Listeners' cognitive and affective reactions to English speakers with standard American English and Asian Accents

Using a 2 (speaker accent: standard American, Asian) x 2 (speakers' sex: male, female) between-subjects design, the present study examined the effects of accent and sex on listeners' cognitive and affective reactions towards speakers with standard American English accents and Asian accents. 70 female and 27 male college students (M = 21.8 yr., SD = 4.7) listened to the audio recording of a monologue by one of the speakers in the early 20s who differed in accent and sex. Standard American English was operationalized as nonaccented English, typical of the western part of the USA, and Vietnamese-accented English was used as an exemplar of Asian-accented English. Results showed that relative to standard American-accented English speakers, Asian-accented English speakers were perceived as poorer communicators who were less potent, less threatening, and more concerned about others. These cognitive reactions to Asian-accented English speakers include (a) the general stereotype associated with an accent, status and solidarity, as well as (b) the stereotype unique to Asians as an ethnic group, being concerned for others and poorer communicators. Analysis also showed that speakers with an Asian accent evoked more negative affect and required more attention from listeners than did speakers with a standard American English accent. Implications of the study are discussed.     

The costs of selecting power bases or messages associated with the opposite sex

A study was conducted to examine the interpersonal costs of using power bases associated with the opposite sex. The study also tested two hypotheses regarding influence differences associated with two statistical interactions: (1) the sex of the source by the sex-type of the message, and (2) the sex of the subject by the sex-type of the message. Subjects (N=387) viewed a videotype containing one of six speakers (three males, three females) delivering one of two speeches (about gun control or child care centers) and using one of two power bases (helplessness or expertise). The results indicated that speakers using power bases associated with the opposite sex were liked less and regarded as less competent and qualified than their counterparts. The results also indicated that female speakers aroused more belief in the child care message and male speakers aroused more belief in the gun control message than did the other speaker-message combinations. No significant effects were associated with the interaction between subjects' sex and message. Among other findings, female subjects generally rated the messages and the speakers more positively than did male subjects.     

Sex differences in listening comprehension

In order to examine the effect of sex of the speaker on listening comprehension in a public speaking situation, 60 male and 60 female subjects viewed either a male or female speaker presenting a talk on either a masculine (chess), feminine (interior decorating), or neutral (snow skiiing) topic. The results supported the hypotheses that when a male speaks he is listened to more carefully than a female speaker, even when she makes the identical presentation. No differences were found when the topic was biased towards one sex; males were still recalled better than females. The above relationships were also true for male and female subjects; both recalled information more accurately from male speakers than from female ones. Rating of informativeness of the presentation showed no difference for sex of the speaker; but effectiveness ratings of the speaker indicated that while both male and female subjects rated male speakers equally effective, the same was not true for the female speakers. Male subjects rated the female speakers significantly more effective than they did male speakers, whereas female subjects rated male and female speakers equally effective.This article is based in part on the first author's master's thesis, submitted to the Graduate School, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, under the direction of the second author. This research was supported in part by the Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, North Carolina. A portion of this paper was presented at the 23rd Southeastern Psychological Association Convention, Hollywood, Florida, May 1977.     

性别刻板印象及刻板信息对3～9岁儿童玩具选择的影响

采用玩具选择任务,通过对角色性别刻板玩具偏好的描述,考察3-9岁儿童对自己和他人性别刻板印象的发展状况,及外部信息对儿童选择的影响。结果表明：（1）儿童在玩具选择中表现出的性剐刻板印象在4．5岁显著增强,在7～9岁趋于稳定;（2）男孩性别刻板印象的形成先于女孩;（3）学龄前期儿童对不舍性别刻板信息的女性角色最不刻板,性别刻板信息会显著增加女孩对异性角色的刺板程度,而男孩则对自身的玩具选择最为刺板：（4）5-6岁时,儿童对自身玩具选择的性别刻板要求显著增强。总的来说,儿童的性别刻板印象受到内部认知发展和社会环境的共同作用。     

Effects of real gender and labeled gender on adults' perceptions of infants.

