Group Polarization: What Factors Influence Gender Stereotypes

In this essay we will explore what factors influence social behaviors and how these factors influence gender stereotypes, why we follow them, and how transgender people are affected by social influence. Social situations can affect someone's ideas about societal gender roles as well as their behavior towards certain individuals who break societal ideal gender roles. Individuals who are apart of a group of people who all believe similar ideas about male and female stereotypes, tend to be more susceptible to creating prejudice opinions about certain groups of individuals who do not fit societal roles. This is called group polarization. Group Polarization is the phenomenon that occurs when people discuss their ideas with other like-minded individuals, often creating stronger opinions about a subject (Myers, D. (2014)). A good example of the effects of group polarization can be seen with in religious groups. Many people in Abrahamic religious groups have very strong prejudices against people who are transgender or people who break sacred "male and female" societal roles. This is because all individuals within religious group read and believe in their holy books, which prohibit cross-dressing or altering your god given genitalia, therefore they all have strong, and similar beliefs. When all individuals with in a group feel strongly against a certain behavior, it can cause extreme behaviors against

Deindividuation is the loss of ones self-identity or ones self-restraint that occurs when people are apart of a group (Myers, D. (2014)). Individuals who may feel that they do not fit into societal gender roles or who would like to undergo transgender surgery, may suppress their internal feelings to fit in with their group. This may cause an individual to lose their sense of individuality since they are simply copying the behavior of the group instead of listening to their own internal