When people are presented with different scenarios that require their decisions, they are likely to react in a predetermined way. Long-held beliefs and ideologies shape a person's thinking and behaviour and influence their reaction to stimuli. Researchers interested in people's decision making and predisposition try to understand the way they respond to different situations and make rational decisions based on beliefs and opinions that shape one's thinking. It is common for people to associate selected tasks to a particular group like males, females, children, ethnic or racial or professionals. Cultural practices and stereotypical attitudes shape such beliefs, and affect the way people interact, relate to each other, behave and respond to different situations (Priest et al., 2018) . People would like to maintain their reputation based on stereotypical attitudes that shape their behaviour, attitude and beliefs; thus, they will react in a certain way to please others or maintain status quo. For example, men are likely to answer research questions according to their predisposition and long-held beliefs. Stereotyping affects people's behaviour and reaction to their environment and can dictate their response to different stimuli, including rational decision making.
Understanding the human brain and its decision-making process is a challenging task that requires more research and input from different disciplines. Researchers have tried to understand the way people make rational decisions and to some extent, have attributed such behaviours to stereotyping (Priest et al., 2018) . It is common for children from one gender to behave differently from the other and will continue doing so into their adulthood. When children start differentiating various aspects like dressing, plays and chores to a different gender, they will hold such predisposition into their adulthood (Finkelstein et al., 2013) . A child will start learning that some house chores are meant for females, while others are meant for men. As they grow, they will develop stereotypical behaviour that will affect the way they treat their peers or respond to different situations (Koenig, 2018) . For example, when a child starts learning, they will develop an interest in some activities aligned to their gender preposition and view other sporting activities as belonging to the other gender. Boys will be interested in football and cycling, unlike girls who will focus more on feminine plays.
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Stereotyping affects the way an individual reacts to a situation that is likely to affect their reputation. Men will react in a way that shows their position in society and avoid any situations that diminish their status or affect their reputation (Koenig, 2018) . It is common for men to interact with their peers and engaged in weighty topics like politics, investment and football. On the contrary, women will prefer activities that maintain their reputation, thus avoid the possibility of being considered as exhibiting male characteristics. They will engage in activities like cooking, washing and cleaning. Such behaviours develop slowly, and an individual who behaves differently will be considered less of a man or woman, thus lose their reputation (Finkelstein et al., 2013) . People strive to manage their reputation and will avoid any situations that diminish such aspiration or presents them as having limited capabilities to realize the desired outcome. In most instances, an individual would like to retain their stature to avoid unwanted outcomes from their peers who view their behaviour and reaction as different from the norm.
People like to behave in a predetermined way to manage their reputation and avoid attracting unwanted reactions or treatment from their counterparts. A person can display some behavioural traits in a different situation depending on their surrounding or situation (Koenig, 2018) . Similarly, age-related issues can also affect stereotyping behaviours with children behaving differently from adults. Similarly, it is common for adults to react differently if they feel that they are in a group with members who have similar characteristics. For example, it is common for young employees in an organization to associate with each other and behave differently from their older counterparts. The nature of job and experience or skills of its performers can also affect the way people react or behave. It is common for older people in an organizational setting to interact freely and share jokes, yet not do the same with younger colleagues.
Age differences in the workplace lead to stereotyping behaviour. It is common for older people to assume that they have more experience, knowledge and skills compared to their younger counterparts. They believe that the younger generation is less prepared for the workplace and cannot perform effectively. However, such beliefs are untrue and based on the stereotypical tendency of one group to consider the other superior or inferior depending on the nature of job, experience or exposure. Age-based perceptions affect the decision-making process since it leads to biased courses of action based on the perception held by the decision-maker (Koenig, 2018) . A decision-maker can select an alternative with the lowest benefit since they believe that they know what is best for the entire group. The contribution of others is unlikely to sway or affect their predisposition.
Self-presentation arises from an individual's long-held beliefs of what is appropriate or not. Such predisposition affects the way people behave, act, eat or dress, including their decision-making process. People want to be viewed positively and will, therefore do anything to realize such aspirations. Such an individual will be preoccupied with how they are perceived and the way others think about them. They are afraid about others reaction and thought process thus would strive to maintain a particular reputation (Koenig, 2018) . Researchers try to understand such predisposition and their impact on decision making and daily activities. The stereotypes that people develop affect all facets of life, decisions and preference (Finkelstein et al., 2013) . It is therefore critical to understand the effect of stereotyping on decisions related to male/female activities or tasks and understand the way people behave when faced with different situations that are affected by stereotypical beliefs.
Discussion
The current study shows the effect of stereotyping and decision making. The results support past studies which showed that people respond to the current situation depending on their predisposition and long-held beliefs (Koenig, 2018; Priest et al., 2018). The design and conduct of the experiment allowed participants to click the best options that reflect beliefs, aspirations and assumptions of tasks and responsibilities applicable to each group. Women selected activities they like or perform while men chose those that reflect their nature. The study shows that individuals have stereotypical tendencies to associate certain tasks with a selected group. Such predispositions affect a decision maker's ability to make rational and objective decisions. They believe that certain groups are better suited to perform certain activities.
The design of the current study allowed respondents to quickly complete the exercise and avoid bias by presenting a balanced approach that users can easily select a choice that best applies to their predisposition. Stereotype-compatible conditions attracted faster reactions compared to stereotype-incompatible conditions a clear indication that the human brain is preconditioned to react quickly to the known as opposed to something new. It is easier for the brain to associate concepts that are similar to their stereotype and draw immediate conclusions. Such outcomes are informative of the decision-making process where a decision-maker will easily make conclusions on an issue they have a stereotype, thus affecting the quality of their decisions.
Issues like delayed gratification can affect the decision-making ability of an individual since they determine their reaction to a different situation and urgency to get feedback. If a respondent feels that the benefits accrued from delayed gratification are more than the cost of waiting, they will wait hoping to reap higher benefits from their patience. Such outcomes are critical in decision making since they indicate the predisposition of an individual and their perception towards delayed gratification. Delayed gratification arises from an individual's desire to maintain favourable treatment or treated positively for their actions (Ma et al., 2020). However, it is common for an individual to prefer immediate gratification based on cost-benefit analysis and their stereotypical beliefs about future returns.
Decision-makers should understand the influence of stereotypical tendencies on the quality of their decisions. They should ensure that they d not allow their predisposition and beliefs to inform their course of action since it can blur them from making rational decisions. They can rush into making a concussion which can cause adverse long term effects. Decision-makers should also understand brain development from childhood to adulthood and the effect of issues like delayed gratification and its ability to contribute to self-control. A decision-maker who relies on delayed gratification can make rational decisions since they can think through the situation and avoid stereotypical tendencies that can affect their ability to make decisions.
References
Finkelstein, L., Ryan, K., & King, E. (2013). What do the young (old) people think of me? Content and accuracy of age-based metastereotypes. European Journal Of Work And Organizational Psychology , 22 (6), 633-657. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432x.2012.673279
Koenig, A. (2018). Comparing Prescriptive and Descriptive Gender Stereotypes About Children, Adults, and the Elderly. Frontiers In Psychology , 9 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01086
Ma, F., Zeng, D., Xu, F., Compton, B., & Heyman, G. (2020). Delay of Gratification as Reputation Management. Psychological Science , 31 (9), 1174-1182. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620939940
Priest, N., Slopen, N., Woolford, S., Philip, J., Singer, D., & Kauffman, A. et al. (2018). Stereotyping across intersections of race and age: Racial stereotyping among White adults working with children. PLOS ONE , 13 (9), e0201696. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201696
