Confirmation Bias and the Sexual Double Standard

In contemporary Western societies it is widely believed that there is a sexual double standard such that men are rewarded for sexual activity, whereas women are derogated for sexual activity. This pervasive belief may result in a confirmation bias such that people tend to notice information that confirms the double standard and fail to notice information that refutes it. Two studies were conducted to test this hypothesis. In both studies, participants read vignettes about a target man or a woman that contained an equal number of positive and negative comments regarding the target's sexuality. Participants recalled more information consistent with the double standard than inconsistent with it.     

The Sexual Double Standard and Gender Differences in Predictors of Perceptions of Adult-Teen Sexual Relationships

We study gender differences and the effects of adult’s gender, an authority gap, and an age gap on university students’ perceptions of adult-teen sexual relationships. We specifically examine: the adult’s criminality, damage to the teen’s reputation, and emotional damage to the teen. We use a sample of 2,871 students from a Southwestern university in the U.S. who judged vignettes describing an adult-teen encounter. OLS regression demonstrated that women judged the scenarios more negatively than men. Further analyses found relationships between the experimental variables and each dependent variable and interactions by respondent’s gender and among the experimental variables. Results demonstrate a sexual double standard and highlight respondent’s gender, the age gap, and the authority context for perceptions of adult-teen relationships.     

Perceptions of the Sexual Self:

This paper explores the role of women's sexual self in the formation of friendships between lesbian and heterosexual women. The Stone Center (Wellesley College) developmental theory is used as a framework through which to identify and examine the gaps in current thinking about the definition of women's sexual self and the impact of the erotic on "women bonding." Recent literature exploring women's friendships is used to illuminate the ambiguous, and sometimes distorted, definition of women's sexual self. A multi-ethnic, multi-racial approach is applied to reflect the diverse experience of American women.     

Marital Status Bias in Perceptions of Employees

Three studies documented effects of marital status on perceptions of employees or prospective employees. In Experiment 1, participants rated a married female job applicant as less suitable for employment than a single counterpart. In Experiment 2, participants again perceived a female job applicant less favorably when she was married; in contrast, a male applicant was perceived more favorably when married. In Experiment 3, participants predicted that a recently married woman's job performance and dedication would decline, whereas a recently married man's dedication was predicted to rise; this difference made participants more willing to lay off the woman than the man.     

Men's Reactions to Hypothetical Forceful Sexual Advances from Women: The Role of Sexual Standards,Relationship Availability,and the Beauty Bias

The study investigated 142 college men's reactions to a vignette in which they were to imagine receiving a physically forceful sexual advance from a female casual acquaintance. Participants were predominantly middle-class Caucasian students from psychology classes. Results revealed that men with more restricted sexual standards had significantly more negative reactions to the advance than did men with less restricted standards. Further, only 16% of men with more restricted sexual standards, compared to 34% of men with less restricted standards, said they would consent to sex with the vignette woman. Men who were instructed to assume that they had a girlfriend in the scenario situation had more negative reactions to the advance than did men who assumed that they did not have a girlfriend. Evidence was found for a beauty bias: men who read that the initiator was average looking had less positive reactions than did men who read that the initiator was very attractive. Results add support to the authors' Sexual Opportunity Model explaining men's reactions to coercive sexual contact with women.     

Sexual Attitudes and Double Standards: A Literature Review Focusing on Participant Gender and Ethnic Background

We conducted a review of literature regarding sexual attitudes and double standards, focusing on participant gender and ethnic background. We found that men had more permissive sexual attitudes than women, and that African Americans had the most permissive sexual attitudes, followed by White Americans, then by Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans. The literature regarding sexual double standards was mixed; some studies showed evidence of continued sexual double standards and some studies showed the absence of sexual double standards. In some studies, men were more likely to endorse the sexual double standard than women. We found only one article addressing sexual double standards using ethnic background as a quasi-independent variable; this research revealed that non-North American (Russian and Japanese) samples were more likely to endorse the traditional double standard, that sex is more acceptable for men than for women.

