Evaluating the independence of sex and expression in judgments of faces

Face recognition models suggest independent processing for functionally different types of information, such as identity, expression, sex, and facial speech. Interference between sex and expression information was tested using both a rating study and Garner's selective attention paradigm using speeded sex and expression decisions. When participants were asked to assess the masculinity of male and female angry and surprised faces, they found surprised faces to be more feminine than angry ones (Experiment 1). However, in a speeded-classification situation in the laboratory in which the sex decision was either "easy" relative to the expression decision (Experiment 2) or of more equivalent difficulty (Experiment 3), it was possible for participants to attend selectively to either dimension without interference from the other. Qualified support is offered for independent processing routes.     

THE INFLUENCE OF SEX OF SUBJECT AND PHOTO IN THE HEMISPHERIC SPECIALIZATION OF FACIAL RECOGNITION

This study was conducted to assess the effects of sex of subject, sex of photo, and hemispheric specialization on the ability of male (n = 21) and female (n = 21) subjects to recognize previously seen black and white male and female faces. Results indicated better performance with female faces and a significant interaction for sex of photo and laterality. Overall performance was best for female photos and worst for male photos in the LVF. A greater number of false alarms occurred in the LVF with male photos. The differential processing of distinctive cues of male and female faces by the LVF and RVF was discussed.     

GENDER AND ETHNOCULTURAL COMPARISONS IN STYLES OF LOVE

Ethnocultural background and gender were investigated as correlates of love styles in an ethnically diverse sample of university students in Toronto. Women viewed love as more friendship oriented, more pragmatic, but less permissive than did men, findings consistent with previous research with American college students. Ethnocultural differences or Gender x Ethnocultural Background interactions were also found. In line with an expected contrast between Asian and Western cultural traditions regarding love, Chinese and other Asian respondents of both sexes were more friendship oriented in their love relationships than were respondents of Anglo-Celtic or European ethnocultural backgrounds. Expectations of greater gender role differentiation among Asians were partly supported by finding that women from Asian ethnocultural backgrounds other than Chinese were less likely to view "love as a game" than were either their female or male counterparts. Women from Asian ethnocultural backgrounds other than Chinese also expressed a more altruistic view of love than did Anglo-Celtic women.     

THE EFFECT OF SEX SIMILARITY ON RECRUITERS' EVALUATIONS OF ACTUAL APPLICANTS: A TEST OF THE SIMILARITY-ATTRACTION PARADIGM

The present study examined the effect of sex similarity on recruiters' evaluations of actual applicants in campus interviews and tested whether perceived similarity and interpersonal attraction mediated this effect. Structural equation modeling was performed on data from 476 campus interviews. The results revealed complex effects of sex similarity on recruiters' decision processes. Perceived similarity and interpersonal attraction mediated the effect of sex similarity on female recruiters' assessments of applicants' qualifications. Unexpectedly, female recruiters saw male applicants as more similar to themselves and more qualified than female applicants. For male recruiters, interview outcomes were not affected by sex similarity. Social identity theory, which suggests that the status associated with demographic characteristics may influence the nature of demographic similarity effects, provides a possible explanation for the findings.     

The preference to work for a man or a woman: A matter of sex and gender?

A survey of 455 individuals sampled from two populations that varied in age, educational level, and work experience posed a question asked in Gallup polls over six decades: “If you were taking a new job and had your choice of a boss, would you prefer to work for a man or a woman?” Respondents could state that they would prefer a male boss, prefer a female boss, or had no preference. As expected from theory and Gallup results, respondents who had a preference preferred to work for a man more than a woman, although a majority expressed “no preference.” When they expressed a preference, women preferred to work for a female boss over a male boss more than men did, whereas men preferred to work for a male boss over a female boss more than women did. Sex-typed (i.e., masculine or feminine) respondents in gender identity exhibited a greater preference to work for a boss of a particular sex over having no preference than non-sex-typed respondents. Further, feminine respondents preferred to work for a female boss over a male boss more than masculine respondents did, whereas masculine respondents preferred to work for a male boss over a female boss more than feminine respondents did. Overall, these results suggest that the preference to work for a man or a woman is a matter of both sex and gender. Implications for job applicants' vocational decisions and how female leaders fare in the workplace are discussed.     

