation. (Stevens, 1996)Research has shown that the perceptions people have about characteristics of people emanate from stereotypes that they form in life. There are however some differences in the way people perceive other people’s characteristics.

These differences are affected by aspects such as when people get the information, how they get it, and why they source for the knowledge. (DiIorio, 1991)From prior surveys carried out by psychologists, impressions that people have about others are shown to be coherent and unified in nature. This is more so about personality attributes, gender, and occupation. In this case, various values are associated with males and females. (Basch, 1983)These values also have a specific permissible range of variability as far as perceptions are concerned.

This means that some default values are associated with men while some are associated with males. It is quite surprising that these are extended to occupations that are and that can be held by men and women. (Mauchly, 1940)It is quite clear that in the determination of the attributes, frames that signify constituent categories are drawn accordingly. It is known that many people easily correlate the nursing profession with females and doctors are highly associated with males. There are also times when analogical reasoning is used.

Mental stimulation and abstract rules can also be incorporated if the processing is complex in nature. (Basch, 1983)This has shown that some professions are perceived to be ‘masculine while others are perceived to be ‘feminine in nature. Any man who is in a profession known to be ‘feminine is perceived to be weak while a woman who is in a job perceived to be for men is seen as tough and most people think she cannot make a good wife. (DiIorio, 1991)The connectionist model also seeks to explain the relationship between gender and occupation.

This is more so about occupation and the number of salaries and wages received. People in an occupation perceived to be high paying and are not getting high salaries could be perceived as being nonmaterialistic. In the connectionist model, conscious experiences are purported to emanate from processes that are pre-conscious in nature in an individual’s mind. The preconscious system of processing information is also based on the application of structures that are multiple in nature.In this experiment, the hypothesis made is that females tend to be in occupations that do not need a lot of energy or masculine effort and those that do not need a lot of intellectual complexity.

Females, therefore, tend to be in professions like nursing. Men on the other hand hold positions that are perceived to be ‘tough’ and a lot of physical and intellectual strength and knowledge are required.The analysis method used is Mauchly's Test of Sphericity. This is a statistical analysis with assumptions in repeated measures with analysis of variance (ANOVA) designs. Where independent measures are used, the analysis assumes homogeneity of variances. (Mauchly, 1940)This method dates back to the early 1940s where the inventor, John Mauchly used it to validate repeated measures of ANOVA factors.

This analysis involves testing the covariance matrix of multivariate normal distribution of data. The rule used is that when the level of significance is less than 0.05 sphericity cannot be assumed. (Roazen, 1976)Where we have repeated measures of Anova, Mauchly’s test analyses the equality of mean. This analysis is effective where the data used is taken under different conditions. As the sample is exposed to different conditions in turns, and measurement of the dependent variable is taken.

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