Reexamining gender stereotype effects in speech processing : a replication of Strand (2000)

This thesis replicates work in Gender Stereotype Effects and Speech Processing (Strand, 2000), referred to as GSESP, which explored the influence of gender stereotypes on low-level speech processing; and includes two additional experiments to investigate the types of processing situations wherein the effects noted in GSESP and in this work are active. Strand found a significant effect of voice stereotype level upon speech processing time such that stereotypical voices are processed more quickly than non-stereotypical voices; a significant effect of voice gender upon processing time such that female voices are processed slightly more quickly than male voices; and a significant effect of face stereotype level upon processing time of female voices only, such that a stereotypical female voice primed with a stereotypical face is processed more quickly than when primed with a non-stereotypical face. To explore the replicability of these findings, two experiments are conceptually replicated to select stereotypical and non-stereotypical face and voice stimuli using speeded gender classification tasks; one experiment is conceptually replicated to explore the effect of voice stereotype level upon speech processing using an audio-only speeded shadowing task; and one experiment is conceptually replicated to explore the effect of stereotype priming upon speech perception using a face-primed speeded shadowing task. A version of the audio-only speeded shadowing task and a version of the face-primed speeded shadowing task with stimuli separated by stereotype level are also carried out to determine whether any effects noted are present in processing situations where there are 1-2 voices of a single stereotype level (single talker-type) and in those with more voices of varying stereotype levels (multi talker-type). Reaction time results normalized for word duration show effects of voice stereotype level and voice gender upon processing time as noted in GSESP, but no priming effect of stereotypical faces upon female voices, unlike in GSESP. These results are consistent across the two audio-only speeded shadowing experiments and the two face-primed speeded shadowing experiments. These results support the hypothesis that gender stereotypes influence speech processing, and also suggest that stereotypes are used to filter speech as a default, in multiple types of processing situation.Arts, Faculty ofLinguistics, Department ofGraduat