Status‐based expectancies for aggression,with regard to gender differences in aggression in social psychological research

Meta‐analyses of social psychological research have identified gender differences in aggression [Bettencourt and Miller, 1996; Eagly and Steffen, 1986], which have been understood to date in terms of social role theory [Eagly, 1987]. The present studies examined the hypothesis that women's lower status relative to men can account for these observed differences. Participants in Study 1 were presented low‐ and high‐status targets, with status unconfounded with gender, and reported their perceptions of these targets' aggression. Perceptions were for features addressed in the meta‐analyses. As expected, low‐ relative to high‐status individuals were generally perceived in a manner analogous to how women relative to men are portrayed in the meta‐analyses. Participants in Study 2 reported on their perceptions of women's and men's aggression; findings also generally conformed to those of the meta‐analyses. Findings are discussed in terms of a status account of gender. Aggr. Behav. 31:000–000, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

What Will I Be? Exploring Gender Differences in Near and Distant Possible Selves

We investigated whether the possible selves of men and women align with the gender-differentiated social roles that are projected to vary across the lifespan. Across two studies (Study 1: N?=?211 and Study 2: N?=?314) of college students in the Midwestern U.S., we found that gender differences in possible selves were larger when projected into the distant future (e.g., 10–15 years) than the near future (1 year). In addition, the relationship between career and family possible selves varied depending on gender and temporal distance, with a tradeoff between career and family observed primarily among women and for distant possible selves (Study 1). Supporting role congruity theory, both genders hoped for role-congruent selves but feared role-incongruent selves (Study 2).     

Political Ideology Outdoes Personal Experience in Predicting Support for Gender Equality

Indices of gender equality provide an inconsistent picture of current gender inequality in countries with relatively high equality. We examined women's and men's subjectively perceived gender inequality and their support for gender equality in the general population and in politicians, respectively, in three countries with relatively high gender equality: the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany (total N = 1,612). In both women's and men's perceptions, women were treated more unequally than men. However, the inequality that women perceived was larger than the inequality men perceived. Additionally, women reported they personally experience less inequality than women as a group (person-group discrepancy). Finally, women's and men's left/liberal (vs. right/conservative) political ideology turned out to be a relatively more powerful predictor of support for gender equality than perceived personal and societal inequality. We discuss reasons for why political ideology emerged as the strongest predictor of equality support and sketch out implications for policy efforts toward promoting gender equality.     

The meaning of tears: Which sex seems emotional depends on the social context

The media coverage sometimes given to crying women points to the importance of understanding whether gender affects interpretations of crying. This article reports two studies that examined whether observers infer different emotions or dispositions from crying men and women. Study 1 showed that, in the absence of information about the social context of crying, participants inferred gender‐stereotypical traits and emotions. Study 2's manipulation of the social context of crying (relationship versus employment) affected participants' interpretations of crying by men and women. In employment contexts, participants perceived crying men as more emotional and sad than crying women as well as less competent. The emotionality inferences mediated the judgments of differing male and female competence. In relationship contexts, interpretations of crying women and men did not differ. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of gender,social roles,and facial appearance on perceived emotionality

One of the most pervasive gender stereotypes in Western culture concerns expectations regarding men's and women's emotionality. Whereas men are expected to be anger prone, women are expected to smile more. At the same time, men are generally perceived as more facially dominant and facially dominant individuals are expected to show more anger. That is, both facial appearance and social role expectations would lead observers to expect men to show more anger. The present research had the goal to disentangle the unique contribution of these two factors. As it is impossible in our society to fully untangle the influence of these factors since they are highly confounded, we created an alien society where these factors could be unconfounded. In this alien world, Deluvia, child rearing is exclusively assumed by a third gender, the caregiver, whereas men and women share the same social roles. The facial appearance of the Deluvians was varied along the dominance continuum. The results showed that facially dominant Deluvians, regardless of gender, were expected to show more anger, disgust, and contempt and less happiness, fear, sadness, and surprise. Also, the nurturing caregivers were expected to show less anger, contempt, and disgust as well as more fear, sadness, and surprise, regardless of facial appearance. No effect of gender per se on perceived emotionality was found. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of information about the prevalence of AIDS-Preventive behavior among men and women: The mediating role of social norms

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the effect of information about the high prevalence of safe sex on condom use intention, and to investigate the possible mediating role of the perceived social norm of friends, and the perceived social norm of future. sexual partners. Participants were provided with gender specific prevalence information, that is with the information that most men have exclusively safe sex, or with the information that most women exclusively engage in safe sexual behavior. The results show some gender differences. Information about the high prevalence of safe sex among men tends to increase women's condom use intention, and this effect seems to be mediated by the paceived social norm of future sexual partners. Men's intention, on the other hand, seems to be unaffected by high prevalence information of safe sex. Implications for research and prevention are discussed     

