PERSONAL SPACE AMONGST ARABS AND AMERICANS*

Personal space zones were examined amongst Arab and American university students by jointly varying degree of acquaintanceship and sex of subject. Overall, there were few differences between Arab and American males. Arab females, however, showed dramatic differences in comparison to American males and females and to Arab males. Arab females kept male friends very far away relative to female friends. Indeed, male friends were kept almost as far away as male strangers.     

Status versus warmth as determinants of sex differences in personal space

Previous studies indicate that females are allotted less personal space than males. In everyday situations, both warmth and low status may be confounded in women, thus obscuring the roles each may play in determining interpersonal distance. The present study manipulates sex, status (a professor or a student), and sociability (warm or cold) of a stimulus person independently of each other. Subjects were 40 male and 40 female students who were asked to form impressions of the stimulus person from a videotaped recording and a personal interview. Results indicate that males are given more space than females. Both status and sociability influence the amount of space that males are allotted, with the cold low-status male being allowed the most space. For females, the high-status woman was allowed more space than the low-status one, and sociability bore no relation to how close others came to her. These findings are discussed in relation to the previous studies on sex differences and personal space.     

The importance to males and females of physical attractiveness,earning potential,and expressiveness in initial attraction

In an experimental study, male and female university students were asked to indicate how attracted they were to an opposite gender stimulus person after being presented information about the person's physical attractiveness, earning potential, and expressiveness. As hypothesized, subjects were more attracted to a physically attractive person than to a physically unattractive person, more attracted to a person with high earning potential than to a person with low earning potential, and more attracted to a high-expressive person than to a low-expressive person. Of these three characteristics, physical attractiveness had the greatest effect on attraction. Contrary to sex role stereotypes, males and females were similarly affected by these partner characteristics. Gender differences, however, did emerge in the subjects' estimates of the effects of these characteristics on their attraction. Consistent with sex role stereotypes, males placed greater emphasis than females on physical attractiveness, and females placed greater emphasis than males on earning potential and expressiveness. The discrepancy between the experimental results and the subjects' perceptions of how the factors affected their attraction were interpreted to indicate that people may not be aware of what attracts them to another and may use “implicit causal theories” provided by the culture to explain their attraction responses.     

Physical distance and sex in moderated groups: Neglected factors in small group interaction

An experiment examined the effects of sex of subjects, sex of moderator, and seating distance between members of a small group on moods, evaluations, attraction, and attitude expression. Groups of three subjects and a moderator discussed a socially relevant issue and then made several ratings. During the discussion, group members sat either very close to each other or "very far apart, q?he expectation that males would react unfavorably while females would react favorably to close seating was not obtained. Instead, sex of moderator interacted strongly with distance. Regardless of sex, groups were more positive close to a female moderator and far from a male moderator. Attitudes showed the same interaction. Interpretations were that (1) the ranking person helps define the spacing norms for a group, and (2) there are sex differences in “personal space.”     

Sex differences in the preferences for specific female body shapes

The purpose of this study was to examine the somatic preferences of males and females for detailed anatomical drawings of female stimulus figures to examine their ability to predict the preferences for members of the opposite sex. The figures were systematically varied on three dimensions (bust, waist, and hips), with three sizes of each (small, medium, and large). The 12 figures were rated by 100 male and female subjects on a 7-point bipolar construct scale, ranging from extremely attractive to extremely unattractive. This was done both for the subjects' personal perceptions and for their predicted ratings of the opposite sex. Multivariate and univariate analyses yielded several sex, rating-perceptive (self vs. other), figure shape differences and interactions. Male subjects displayed a preference for large busts and hourglass shapes, which are accurately predicted by the females. Males predicted that females would rate slimmer figure highly, and females predicted that males would rate larger figures highly. The results are considered in light of related research in this area.     

SEX DIFFERENCES IN OCCUPATIONAL PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS

This study is an investigation of the effects of occupational sex-dominance on sex differences in occupational performance expectations. Female and male college students indicated their expectations for their own performance— self expectations—and that of either a "typical" male, female, or male and female person— comparison person expectations —for six occupations varying according to perceived sex-dominance. Additionally, the performance expectations were reported under anticipated private or public conditions. Results indicated that in contrast to males, females reported lower expectations for themselves alone and lower expectations for themselves in comparison to another person for male-dominated occupations. However, unlike males, females reported higher expectations for themselves and for themselves in comparison to others for female-dominated fields. Occupational sex dominance appeared to influence females' performance expectations, while males' expectations were similar across fields varying in sex-dominance. Neither the sex of the comparison person nor the anticipated privacy of the expectations were found to be related to the sex differences in performance expectations.     

