He\u27s Sarcastic and She\u27s Caring: Students\u27 Stereotypes of the Typical Male and Female Professor

Gender stereotypes are prescriptive. For example, if people have a stereotype that women are warm and caring, then they also tend to have a societal prescription that women should be warm and caring. When an individual fails to fulfill a gender prescription, he or she may face social punishment. For example, if a woman is cold and uncaring, then she might be judged more harshly than a man who is cold and uncaring because the woman is violating the gender prescription but the man is not. Research on gender stereotypes suggests that students\u27 perceptions of the best and worst college professors are influenced by the gender of the professor. Do students also rely on gender stereotypes when they think of the typical male and female professor? I present the results of my research on students\u27 perceptions of the typical male and female professor and I explore the potential impact of students\u27 unconscious reliance on gender stereotypes on their behavior toward their male and female professors, their interpretation of male and female professors\u27 behavior, and their student opinion survey responses