A good story: Men's storytelling ability affects their attractiveness and perceived status

Three studies examined gender differences in the effect of storytelling ability on perceptions of a person's attractiveness as a short‐term and long‐term romantic partner. In Study 1, information about a potential partner's storytelling ability was provided. Study 2 participants read a good or poor story supposedly written by a potential partner. Results suggested that only women's attractiveness assessments of men as a long‐term date increased for good storytellers. Storytelling ability did not affect men's ratings of women nor did it affect ratings of short‐term partners. Study 3 suggested that the effect of storytelling ability on long‐term attractiveness for male targets may be mediated by perceived status. Storytelling ability appears to increase perceived status and thus helps men attract long‐term partners.     

Do women who succeed in male‐dominated domains help other women? The moderating role of gender identification

It is often expected that the first women to advance in male‐dominated fields will promote other women who follow them. Two studies test the hypothesis that some women show this expected pattern of promoting women but that others show the opposite pattern, favoring men over women. In two studies, women's gender identification moderated the extent to which they favored men over women when they advanced in a male‐dominated field. Specifically, the weaker women's gender identification, the more favoritism they showed for a male relative to a female subordinate. Gender identification did not moderate women's behavior in a context in which women were not underrepresented, pointing to the power of the situation in eliciting this relationship. Implications for the advancement of women in male‐dominated fields are discussed.     

Gender Differences in Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Perceived Personal Discrimination

Why is women's mental health inferior to that of men? This study hypothesized that women's mental health is not as good as men's because women perceive more personal discrimination. It was confirmed that women obtained higher scores than did men on a subjective scale of psychological distress. Additionally, women perceived greater personal and group discrimination than did men. Perceived personal discrimination proved to be the more robust predictor of psychological distress. This was evident when results of a mediation analysis revealed that gender differences in subjective distress were mediated by the measure of perceived personal discrimination, but not by the measure of group discrimination.     

ON MOTIVATED ROLE SELECTION: GENDER BELIEFS, DISTANT GOALS, AND CAREER INTEREST

Despite widespread changes in occupational opportunities, men and women continue to show divergent preferences for careers. This research invoked a motivational framework to explain sex-differentiated career interest. From a role congruity perspective ( Diekman & Eagly, 2008 ), the internalization of gender roles leads people to endorse gender-stereotypic goals, which then lead to interest in occupations that afford the pursuit of those goals. Three studies provided evidence for the hypotheses. Study 1 found that male- and female-stereotypic careers were perceived to afford different goals. Studies 2 and 3 found that men and women endorsed different goals and that this gender-normative goal endorsement predicted gender-stereotypic career interest. In addition, structural equation modeling (Study 3) indicated that internalization of gender roles fully accounted for sex-differentiated goal endorsement. These findings thus extend the social role theory framework to consider processes related to self-selection into specific social roles.     

Buying on the Internet: Gender Differences in On-line and Conventional Buying Motivations

Two studies are reported that examine gender differences in attitudes toward conventional buying and on-line buying. Thematic analysis of open-ended accounts (n=113) in Study 1 provides a rich, qualitative map of buying attitude dimensions that are important to young women and men. Study 2 is a quantitative survey (n=240) of functional, emotional–social, and identity-related buying motivations in the 2 environments. The on-line environment has an effect on buying attitudes, but more strongly so for women than for men. Whereas men's functional concerns are amplified—rather than changed—in the shift from conventional to on-line buying, women's motivational priorities show a reversal, and less involvement in shopping. In contrast to men, women's on-line buying is associated with barriers (social–experiential factors) and facilitators (efficiency, identity-related concerns) grounded in their attitudes toward conventional buying. This has implications for the ease with which women and men can and want to adapt to the accelerating shift toward computer-mediated shopping.     

Gender,residual deviance,and social control

Focusing on gendered aspects of informal social control, we use a societal reaction approach to examine 15 years of students’ gender norm violation projects. Three predictions regarding differential reaction to women's and men's residual deviance are (a) that there will be no gender differences, (b) that those with less power and status (women) will be sanctioned more or (c) that those with more status resources (men) will be monitored and reacted to more. We discuss methodological advantages of using norm violations to study informal social control. Findings contribute to a more complete theory of how societal reactions to residual deviance are mediated by gender. There were large gender differences in what students chose to do regarding norm violations and little change over time. Male “deviants” were censured more in terms of negativity, strength of reaction, laughter, and homophobia; female “deviants” were censured more as targets of verbal and sexual remarks. We discuss the need for more attention to gender‐specific types of reaction and the role of homophobia in informal social control of men.     