Sex and age modulate the visual perception of distance

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the ability of 28 younger and older adults to visually bisect distances in depth both indoors and outdoors; half of the observers were male and half were female. Observers viewed 15-m and 30-m distance extents in four different environmental settings (two outdoor grassy fields and an indoor hallway and atrium) and were required to adjust the position of a marker to place it at the midpoint of each stimulus distance interval. Overall, the observers’ judgments were more accurate indoors than outdoors. In outdoor environments, many individual observers exhibited perceptual compression of farther distances (e.g., these observers placed the marker closer than the actual physical midpoints of the stimulus distance intervals). There were significant modulatory effects of both age and sex upon the accuracy and precision of the observers’ judgments. The judgments of the male observers were more accurate than those of the female observers and they were less influenced by environmental context. In addition, the accuracies of the younger observers’ judgments were less influenced by context than those of the older observers. With regard to the precision of the observers’ judgments, the older females exhibited much more variability across repeated judgments than the other groups of observers (younger males, younger females, and older males). The results of our study demonstrate that age and sex are important variables that significantly affect the visual perception of distance.     

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.     

Sex differences in the duration of visual attention

Normal adult males and females looked at a series of photographs containing either a single adult male or female. Ss viewed each picture for as long as they wished. Assuming that measures of the duration of attention would reflect Ss attraction for the opposite sex, it was hypothesized that Ss would spend relatively more time viewing photographs of the opposite sex. The results failed to support the hypothesis. Although males did not differentially attend to the stimuli, females looked significantly longer at the females than they did at the males. The results were interpreted in terms of the “overt sexual content” of the stimuli and socially conditioned attentiveness and inattentiveness.     

Sex differences in the duration of visual attention

Normal adult males and females looked at a series of photographs containing either a single adult male or female. Ss viewed each picture for as long as they wished. Assuming that measures of the duration of attention would reflect Ss attraction for the opposite sex, it was hypothesized that Ss would spend relatively more time viewing photographs of the opposite sex. The results failed to support the hypothesis. Although males did not differentially attend to the stimuli, females looked significantly longer at the females than they did at the males. The results were interpreted in terms of the “overt sexual content” of the stimuli and socially conditioned attentiveness and inattentiveness.     

SEX ROLE PERCEPTIONS OF FILIPINO ADOLESCENTS*

Sex role perceptions of 118 male and 118 female Filipino adolescents with respect to self-esteem and locus of control were investigated under two sets of instructions: (a) a standard set and (b) a set in which subjects were asked to respond as they thought a pupil at the same school and in the same academic year but of the opposite sex would respond. Evidence of the positive self-perceptions of Filipino adolescent males relative to females came from responses to both sets of instructions. On the locus of control scale, females perceived themselves to be more internal than males under standard instructions. Both sexes tended to attribute less internal control to the opposite sex than to themselves but again this tendency was much stronger for the males. The results are discussed in the context of previous U.S. and Filipino research.     

SEX AND JOB ORIENTATION

Three samples, each divided into males and females, were asked to indicate to what degree some job characteristics were important to them. The job characteristics represented both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. In the first sample (40 male and 44 female university students) there was no sex difference in job orientation. Both selected the intrinsic factors more than the extrinsic factors. There was also no sex difference in the second sample, which consisted of 68 male and 33 female public school teachers. They, however, stressed as many intrinsic factors as extrinsic. The general results of the third sample showed significant sex differences. The sample of 259 male and 143 female employees represented a technical division of a large service-oriented organization. Education and job level were significantly different for the two subgroups. When these two variables were controlled for a sample of clerks and of first-level supervisors, no sex difference appeared in job orientation. The results also showed that the higher the job level, the more intrinsically-oriented the employees were regardless of their sex.     