Three experiments were conducted to discover factors mediating adults' perceptions of male and female infants. In the first experiment, college students were shown 30-s videotapes of four male and four female babies, each of whom was randomly labeled with a male or a female name. Infants labeled as male were perceived as significantly more masculine and stronger than those labeled as female. Discriminant analyses revealed that both rated masculinity and the combination of ratings on male stereotyped traits differentiated infants labeled as male or female. Analyses of real gender revealed that boys were rated as less sensitive and stronger than girls. Discriminant analyses suggested that the combination of less sensitive, more of a problem, more mature, and more playful best differentiated real males from real females. In Experiment 2, the findings of Experiment 1 were confirmed with a sample of mothers of young infants. In Experiment 3 college students' judgments of the sex of the eight babies were correctly predicted from the sensitivity ratings of these babies in Experiment 1. It appears that there is a complex of cues from which adults make judgments of infants' gender and inferences about their characteristics: Boys may appear stronger, more playful, and more of a problem, and girls seem to look more sensitive. Implications for further studies of gender labeling and for sex typing are discussed.     

Effects of sex of listener and of stutterer on ratings of stuttering speakers

Attitudinal surveys relating to stutterers show conflicting evidence as to how stutterers are perceived. Studies have not addressed the question of possible sex differences as a determining variable in the rating of stuttering speakers. This study found a significant effect of the sex of the rater, with male subjects rating stuttering speakers less favorably on a number of personality dimensions than female raters.     

Ethnic and sex differences in occupational stereotyping by elementary school children

As part of the formative evaluation of an educational television and print package, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade public school Black, Hispanic, and Anglo children were surveyed regarding career choice and perceptions of the appropriateness of selected occupations for male and female adults and children. Responses were analyzed by ethnic membership and sex. Results indicated that in general Hispanic and Anglo girls chose more non traditional, higher-status occupations than Black girls. For boys, however, there was no clear interaction between sex and ethnic group in career choice. Girls and boys in all three ethnic groups indicated preference for careers stereotyped for their own sex, although girls—particularly Anglo girls—showed a greater tendency to cross sex-stereotyped lines. In addition, while both girls and boys in all three groups stereotyped as appropriate only for females those occupations regarded as traditionally female, traditionally male occupations were stereotyped more frequently by boys than by girls, who tended to consider them appropriate for both sexes. No differences appeared between ethnic groups in boys' responses to male and female adult occupations. In general Black girls tended to hold the most stereotypic views of job appropriateness, while Hispanic girls did not show a clear trend. Black boys tended to stereotype more than the other two groups with reference to child jobs on a boy-stereotype scale. Some differences also appeared in both boys' and girls' responses on the basis of a median split between high and low stereotypers on boy and girl child-job stereotype scales. In general, subjects who stereotyped child jobs tended also to stereotype adult occupations, suggesting a link between the child's current experience and the more remote world of adults. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

A tool for thought! When comparative thinking reduces stereotyping effects

Stereotypes have pervasive, robust, and often unwanted effects on how people see and behave towards others. Undoing these effects has proven to be a daunting task. Two studies demonstrate that procedurally priming participants to engage in comparative thinking with a generalized focus on differences reduces behavioral and judgmental stereotyping effects. In Study 1, participants who were procedurally primed to focus on differences sat closer to a skinhead - a member of a negatively stereotyped group. In Study 2, participants primed on differences ascribed less gender stereotypic characteristics to a male and female target person. This suggests that comparative thinking with a focus on differences may be a simple cognitive tool to reduce the behavioral and judgmental effects of stereotyping.     

Gender and Truthfulness in Daily Life Situations

To determine the extent to which perceivedgender enters into judgments of credibility indaily-life situations, 46 raters (23 males and 23females matched for age and education) read a set ofaccusations and rated synthetic speakers' audiotapedresponses to the accusations on how believable the maleand female synthetic speakers were. The results suggestthat on the daily-life scenarios posed, both male and female speakers are equally likely to judgefemale speakers to be more credible than male speakers,whether the accusation is deemed to reflect anintentional or negligent act.     

