Positive stereotyped traits become double-edged liabilities in incongruent roles

Evidence

This decline in evaluation can take place toward members of groups whose overall stereotypes are predominantly negative, positive, or ambivalent. Positive stereotypical attributes - for example, the niceness ascribed to women - become a liability in some social roles. When a generally positive attribute such as niceness is mismatched to role requirements, perceivers suspect that this attribute would foster behavior inappropriate to the role. For example, a female prosecuting attorney may be devalued because her presumed niceness jeopardizes her success as a litigator. Similarly, positive qualities commonly ascribed to men, such as independence and assertiveness, can block their access to caretaking roles requiring interpersonally sensitive and nurturant qualities (see also Jackman, ch. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 195

Categorization

• SEED: The mechanism that ‘positive’ stereotypes (niceness, independence) cut both ways offers an angle on how compliments themselves can be weaponized against role mobility.
• XREF: Extends the reader’s compliment/immodesty thread — the apparent flattery (‘she’s so nice’) becomes the very reason to deny a woman a role, paralleling how praise can police conduct. — connects to: Positive stereotypes can justify subordination more effectively than negative ones — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 2956; Hierarchical rank determines which personality traits employers need in a worker — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 900; Positive and negative stereotype dimensions combine strategically to justify group hierarchies — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 9