On the self-fulfilling nature of apparent sex differences in behavior

A study was conducted to test the notion that a person's behavior conforms explicitly to the sex-role stereotype that attractive others have regarding the person's gender. In a 2 × 2 design, female subjects were induced to characterize themselves to a male partner who was either desirable or undesirable and whose stereotype of the ideal woman conformed very closely to the traditional female stereotype or its opposite. The results, which held for both an attitudinal and a behavioral measure of self-presentation, indicated that, when the partner was desirable, the subjects portrayed themselves as more or less conventional in terms of sex-role, depending upon whether the partner's stereotypic view of women was traditional or not. The implications of these findings for an analysis which stresses the self-fulfilling nature of apparent sex differences were discussed.     

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.     

Debunking a stereotype: The female medical student

The combined research of Horner (1972) and Monahan, Kuhn, and Shaver (1974) has demonstrated the existence of a stereotype of the female medical student as sex-role deviant and disinterested in sex. The present study examined the validity of this stereotype. Male and female medical students' scores on two psychometric measures were compared with the male and female college norms. The stereotype was not supported. Female medical students demonstrated no greater sex-role deviance than did their male counterparts. Furthermore, only male medical students indicated significantly less heterosexual interest than their same-sex norm.The authors wish to thank Dr. David G. Fish, who was involved in the original data collection. Support for the analyses of these data was obtained from Grant Number 607-1034-21 and from a Career Scientist Award, Number 607-1001-22, to the Junior Author.     

The perception of sex-inconsistent behavior

Sex-role perceptions were approached from an out-of-role attributional framework, with the predictions that out-of-role behavior would be rated more extreme than in-role behavior on sex-role stereotype scales and that out-of-role behavior would be seen as more internally determined. One hundred and twenty male and female college students heard one of four tapes in which the two stimulus persons (SPs), male and female, behaved in sex-role consistent or inconsistent behavior using the dimension of dominance-submission (DM-DF, SM-SF, DM-SF, DF-SM). The DF, compared to the DM, was attributed more masculinity and less femininity. The DF's behavior, compared to the DM, was seen as originating more from internal than situational causes.     

Perceptions of assertive behavior: Sex combination,role appropriateness,and message type

Eighty-four male and 84 female subjects, divided into high, moderate, and low groups on the basis of sex-role stereotyping, watched videotapes of two-person interactions where positive and negative assertive messages were sent by male and female actors to male and female receivers. Subjects rated the level of assertion and the social acceptability of each message. Results indicated that while all messages were rated as relatively assertive, negative messages were perceived as more assertive and less socially acceptable than positive ones. Subjects also rated male senders as more assertive than female senders when the message type was role inappropriate for the subjects but rated female senders as relatively more assertive when the message type was role appropriate for them. Messages from female senders were rated as more socially acceptable than messages from male senders. Finally, messages to male receivers were rated as more acceptable than messages to females, especially by male subjects when the sender was male. Thus, both sex-role stereotypes and situational expectations appear to influence perceptions of level of assertion, and more assertive messages are perceived as less socially appropriate.     

The effects of sex-role ideology,self-esteem,and expected future interactions with an audience on male help seeking

Male subjects, purportedly being observed by an audience, received failure feedback while working on a task (rating dialogues for neuroticism). Help was readily available, from a male or female assistant, and the primary dependent variable was whether or not subjects requested help. Embarrassment was postulated as the major inhibitor of help seeking in this situation. Self-report measures of embarrassment and perceived accuracy were taken throughout the session. The independent variables were: task centrality (sex-role appropriateness), sex of assistant, expectation of future interaction with the audience, self-esteem, and sex-role ideology (“traditional” vs “feminist” beliefs). The principal results for help seeking were: high esteem traditional subjects sought help less frequently on the central (male) task and more frequently sought help on the peripheral (female) task; feminists did not differ in help seeking according to sex of task. Increased embarrassment was not generally associated with inhibition of help seeking. In fact, there was a trend for high embarrassment to be reported immediately before help was sought. To explain these results, two forms of embarrassment are distinguished — the embarrassment due to continued failure, which should result in seeking help to bring about success, and anticipated embarrassment involved in the act of seeking help, which should inhibit help-seeking behavior.     

Effects of occupational choice and sex-role preferences on the attractiveness of competent men and women1

The present experiment assessed the impact of a person's sex role and occupational preferences on his/her social attractiveness, attractiveness as a coworker, and attractiveness to a prospective employer. Male and female subjects were provided information describing a competent male or a competent female stimulus person. Stimulus persons (SPs) were portrayed as favoring either traditionally masculine or traditionally feminine occupations, and as masculine or feminine in their sex-role preferences. As expected, both male and female SPs were seen as most socially attractive when their sex-role preferences were “gender consistent.” In contrast, subjects favored SPs who expressed masculine sex-role preferences when assessing the individual's attractiveness as a prospective employee. These findings were compared and contrasted with the results of earlier research, and the implications of sex-role deviance for males and for females were discussed.     