Gender and speech rate in the perception of competence and social attractiveness

The authors' hypotheses were that (a) listeners regard speakers whose global speech rates they judge to be similar to their own as more competent and more socially attractive than speakers whose rates are different from their own and (b) gender influences those perceptions. Participants were 17 male and 28 female listeners; they judged each of 3 male and 3 female speakers in terms of 10 unipolar adjective scales. The authors used 8 of the scales to derive 2 scores describing the extent to which the listener viewed a speaker as competent and socially attractive. The 2 scores were related by trend analyses (a) to the listeners' perceptions of the speakers' speech rates as compared with their own and (b) to comparisons of the actual speech rates of the speakers and listeners. The authors examined trend components of the data by split-plot multiple regression analyses. In general, the results supported both hypotheses. The participants judged speakers with speech rates similar to their own as more competent and socially attractive than speakers with speech rates slower or faster than their own. However, the ratings of competence were significantly influenced by the gender of the listeners, and those of social attractiveness were influenced by the gender of the listeners and the speakers.     

Cognition and affect in evaluations of stereotyped group members

The contribution of cognition and affect to evaluations of stereotyped group members was examined. Subjects were American male undergraduates who evaluated a male homosexual or a male heterosexual applicant to a program in elementary education or fine arts. Cognitive measures used to predict evaluations were the discrepancies between stereotype components for the social category and stereotype components for the occupation; affective measures were four dimensions of mood-affect. Results indicated that negative affect predicted evaluations of homosexuals but not heterosexuals. Homosexuals were evaluated less favorably than heterosexuals for both occupations, despite the fact that homosexuals were perceived as less discrepant from occupational members than heterosexuals.     

Male-female differences and the influence of neonatal and adult testosterone on intraspecies aggression in rats.

Male and female albino rats were tested for intraspecies aggression without the use of shock. In the first experiment, male pairs showed more biting attacks, offensive sideways movements, and self-grooming than did female pairs; male pairs also showed more stereotyped defensive/submissive behaviors and were wounded more frequently. The second experiment examined the effects of neonatal castration and testosterone propionate (TP) administration on fighting. Males castrated at birth attacked other males less frequently than did controls when tested with TP treatment as adults. The TP given at birth to neonatally castrated males restored attacks to control levels. Females given TP as neonates did not differ from either male or female controls. Other aggressive/defensive behaviors, however, did not show this pattern. The results suggest that while the presence of testosterone during a brief postnatal period and during adulthood is necessary for attack behavior to occur, other related behaviors may not be affected in a similar manner.     

Gender and Speech Rate in the Perception of Competence and Social Attractiveness

Abstract

The authors' hypotheses were that (a) listeners regard speakers whose global speech rates they judge to be similar to their own as more competent and more socially attractive than speakers whose rates are different from their own and (b) gender influences those perceptions. Participants were 17 male and 28 female listeners; they judged each of 3 male and 3 female speakers in terms of 10 unipolar adjective scales. The authors used 8 of the scales to derive 2 scores describing the extent to which the listener viewed a speaker as competent and socially attractive. The 2 scores were related by trend analyses (a) to the listeners' perceptions of the speakers' speech rates as compared with their own and (b) to comparisons of the actual speech rates of the speakers and listeners. The authors examined trend components of the data by split-plot multiple regression analyses. In general, the results supported both hypotheses. The participants judged speakers with speech rates similar to their own as more competent and socially attractive than speakers with speech rates slower or faster than their own. However, the ratings of competence were significantly influenced by the gender of the listeners, and those of social attractiveness were influenced by the gender of the listeners and the speakers.     

Age differences in using source-relevant cues.