The Reverse Double Standard in Perceptions of Student-Teacher Sexual Relationships: The Role of Gender,Initiation, and Power

ABSTRACT

The present study tested the prediction that male teachers are judged more harshly than female teachers for engaging in heterosexual intercourse with a student. One-hundred and eighty-seven adults (116 women, 71 men) evaluated a hypothetical newspaper article describing an alleged student-teacher relationship as part of a 2 (Gender Dyad: Male Teacher/Female Student or Female Teacher/Male Student) × 2 (Initiator: Student or Teacher) between-subjects design. As expected, a reverse sexual double standard was revealed, in which participants judged situations involving male teachers more harshly than they judged situations involving female teachers, but only when the sexual contact was teacher-initiated. Participants also believed that male students received more social benefits from the sexual contact than did female students.     

Perceptions of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

This study attempted to test assumptions derived from the sex-role spillover model of sexual harassment developed by Gutek and Morasch (1982). One hundred fourteen male and 120 female undergraduates were asked to read scenarios describing potentially sexually oriented behaviors toward women in three different types of job settings (job types: female dominated, male dominated, and mixed). The independent variables were (a) the status difference between the supervisor and subordinate (small vs. large), (b) job type, (c) sex of subject, and (d) sex type of subject (same-sexed, cross-sexed, androgynous, or undifferentiated). The results indicated that ambiguous behaviors are perceived as being more sexually harassing in male dominated and mixed settings than in female dominated settings. The implications for future theory and research on sexual harassment are discussed.     

Perceptions of Sexual Orientation: A Hierarchically Restrictive Trait

Categorizing a person according to group membership (sexual orientation) attaches group stereotypes and behavioral expectations to that individual. For Study 1, students from New Mexico, United States (N?=?127) were asked to indicate the number of inconsistent behaviors it would take to change expectations about a categorized person. Study 1 revealed that sexual orientation is a hierarchically restrictive trait: for heterosexual targets, only a few inconsistent behaviors changed expectations, and for homosexual targets, many inconsistent behaviors did not change expectations. For Study 2, survey research (N?=?163) and path analyses revealed different patterns between male and female respondents for relationships between religiosity, attitudes toward homosexuals, attitudes toward sexuality, and the degree of hierarchical restrictiveness of sexual orientation.     

Age Comparisons in Workplace Sexual Harassment Perceptions

Few studies have systematically examined the influence of perceivers’ age on perceptions of sexual harassment. We sought to fill this gap, determine whether sexist attitudes mediate relations between age and sexual harassment perceptions, and whether relations between gender, sexist attitudes and perceptions are moderated by age. Results from an age-stratified sample of 965 students and staff employees at a US Midwestern university found a positive relationship between age and sexual harassment perceptions. Hostile sexism partially mediated this relationship, but age did not moderate correlations with gender or sexist attitudes. College-aged samples are less sensitive to harassment than older-aged samples, but the validity of other predictors of sexual harassment perceptions, such as gender and sexist attitudes, remains intact regardless of sample age.     

Perceptions of Sexual Intent: The Impact of Condom Possession

This study examined whether knowing that a victim of a sexual assault was carrying a condom influenced perceptions of her sexual intention and subsequent judgments of the sexual assault. Participants  ( N = 165)  read a vignette describing a date that culminated in an alleged sexual assault. Condom possession (carrying a condom, not carrying a condom) of both the female and male target was systematically varied. When the woman was carrying a condom, the woman was perceived as more sexually willing and the sexual assault claim perceived as less valid. In contrast, the male target's condom possession had little impact on judgments.     

