During the Jack-in-the-Box experiment, which emotion was assigned to the baby based on the gender participants thought it was?

In the Jack-in-the-Box experiment, researchers explored how perceptions of a baby's gender could influence the emotions that participants associated with its reaction. When participants believed the baby was a girl, they typically assigned emotions like joy or surprise to its reaction upon being startled. Conversely, when they thought the baby was a boy, they were more likely to attribute the emotion of fear to its startled reaction. This phenomenon highlights how societal stereotypes and expectations regarding gender can shape our interpretations of emotional expressions.

The understanding of why fear was assigned based on the perceived gender of the baby reflects broader cultural narratives around masculinity and the assumption that boys should display emotions like fear less often than girls. This study illustrates how deeply embedded gender norms can influence not just how we perceive others, but how we interpret emotional responses, thereby revealing the intersection of gender and emotion in social psychology.