Disorders Gender/Sexuality Social Psychology

Ep: 238: A Robot’s Gender, Act Like A Girl and Be A Man

Female Robot

Female Robot

Does it matter if a robot looks male or female? You might not think so, but are we perpetuating stereotypes if if we create a robot that looks “feminine” to help the elderly aren’t we continuing the stereotype that these types of jobs are “women’s” jobs? If we create “masculine” looking robots to work outside and do adventurous, heavy lifting jobs aren’t we discouraging young women from entering such jobs? Something to think about. Also, have you ever said (like I have) “Like a girl“? What effect does that have on young girls? Isn’t it, upon reflection, a derogatory thing to say – implying that girls are weak and uncoordinated? And how about “Be a man” – doesn’t that encourage young boys to distance themselves from their feelings?

Let’s take a look then at stereotypes. Sometimes we actually like them. We’re proud of our social identities. But we also don’t want to be limited by them either. It’s a conundrum.

And we address the question: is this generation more narcissistic that past ones? Find out in this episode of The Psych Files.

Get All of My Mnemonics and Get Better Grades with my Psych Mnemonics App!

[image src=”6524″ alt=”Psychology Mnemonics Apps” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”” style=””][image link=”true” target=”blank” src=”6463″ alt=”Psych Mnemonics app for iOS” href=”http://bitly.com/PM_Homepage” title=”The PsycExplorer app for iOS” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”” style=””][image link=”true” target=”blank” src=”6527″ alt=”” href=”http://bit.ly/PM_AndroidHomepage” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”” style=””][vc_row padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px”][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/1″]

Resources for this Episode


Avatar

Michael

About Author

4 Comments

  1. Avatar

    Michael

    April 10, 2015

    I am Amanda thanks for leaving a comment. I’ve just heard about these “gender reveal” parties. I haven’t attended one so I’m not exactly sure what goes on. I guess everybody celebrates no matter what the gender is, so I suppose it’s just a way for everybody to celebrate the upcoming birth. But still, it does also sound like a really early time for everyone to begin their gender expectations gossip.

  2. Avatar

    Amanda

    April 10, 2015

    Hi Michael,
    I’m busy catching up on your podcast and just listened to this episode. I remember talking to my daughters years ago about gender identity before ultrasound could tell you the gender of your child. I expressed my concerns that knowing gender even before the baby is born, would lock the parents into gender stereotypes. Now that my daughters and their peers are having families, I see babies’ rooms being decorated in very specific themes, not gender neutral at all. We even had a Gender Reveal party before the baby shower. Makes me wonder if this could have unintended consequences. Just my 2cents, and keep up the great podcast!

  3. Avatar

    Keith

    April 10, 2015

    This discussion of gender roles, and your recent episodes where you described your experience dressing in drag for a play, reminded me of an iconic image and quote. This image is of the ruggedly masculine musician Iggy Pop wearing a dress:

    http://www.quick-break.net/c/2013/01/24/Iggy_Pop_dressed_in_woman_s_dress.jpeg

    “I’m not ashamed to dress ‘like a woman’ because I don’t think it’s shameful to be a woman” [Iggy Pop]

  4. Avatar

    Toby

    April 10, 2015

    The discussion on memory was interesting. How about more on the mechanisms of memory storage and what happens to memories upon death. I’d also be interested in hearing about the origin of ideas and creativity in general. Information on intelligence augmentation or cognitive enhancement could be extremely helpful. A couple of my favorite movies hit upon that in “Charly” & “Lawnmower man” – let me know if you have any more movie titles and I’ll check them out.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may also like

Social Psychology

Episode #4: On Birds Flocking and Opposites Attracting: the data on Love

Do Birds of a Feather Flock together or do Opposites Attract? Find out which proverb is correct in this episode.
Cognition, Intelligence and Language Social Psychology

Episode 7: Blaming the Victim and other Attribution Biases

Blaming the victim - why do we do it? Are rape victims responsible for what happens to them? Are victims