Testing Error Management Theory: Exploring the Commitment Skepticism Bias and the Sexual Overperception Bias

Research on error management theory indicates that men tend to overestimate women's sexual interest and women underestimate men's interest in committed relationships ( Haselton & Buss, 2000 ). We test the assumptions of the theory in face‐to‐face, stranger interactions with 111 man‐woman dyads. Support for the theory emerges, but potential boundary conditions are observed. In addition, we find that women's perceptions of men's desire for commitment is related to the women's own self‐reported sexual interest but that the reverse does not hold for men. Finally, we find evidence consistent with the proposition that people project their own level of interest in sex or in a committed relationship onto their interaction partners.     

Gender Bias and Pluralistic Ignorance in Perceptions of Fitness Assessments

Two studies examined the relationship between cadets' views toward women, specifically, attitudes about fitness testing at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). Cadets completed measures of views toward women in society, in the military, at USAFA, and fitness testing. Results revealed that many male cadets held sexist attitudes of women in all categories. Cadets who held egalitarian views of women in society and in the military were more likely to support equitable fitness standards. Furthermore, cadets' personal viewpoints differed from their perception of the entire cadet population viewpoint, creating an environment of pluralistic ignorance. That is, cadets believed the collective was more sexist than themselves, suggesting that a vocal minority who perpetuate sexist attitudes may hinder changes in culture.     

Applicant Perceptions of Test Fairness: Integrating Justice and Self-Serving Bias Perspectives

The justice perspective is the current dominant framework for research on applicant perceptions of test fairness. Recently, an emerging perspective suggests that self-serving bias mechanisms may be operative in the development of test fairness perceptions. Using data from 494 actual applicants to an entry-level State Police Trooper position, this study integrates both the justice and self-serving bias perspectives to achieve a better understanding of test fairness perceptions. Results from structural equation modeling show that perceived job-relevance affects perceived fairness. In addition, test performance affects both perceptions indirectly through perceived performance.     

Perceptions of Children's Credibility in Sexual Assault Cases1

Children's testimony often plays a central role in prosecutions of child sexual abuse. Nevertheless, research on jurors' perceptions of the credibility of child sexual assault victims remains limited. In three experiments, we examined mock jurors' reactions to children's testimony about sexual abuse. Participant jurors were exposed to videotaped or written scenarios of child sexual abuse trials and then rated victim credibility and defendant guilt. Analyses indicated that: (a) victim age was either inversely related or unrelated to perceptions of victim credibility, (b) women were more likely than men to find child victims credible, (c) corroborating testimony from a child victim increased the credibility of another child victim, and (d) exposure of participants to past criminal acts and other negative defendant character evidence heightened perceived victim credibility and defendant guilt. Implications for understanding jurors' reactions to child witnesses are discussed.     

Common vs. Uncommon Sexual Acts: Evidence for the Sexual Double Standard

The lack of consistent evidence for the sexual double standard may be related to the rather benign nature of the heterosexual behaviors often studied (e.g., casual sex, premarital sex). College students from the southwestern U.S. evaluated targets who engaged in mixed-gender threesomes (where three people engage in simultaneous sexual acts; Study 1: N?=?120) and targets in a monogamous sexual relationship (Study 2: N?=?105). Evidence for the sexual double standard was found via effects of targets’ gender among those who engaged in threesomes. Targets who had monogamous sex were evaluated more favorably than the targets who engaged in threesomes. We suggest that the sexual double standard may still exist for uncommon sexual behaviors.     

Assessing Perceptions of Sexual Harassment Behaviors in a Manufacturing Environment

This pilot study, conducted in a manufacturing plant, investigated employee perceptions of the behaviors of supervisors and co-workers that constitute quid pro quo and hostile work environment sexual harassment. Responses indicated that the majority of employees can accurately identify behaviors that are frequently associated with quid pro quo harassment, but cannot identify behaviors that are used to establish evidence of a hostile work environment. Comparisons of employees' scores demonstrated that male workers, relative to female workers, were more frequently accurate in identifying behaviors of both supervisors and co-workers that constitute sexual harassment. Perceptions of harassment varied according to job classification. Women in white-collar jobs were significantly more knowledgeable about what behaviors constitute sexual harassment than women in blue-collar jobs.