Differences in behavior and associated gender stereotypes derive from the different norms and expectations associated with the social roles that men and women typically hold. The stereotypes are all-too familiar: men are better at math, women at communicating; men make better military officers, women better caregivers. As a result, occupations, jobs and tasks become gender-typed as 'male' or 'female' according to the gender of the typical incumbent. The authors report their findings, which suggest that the additional scrutiny of being a solo member of one's gender -- whether self-imposed or imposed by others -- can be either beneficial or detrimental to performance, depending on the typicality of the task relative to one's gender.

What do exhilaration, stereotyping and poor table manners have in common? What do embarrassment, the advantage younger siblings enjoy over older ones in understanding others' mental states, and the complexity of Supreme Court justices' decisions have in common? The answer is simple: power. Power is a basic force in social relationships and the dynamics and structure of personality. But as central as it is to social life and to theoretical inquiries in the Social Sciences, it has received only sporadic attention from psychologists. The authors show that we are beginning to understand how power influences cognitive processes such as stereotyping, complex social reasoning, moral judgment, and inferences about non-verbal behavior. They also look at how power influences social behavior, including emotional display, behavioral confirmation, familial aggression, hate crimes, sexual aggression, and teasing. Our understanding of how power shapes situations, groups, and cultures, they argue, ultimately rests on a formulation of how power - and powerlessness - shape the psychology of the individual.