Margaret Cavendish on Gender,Nature, and Freedom

Some scholars have argued that Margaret Cavendish was ambivalent about women's roles and capabilities, for she seems sometimes to hold that women are naturally inferior to men, but sometimes that this inferiority is due to inferior education. I argue that attention to Cavendish's natural philosophy can illuminate her views on gender. In section II I consider the implications of Cavendish's natural philosophy for her views on male and female nature, arguing that Cavendish thought that such natures were not fixed. However, I argue that although Cavendish thought women needed to be better educated, and could change if they had such an education, she also thought their education should reinforce the feminine virtues. Section III examines Cavendish's notorious “Preface to the Reader” (from The Worlds Olio), where Cavendish claims that women are naturally inferior in strength and intelligence to men. Section IV addresses another notorious Cavendish text, “Female Orations,” arguing that its message is similar to that of the “Preface to the Reader.” Nonetheless, although Cavendish held conventional views about male and female nature and appropriate gender roles, she also recognized how social institutions could limit women's freedom; section V explores the complexities of Cavendish's critique of one such institution, patriarchal marriage.     

To grandmother's house we go? Around the bend on the “mommy track”

This paper focuses on caregiving issues and their salience for women as the primary providers of care to elderly relatives. Assignment to caregiving roles on the basis of gender reflects cultural values and has important social, psychological, and economic implications. Advances in biomedical technology are changing the nature and duration of women's traditional responsibilities for elder care, and present trends suggest that long-term care concerns will continue to gain in prominence as the American population ages. Socialization processes and demographic factors impose greater caregiving burdens on women than on men. A resurgence of interest in family responsibility for elder care, arising out of growing public concern over rapidly rising costs, also affects women disproportionately. The greatest danger is that serial caregiving will compound and reinforce women's current disadvantages in the labor market. Policies that move toward more equitable distribution of caregiving burdens are clearly overdue.     

Does witnessing gender discrimination predict women's collective action intentions for gender justice? Examining the moderating role of perceived female support

Previous research has indicated that witnessing gender discrimination may instigate women's participation in collective action for gender justice. However, relatively little is known about the role of perceived female support in motivating collective action among women who witness gender discrimination in public life. This study aims to analyse whether and when perceived support from feminist-minded women moderates the association between women's witnessing gender discrimination and their willingness to engage in collective action for gender justice. We argue that the association between witnessing gender discrimination and willingness to engage in collective action depends on the support women perceive from their female friends and family members. In studies of women in the U.S. (Study 1; N = 271) and Ukraine (Study 2; N = 256), witnessing gender discrimination predicted greater willingness to participate in collective action for gender justice, and this association was stronger when female support was perceived to be lower. Study 3 (N = 1,304) replicated the findings of Studies 1 and 2 with self-identified feminist women in Turkey. Our research offers novel insights regarding why perceived lack of female support may encourage women to engage in collective action for gender justice.     

Personality and gender differences in global perspective

Men's and women's personalities appear to differ in several respects. Social role theories of development assume gender differences result primarily from perceived gender roles, gender socialization and sociostructural power differentials. As a consequence, social role theorists expect gender differences in personality to be smaller in cultures with more gender egalitarianism. Several large cross‐cultural studies have generated sufficient data for evaluating these global personality predictions. Empirically, evidence suggests gender differences in most aspects of personality—Big Five traits, Dark Triad traits, self‐esteem, subjective well‐being, depression and values—are conspicuously larger in cultures with more egalitarian gender roles, gender socialization and sociopolitical gender equity. Similar patterns are evident when examining objectively measured attributes such as tested cognitive abilities and physical traits such as height and blood pressure. Social role theory appears inadequate for explaining some of the observed cultural variations in men's and women's personalities. Evolutionary theories regarding ecologically‐evoked gender differences are described that may prove more useful in explaining global variation in human personality.     

Gender Disparity in Video Game Usage: A Third-Person Perception-Based Explanation

This study took a close look at the mechanism behind gender disparity in video game usage by examining two perceptual variables: perceptions about others' video game usage and perceived influence of unrealistic video game character images on others. Both men and women perceived that young women play video games far less frequently than young men and also considered themselves less influenced by the unrealistic images than others. In addition, women, in comparison to men, perceived the video game images to have stronger influences on others. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed that perceived frequency of other women's video game play and perceived influence of the images on other women explained women's actual time spent on video games, but not men's time spent on video games. A discussion of these findings was provided, along with suggestions for video game developers, parents, educators, and video game researchers.