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The intrinsic reward value of stereotype confirmation
Niv Reggev
Postdoctoral Fellow, Psychology

Changing pre-existing stereotypes is a notoriously daunting task. However, little is known about the mechanisms supporting their persistence. In this talk I am going to provide evidence suggesting that this persistence is a result of a positive subjective value attributed to confirmation of stereotype-based expectation. Utilizing gender stereotypes as a test case I will present results from two fMRI studies suggesting that confirmation of typical gender stereotypes is associated with activation in reward-related regions. Importantly, even stereotype-consistent associations which were subjectively rejected triggered enhanced activity in these regions. Providing converging behavioral evidence, a separate set of pre-registered behavioral studies demonstrates that individuals are willing to incur a cost to engage with stereotypical examples and to avoid counter-stereotypical information. Overall, these findings provide initial support for the role of the reward system in the reinforcement of established stereotypes.

Men Out of Work: The Economic Cost of Masculinity
James Reisinger
Graduate Student, Public Policy

Recent research shows that changes in the labor market in the US differentially impact the economic prospects of men and women. Autor, Dorn, and Hanson (2018) suggest that negative shocks to manufacturing have a large relative impact on the economic prospects of young men relative to women, and lead to lower rates of marriage and fertility. This coincides with an overall decline in the unemployment rate. I present a preliminary, correlational analysis examining gender differences in the propensity to enter high growth occupations, especially in the healthcare sector. I connect this with geographic differences in attitudes towards gender equality. Finally, I propose methods for untangling the causal role of differences in gender norms, skills acquisition, and preferences in occupation selection.