Previous research has shown that exposing male undergraduates to
famous fathers who defy traditional gender roles can reduce implicit
stereotypes about fathers and mothers. Another study focusing on
ordinary fathers as counterstereotypic models found that for individuals
in their 50s with strong implicit father-mother stereotypes, such exposure
also helped reduce these biases. However, in other age groups, the
intervention had no significant impact, possibly because of the limited
influence of the intervention. A previous study showed that presenting
participants with a vivid and evocative counter-stereotypic scenario of
Black-positive and White-negative, along with contingency awareness
between racial categories and valence, was the most effective at
reducing implicit racial stereotypes. Building on this, the present study
examined whether exposing participants to ordinary fathers who had
taken at least three months of childcare leave, through a similarly vivid
and evocative scenario with contingency awareness, could reduce the
implicit association of 'father' with 'work' and 'mother' with 'home.'
Japanese adults completed the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and were
randomly assigned to either a counter-stereotypic or control group based
on gender and age. A total of 262 respondents (132 men and 130
women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s) were included in the
analysis. The results indicated that the intervention reduced implicit
associations of 'father' with 'work' and 'mother' with 'home' across all
gender and age groups. In addition, participants in their 60s showed
stronger associations between 'work' and 'father' and between 'home'
and 'mother' than those in their 20s. However, it is unclear whether a
vivid and evocative scenario can reduce implicit father-mother
stereotypes even without contingency awareness, highlighting the need
for further investigation.