Significant other representations activate stereotypic self-views among women

We predicted and found that the extent to which self-views were consistent with prevailing stereotypes depended on the cognitive accessibility of representations of a significant other. Seventy-nine women participated in a two-stage experiment. In the first stage, participants named and described significant or unimportant others who they perceived as viewing them in a stereotypic or counter-stereotypic way (i.e., as having communal vs. agentic qualities). Approximately a week later, one of the significant or unimportant others was made cognitively accessible prior to completing a self-view measure. The results showed that women shifted their stereotype relevant self-views to correspond with the perceived views of a significant other but not to those of an unimportant other.