书写字体的性别差异研究

从珠海市中小学一年级至初中三年级随机选出５４０名学生,要求他们每个人抄一段４００字左右的短文,收回抄写卷５４０份。４０名有经验的教师,对书写者的性别做出判断,并回答一份关于判断男女笔迹的依据的问卷。结果表明：１．小学低年级男女生的字体没有明显的性别差异,到中高年级以后,性别差异才明显地表现出来。二、三年级之间,五、六年级之间是差异形成的两个加速期。２．判断者对小学低年级书写者的性别的判断不准确,主要是由于将女生的字体误判为男生的字体而造成的。３．男女生字体的差异主要表现在五个方面,即字体大小程度,字的力度、字体的刚劲度、字的工整度和字的棱角度。     

思维风格测验在大学生中的初步应用

本文介绍了斯腾伯格的心理自我管理理论并使用斯腾伯格所编制的思维风格问卷对大学生的思维风格进行了测量,比较了思维风格在性别、文理科、地域等方面的个体差异,得出了中国大学生在思维风格方面的一些特点;研究了思维风格与一般智力的关系,发现思维风格与智力相关很低,说明思维风格是一种独立于智力的特质;同时对思维风格量表的信、效度及量表的结构进行了探讨。     

GENDER AND TASK IN THE DETERMINATION OF SPATIAL COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE

A variety of sex differences in spatial cognitive performance have been documented. However, factors other than those specifically related to gender and cognition per se, such as the perceived spatial character of given tasks, may contribute to such differences. In the present experiments, spatial memory and mental image rotation tasks were presented to female and male adults. The task formats or instructions were varied to emphasize or deemphasize the spatial character of the tasks. Highly "spatial" instructions or format significantly depressed performance on spatial tasks for women but not for men. "Nonspatial" instructions or format, within which the spatial character of the task was not explicit, resulted in no significant differences between the performances of women and men on either type of task. These findings indicate that instructional or format effects relating to the purported "spatial" character of a given task may significantly influence the relative performance of women and men.     

THE USE OF THE BEHAVIOR PROBLEM CHECKLIST WITH GREEK DEAF CHILDREN IN CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH*

The Behavior Problem Checklist was completed by teachers of 127 students who attended a state supported school for the deaf in Athens, Greece. Analyses were performed which generated three, four, five, and ten factors. The biographic variables of sex and age were also included in some of the analyses to determine their effect, if any, on the factor structure. Results of the analyses were compared to analogous results for U.S. deaf children and Greek hearing children. Three factors which correspond to dimensions found in earlier research and previously labeled conduct problem, personality problem, and inadequacy-immaturity were found. Overall the Greek deaf children tended to have problem behavior patterns similar to the U.S. deaf and Greek hearing as well as other populations. It was apparent that these patterns for the Greek deaf children were largely independent of the deafness handicap and differences in cultural background.     

THE TREATMENT OF WOMEN WITHIN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: AN INQUIRY INTO THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE WOMEN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Two studies considered the possible impact of the feminist movement upon criminal justice decisions relating to women. One body of data confirmed a trend away from indiscriminate leniency in the punishment of female criminals during the women's movement. Courtroom and parole board decisions determining length of imprisonment showed an improving alignment of punishment and criminal circumstances for women and men. The second set of data disclosed that an increased seriousness was accorded to the crime of rape as feminism became more influential. Rape, as a violation of the woman's right to bodily self-determination, was punished more harshly during the period of greater feminist influence, a fact that was not true of other male violent crimes. The women's movement appears to have brought about a more realistic balance of female and male responsibilities before the law as well as a greater respect for women's sexual rights.     

PORTRAYAL OF MARRIED SEX IN THE MOVIES

While media research has incidentally addressed the portrayal of sex between married partners, this study specifically analyzed how sexuality between married couples is depicted in popular films, as represented by the top 25 movie video rentals of 1998. Of the occurrences of sexual behavior (N=105), married partners represented 15 percent of the total compared to 85 percent for unmarried couples. The most common sexual behavior among husbands and wives was passionate kissing, which accounted for 63 percent of their sexual activity. By comparison, implied intercourse was the most common sexual behavior among unmarried partners, occurring in 38 percent of their sexual encounters. This and other findings suggest that sexual behavior among married characters is rare and rather mundane compared to those having unmarried sex. These findings and their implications are discussed. The authors wish like to thank kim Vetter and Andrew McIntosh for their assistance in coding the films and to Craig Henderson for assistance with data analysis. In addition, this research was partially funded by Blockbuster Entertaiment and Payless Video.     

MASCULINE BIAS IN THE ATTRIBUTION OF PERSONHOOD

Silveira (1980) noted that not just masculine generics, but also neutral terms, have masculine connotations; she called this the "people = male" bias. Her hypothesis takes two forms: people = male, a male is more likely seen as a person than is a female; and male = people, a person is more likely believed to be male than female. A total of 108 female and 91 male college students participated in three studies. Study 1 tested male = people. Participants referring back to a female or male protagonist as a woman/man or as a person were significantly more likely to refer to the male with a nongender-specific term. Studies 2 and 3 tested people = male. In Study 2, reanalysis of data from Hamilton and Henley (1982) showed that hearing unbiased generics promoted male-biased mental imagery in men. In Study 3, participants'imagined "typical person" was significantly more likely to be male than female.     