Further evidence on androgyny and interpersonal flexibility

The component scales from which Bem's index of psychological androgyny is derived are better thought of as measures of dominance and nurturance, rather than “masculinity” and “femininity.” When the Bem scales were administered to 202 male and female college students, along with eight scales that form an interpersonal circumplex, it was once again found that stereotyped, near-stereotyped, and androgynous classifications on the Bem index generalized to sex-role stereotype classifications on other dimensions of interpersonal behavior, as well. Moreover, the Bem index was found to be based on the best available combination of orthogonal interpersonal scales for measuring sex-role stereotypy. In this recent sample of college students, the hypothesis that Bem's index of androgyny reflects the more general construct of interpersonal flexibility was confirmed for both male and female subjects. The recognition that Bem's index of androgyny is specific to the interpersonal domain should encourage others to develop androgyny indices in other domains such as temperatment, interests, and cognitive styles.     

A Confirmatory Factor Analytic Investigation of the TAS–20: Corroboration of a Five-Factor Model and Suggestions for Improvement

Two studies conducted around 1950 provided aggregate data on college students' attribution of characteristics to men or women (sex-role stereotype). Seeman (1950) provided data for three attributes clearly sex-role identified. Fernberger (1948) used a “story” with 16 blank spaces for response of “men” or “women” to assess sex-role stereotypes. Replications of these studies were conducted in undergraduate psychology classes during the 1970–71 school year to assess changes in sex-role stereotypes and in personal preferences. Results for stereotypes indicated either no change for the Seeman data or even more polarized stereotypes for the Fernberger data. No evidence for role convergence was found for stereotypes. Ss personal preferences were markedly discrepant from their stereotypic responses, as the literature would predict.     

Reactions of male subordinates to the sex-role congruency of immediate supervision

Male subjects (N=90) worked under supervision for two hours. A 2×2×2 factorial design was employed so that the supervisor was male or female, autocratic or democratic, and possessed a sex-role congruent or incongruent job title. The hypotheses were supported in part: For female supervision only, the more traditionally incongruent the situation, the more unfavorable were the reactions elicited. This finding was true, however, only for subordinates' verbal comments and not for their task performance or written evaluation of the supervisor. Discussion of the specific hypotheses is provided and an alternate explanation concerning the supervisors' alleged prior experience is offered. A more dynamic approach to the study of leader—subordinate relationships — especially in light of the implications for acceptance of female supervision offered by this study — is advocated.     

Sex-role stereotyping,a function of age and education,as measured by a perceptual-projective device

The sex-role attitudes of 89 married male factory workers were measured using the Hall Sex Role Stereotyping Test. The test involves the presentation of pictures showing ambiguous figures performing tasks which are commonly assigned to one sex or the other. After a limited exposure time, subjects are asked to describe the task and to tell the sex of the person performing it. The hypothesis that men with college training stereotype less than those without was borne out for this sample. The second hypothesis, that older men stereotype more than younger, was not borne out. In fact, the mean nonstereotyping scores for older men within each level of education were higher than for younger, although the difference was not significant.     

The definition of sex stereotypes via the adjective check list

The Adjective Check List (ACL) was employed in the empirical definition of male and female stereotypes by 50 male and 50 female college student subjects. Judgments by male and female subjects correlated highly. There were 33 male adjectives and 30 female adjectives on which at least 75% of both sexes agreed. With a 60% agreement criterion, there were 98 male and 83 female adjectives. Both male and female stereotypes were treated as hypothetical persons and were shown to be highly deviant on standard ACL norms, with the male stereotype being more deviant and perhaps more “disturbed” than the female stereotype. It was concluded that the ACL is a promising method for the definition and study of sex stereotypes.     

关于性别刻板印象的初步调查

性别刻板印象是一种重要的社会刻板印象。我们在 3 80名大学生中作了性别刻板印象的初步调查 ,并考察了性别和性别角色对性别刻板印象的影响。结果发现中国大学生的性别刻板印象与传统的性别观念比较一致 ,认为男性更坚强能干 ,女性更被动顺从 ,且这一印象不因性别和性别角色而改变。但男女被试的性别刻板印象仍存在明显差异。不同性别角色被试之间的性别刻板印象也有差异。总体而言 ,性别对性别刻板印象的影响比性别角色对性别刻板印象的影响大。     

Attributes and roles assigned to characters in children's writing: Sex differences and sex-role perceptions

This research examined the creative writing of 180 elementary school children for evidence of sex difference and sex-role perceptions. Stories were analyzed for frequency of male and female characters, attributes, and roles. Writers were equally divided by sex and into three age groups—grades 1–2, 3–4, and 5–6. Results suggest that the total number of characters, roles, and attributes was equivalent. However, the distribution of male and female characters, roles, and attributes differed with male and female writers. Female writers included significantly more female characters and assigned more attributes and roles to these characters. Nevertheless, in the stories of both male and female writers, there was a predominance of male characters and assignment of attributes and roles to male characters. The findings support the development and implementation of a nonsexist curriculum.     

The influence of sex-role stereotypes on prose recall

The influence of sex-role stereotypes on memory was investigated. High-school students read a short story about a protagonist named either Linda or David. Results indicated that when the sex of the protagonist was the same as their own, the students answered significantly more questions about the story correctly than in the cross-sex conditions. A qualitative analysis of the kinds of errors and inferences made revealed that female subjects tended to rely on sex-role stereotypes when answering factual questions about a male protagonist, and male subjects tended to rely on sex-role stereotypes when answering inference questions about a female protagonist. These results provide partial support for the notion that individuals are more predisposed to view members of the opposite sex stereotypically and are more likely to alter their memories in accordance with these stereotypes than they are when answering questions about members of their same sex.