My name is Katharina (Kate) Block and I am a Social Psychologist, who earned her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Toni Schmader and did a SSHRC-funded Post-Doctoral fellowship at New York University with Dr. Andrei Cimpian and Dr. David Amodio. I am now an assistant professor in Social Psychology at the University of Amsterdam.
I am broadly interested in how stereotypes about the social groups we are members of (especially gender) influence how we think about ourselves (our self-concept). I look at this relationship at an explicit, and at a more automatic/implicit level. At the moment I am very interested in how gender stereotypes influence men and boys’ communal values (how much do they value helping and caring?) and their participation in communal roles (are they interested in becoming nurses, social workers, or teachers? Do they think they will participate in childcare?)
In addition, I am the coordinator of a large cross-national data collection project (UCOM) with the goal of examining how national context (norms, beliefs, values, policies) shape men’s communal roles. With the help of 75 research teams we have collected data from 49 countries. If you are interested read more HERE!
Please check out my website for most upto-date publication list
**Co-authored with my mentored graduate or undergraduate students
+First-authorship shared
Block+, K., Margoni+, F., Hamlin, K., Zmyj, N., & Schmader, T. (In Press). Meta-Analytic Evidence Against Sex Differences in Infants’and Toddlers’ Preference for Prosocial Agents. Developmental Psychology, Pre-Print: https://psyarxiv.com/r6vqb
Gonzalez, A. M., Block, K., Oh, H. J. J., Bizzotto, R., & Baron, A. S. (2022). Measuring Implicit Gender Stereotypes Using the Preschool Auditory Stroop. Journal of Cognition and Development, 23(2), 254–272. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2021.2013223.
Bosson, J. K., Jurek, P., Vandello, J. A., Kosakowska-Berezecka, N., Olech, M., Besta, T., Bender, M., Hoorens, V., […, Block, K., …], Žukauskienė, R. (2021). Psychometric Properties and Correlates of Precarious Manhood Beliefs in 62 Nations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022121997997
Gonzalez, A. M., Odic, D., Schmader, T., Block, K., & Baron, A. S. (2021). The effect of gender stereotypes on young girls’ intuitive number sense. PLoS ONE, 16(10 October), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258886
Block, K. +, Croft, A. +, De Souza, L.**, & Schmader, T. (2019). Do people care if men don’t care about caring? The asymmetry in support for changing gender roles. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 83, 112–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2019.03.013
Croft, A., Schmader, T., & Block, K. (2019). Life in the balance: Are women’s possible selves constrained by men’s domestic involvement? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45(5), 808-823. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218797294
Block, K., Gonzalez, A. M., Schmader, T., & Baron, A. S. (2018). Early gender differences in core values predict anticipated family versus career orientation, Psychological Science, 29(9), 1540-1547, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618776942
Block, K., Hall, W., Schmader, T., Inness, M., Croft, E. (2018). Should I stay or should I go: Implicit stereotypes predict women’s commitment and fit in STEM. Social Psychology, 49 (4), 243-251, https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000343.
Block, K., Croft, A., & Schmader, T. (2018). Worth less?: Why men (and women) devalue care-oriented careers. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01353
Schmader, T., & Block, K. (2015). Engendering identity: Toward a clearer conceptualization of gender as a social identity. Sex Roles, 73(11), 474–480. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0536-3
Croft, A., Schmader, T., & Block, K. (2015). An underexamined inequality: cultural and psychological barriers to men’s engagement with communal roles. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 19(4), 343–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868314564789
Schmader, T., Block, K., & Lickel, B. (2015). Social identity threat in response to stereotypic film portrayals: Effects on self‐conscious emotion and implicit ingroup attitudes. Journal of Social Issues, 71, 54-72. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12096
Croft, A., Schmader, T., Block, K., Baron, A. (2014). The second shift reflected in the second generation: Do parents’ gender roles at home predict children’s aspirations? Psychological Science, 25(7), 1418 -1428, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614533968.