Sex differences in fetal habituation

There is some evidence for sex differences in habituation in the human fetus, but it is unknown whether this is due to differences in central processing (habituation) or in more peripheral processes, sensory or motor, involved in the response. This study examined whether the sex of the fetus influenced auditory habituation at 33 weeks of gestation, and whether this was due to differences in habituation or in the sensory or motor components using a set of four experiments. The first experiment found that female fetuses required significantly fewer stimulus presentations to habituate than males. The second experiment revealed no difference in the spontaneous motor behaviour of male and female fetuses. The third experiment examined auditory intensity thresholds for the stimuli used to habituate the fetus. No differences in thresholds were found between males and females, although there was inter-individual variability in thresholds. A final experiment, using stimuli individualized for that particular fetus' auditory intensity threshold, found that female fetuses habituated faster than males. In combination, the studies reveal that habituation in the human fetus is affected by sex and this is due to a difference in central 'information processing' of the stimuli rather than peripheral aspects of the response. It is argued that male and female fetuses present different neurobehavioural developmental trajectories, with females more advanced at 33 weeks than males. This study suggests that research examining prenatal behaviour should consider the factor of fetal sex. This may be particularly pertinent where there is an intention to use the results diagnostically.     

Creativity and Sex Composition: An Experimental Illustration

An experiment is reported in which the effect of sex composition on the creativity of brainstorming groups is investigated. It was hypothesized that mixed sex groups would be more creative than either homogeneous male or homogeneous female groups. Fifteen groups, consisting of four members each two males and two females; four females; four males, took part in the experiment. The experimenter noted the number of ideas generated per person, as well as the different associations with these ideas, and the number of different angles from which the task was approached. After finishing the exercise, subjects completed a post-experimental questionnaire. Results show that heterogeneous groups produced more creative outcomes than homogeneous groups. Also, they rated their process more positively. These findings are discussed in relation to the type of task used, and in relation to the general notion that heterogeneous groups are likely to produce more creative outcomes yet suffer from more process problems as compared to homogeneous groups.     

Cerebral asymmetry in autonomic conditioning to facial expressions: Sex differences

In the present experiment, sex differences in hemispheric asymmetry during classical conditioning to emotional stimuli are reported. 125 subjects (62 females and 63 males) were shown a slide of a happy face in the right (or left) visual half field (VHF), and simultaneously a slide of an angry face in the left (or right) VHF. Eight groups were formed by the combination of male and female subjects; left and right VHF positions of the angry/happy faces; and the administration/omission of the shock unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Dependent measures were skin conductance responses recorded from both hands. The results during extinction showed a significant larger SCR magnitude to the shock compared to the no-shock groups only for the female subjects. CS position during conditioning was also important in revealing differential responding to either the happy or angry faces. A right hemisphere effect was found for the angry face CS for both the male and female subjects, however with a greater difference for the females.     

The visual perception of distance ratios outdoors

We conducted an experiment to evaluate the ability of 32 younger and older adults to visually perceive distances in an outdoor setting. On any given trial, the observers viewed 2 environmental distances and were required to estimate the distance ratio—the length of the (usually) larger distance relative to that of the shorter. The stimulus distance ratios ranged from 1.0 (the stimulus distances were identical) to 8.0 (1 distance interval was 8.0 times longer than the other). The stimulus distances were presented within a 26 m × 60 m portion of a grassy field. The observers were able to reliably estimate the stimulus distance ratios: The overall Pearson r correlation coefficient relating the judged and actual distance ratios was 0.762. Fifty-eight percent of the variance in the observers’ perceived distance ratios could thus be accounted for by variations in the actual stimulus ratios. About half of the observers significantly underestimated the distance ratios, while the judgments of the remainder were essentially accurate. Significant modulatory effects of sex and age occurred, such that the male observers’ judgments were the most precise, while those of the older males were the most accurate.     

Sex differences in discrimination reversal learning in the guppy

In several mammalian and avian species, females show a higher performance than males in tasks requiring cognitive flexibility such as the discrimination reversal learning. A recent study showed that female guppies are twice as efficient as males in a reversal learning task involving yellow–red discrimination, suggesting a higher cognitive flexibility in female guppies. However, the possibility exists that the superior performance exhibited by females does not reflect a general sex difference in cognitive abilities, but instead, is confined to colour discrimination tasks. To address this issue, we compared male and female guppies in two different discrimination reversal learning tasks and we performed a meta-analysis of these experiments and the previous one involving colour discrimination. In the first experiment of this study, guppies were tested in a task requiring them to learn to select the correct arm of a T-maze in order to rejoin a group of conspecifics. In experiment 2, guppies were observed in a numerical task requiring them to discriminate between 5 and 10 dots in order to obtain a food reward. Although females outperformed males in one condition of the T-maze, we did not find any clear evidence of females’ greater reversal learning performance in either experiment. However, the meta-analysis of the three experiments supported the hypothesis of females’ greater reversal learning ability. Our data do not completely exclude the idea that female guppies have a generally higher cognitive flexibility than males; however, they suggest that the size of this sex difference might depend on the task.