Subjects heard words originating from 2 speakers and later decided which of the 2 speakers said the words. Older adults had difficulty with source monitoring when perceptual cues from 2 sources were similar (2 female speakers), but this difficulty was overcome when perceptual cues were distinctive (a male and a female speaker) and were the only salient cues to source. Older adults also benefited from distinctive spatial cues when these were the only salient cues to source. Older adults, however, experienced difficulties in using multiple cues (both perceptual and spatial) to source effectively, whereas younger adults were able to use multiple cues to enhance their source-monitoring performance. It is suggested that age differences in source monitoring result from differential cue utilization.     

Television viewing and the learning of sex-role stereotypes

This study was designed to determine the relationship between the amount of time children spend watching television and their knowledge of adult sex-role stereotypes. Males and females in grades 1, 3, 5, and 7 who were classified as heavy television viewers (25 or more hours per week) or light viewers (10 or less hours per week) both at the time of the study and 15 months previously were administered the Sex Stereotype Measure, an instrument designed to determine children's awareness of stereotyped sex-role perceptions held by adults. Heavy viewers were found to have more stereotyped perceptions than light viewers. A significant interaction effect indicated that among low viewers the perception of male stereotypes steadily declines with increasing age; among heavy viewers, stereotypic responses to male items are maintained with increasing age. No comparable interaction effect was obtained for perception of female stereotypes. The role of interaction with live models in breaking down stereotypic perceptions of males is discussed.A modified version of this paper was presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, April 1975.     

Social Acceptability of Hypothetical Married Couples and Their Relationships

The present experiment tested whether the physical attractiveness attributed to members of married couples would vary according to the social acceptability associated with their interconnected leader-follower roles. American college students rated female and male hypothetical stimulus persons who were described as married to each other. As predicted, both partners who were described as being in a traditional relationship with the husband as leader were stereotyped as being highly attractive. Partners in relationships that deviated from this pattern were stereotyped as being less attractive: Those enacting equal leadership roles were intermediate in attractiveness, and those with the wife as leader were least attractive. Gender identity also varied according to the social acceptability of the couple's roles, with the wife and husband in the traditional relationship being stereotyped as most highly sex typed. The personal attributes of self-esteem and social status were not affected by the social acceptability of the couple's relationship. Regardless of sex, these attributes varied according to the strength of the individual's leadership role. As a consequence, the husband's characteristics were either consistently positive or negative for the different leadership conditions; the wife's attributes were inconsistent.     

LANGUAGE ATTITUDES OF ITALO-AUSTRALIAN AND GREEK-AUSTRALIAN BILINGUALS*

The purpose of this research was to investigate differences in the perception of speakers as a function of their language and sex. Forty-two Italo-Australian and 56 Greek-Australian young people listened to male and female speakers in each of their two languages, using Lambert et al's. (1960) guise method. Results indicated few differences in Italo-Australian subjects' ratings of speakers as a function of language, while Greek-Australian subjects, in general, rated Greek guises more positively than English guises. In addition, Italo-Australian subjects rated female subjects more positively than male speakers irrespective of language, but Greek-Australian subjects reversed this pattern.     

Effects of mutual invisibility and topical intimacy on verbal fluency in dyadic communication

The mutual reduction of visual feedback, which in this study did not interfere with the synchronization of turns, reduced the productivity levels and increased the silent pauses of female speakers, even though it had no effect on their subjective discomfort, anxiety, and ease of communication self-ratings. The same reduction of visual feedback, which was achieved by seating the participants back-to-back rather than face-to-face, caused male speakers to feel anxious and uncomfortable and reduced the duration of their silent pauses, but only in samegender dyads. These findings are explained in terms of previously noted gender differences in the need for visual feedback and in the anxiety-arousing effects of back-to-back interactions. Intimate communications, on the part of both male and female speakers, were associated with a slow pacing of speech but not with a decrease in productivity level, independently of the seating arrangement. These findings are interpreted in terms of the self-monitoring and self-censoring that is usually associated with the communication of intimate messages.