Examining a gender stereotype: Menopausal women

Two studies evaluated whether there was a subtype of menopausal women and, if so, how it differed from the global gender stereotype. Study 1 had parti cipants generate items associated with women going through menopause, midli fe women, and midlife men. Results showed that there is a menopausal women stereotype, and it is mostly negative in content. Moreover, this stereotype differs from the perceptions of women in general. Study 2 examined the eff ects of the menopausal women stereotype by employing the illusory correlati on paradigm (e.g., McConnell, Sherman, & Hamilton, 1994) and found that par ticipants greatly overestimated the number of times that menopausal women a nd negative moods appeared together. This research highlights the importanc e of examining stereotype subtypes and subgroups.