Gender Bias Camouflage: Unmasking Political Ideology Differences in Gender Stereotyping with Brain Electrical Responses

Recent research in Political Science and Psychology have uncovered how abstract sets of ideas, such as ideologies, can give rise to strong motivational forces. However, empirical work on identifying measurable psychological differences between ideologies has received less attention. The present study asks if our political ideologies exhibit measurable differences in response to our implicit reactions to gender, which can in turn impact public policy. To investigate this question, I utilized a mixed-methods approach that combines brain electrical activity recordings (Electroencephalography) and behavioral measures, together with surveys of political ideology, as participants engaged in a gender-stereotyping task. My study reveals how liberals and conservatives diverge when processing and responding to congruent and incongruent gender stereotypes. My findings suggest that when presented with a gender stereotype, liberals unlike conservatives are able to allot greater cognitive control mechanisms in order to restrain a stereotypical response.