Sex Domination of Occupations and the Tendencies to Approach and Avoid Success and Failure

To test a theory that approach and avoidance imagery would be associated with both success and failure, female and male college students wrote stories to sentence cues. The sentence cues described a female or male stimulus person as succeeding or failing in one of six occupations. Two of the occupations were dominated by females, two by males, and two were approximately equal in sex domination. The imagery content of the stories yielded independent evidence of success-approach, success-avoidance, failure-approach, and failure-avoidance imagery. Success-approach and failure-avoidance imagery increased as the current male domination of the occupation increased; failure-approach imagery increased as the current female domination of the occupation increased. Success-approach imagery appeared more often in stories written by female respondents; success-avoidance imagery appeared more often in stories written by male respondents. The results were consistent with an achievement model that provides for approach and avoidance tendencies to success and failure. Differential results for the respondents of the two sexes are theoretically attributable to different weightings of the four motives mediated by the anticipated consequences of success and failure.     

Differences that suggest female investment in,and male distance from,children

A factorial between subjects experiment was conducted with sex of respondent, level of success, sex of stimulus parent, and sex of stimulus child as the independent variables. Two hundred seventy-two undergraduates without parenting experience constituted the sample. The attributions made to explain parenting success/failure and the ratings made both of the child and the parent on the same 60 personality item were the dependent variables. Female respondents were not only especially success-oriented, but evidenced a view of parenting emphasizing deliberation and skill, whereas their male counterparts were comparatively more inclined to explain failure in terms of it being the child's fault and to overstate a child's meanness.This investigation was completed on the first author's NIMH traineeship (5 T01 MH-14473) for doctoral study. The authors are appreciative of the contributions of Professors Donn Byrne, Kay Deaux, and William Martin to the development of this study.     

Contact avoidance toward people with stigmatized attributes: mate choice

If contact avoidance is used to avoid harmful people, then this can play an important role when people choose a spouse, by eliminating undesirable people from the list of candidates. The purpose of this study was to reveal the sex difference in contact avoidance toward people with stigmatic attributes, who are therefore disadvantaged as spouse candidates. A total of 228 university students (101 men, 127 women) participated in the survey. Seven types of men and women with stigmatic characteristics were presented and the respondents asked how much they wanted to avoid contact with each type of person in eight physical contact situations. Female respondents wanted to avoid contact with stigmatized men more than with stigmatized women. On the other hand, male respondents showed comparable responses to both stigmatized men and women. The results were considered from the perspective of mate selection based on evolutionary psychology.     

SEX EFFECTS IN CONVERSATIONAL INTERACTION: ANOTHER LOOK AT MALE DOMINANCE

The present study represents a contemporary test of traditional assumptions about sex effects in social interaction. An experiment was conducted to assess the independent and interactive effects of communicator sex, listener sex, and interpersonal distance on temporal measures of conversational interaction. Results demonstrated that the average duration of speech acts was significantly longer for females than for males; that communicators, regardless of sex, speak for a greater proportion of the total conversation when the listener is female as opposed to male; and that within the sex-same male dyads, far interpersonal distance is associated with significantly greater simultaneous speech when compared to the near condition. Results are interpreted as refutation for traditional notions of male dominance.     

Young Adults’ Perceptions of Non-Forcible Sexual Activity: The Effects of Participant Gender, Respondent Gender, and Sexual Act

There is a gendered double standard for both sexual activity and criminal victimization, in that female sexual actors and victims are generally viewed more negatively than their male counterparts. In this study, 485 U.S. undergraduates at a large Northeastern university completed a questionnaire in which the gender of the victim and the nature of the non-forcible sexual act (sexual intercourse or oral sex) were experimentally manipulated. The provided scenarios depicted statutory rape situations, characterized by age discrepancies between the two parties. Respondents were asked to rate each of the parties on a series of questions to determine their level of condemnation for each of the parties involved. We hypothesized the existence of a sexual double standard, such that female actors would be more condemned than males. Repeated measures ANOVA indicated that respondents were more condemning of female than male victims, regardless of which act was depicted. Furthermore, male respondents were more condemning of a female perpetrator of statutory rape than of her male victim, and also more condemning of a female victim than of her male perpetrator, whereas female respondents did not differentiate between the victim and perpetrator, regardless of the depicted victim gender or sexual act. That is, whether she was depicted as the victim or perpetrator of the act, the female was more condemned than her male counterpart. Overall, female respondents were more condemning than male respondents, regardless of which act was depicted. These findings suggest the presence of a sexual double standard in perceptions of statutory rape.