An investigation of sex differences in job satisfaction

A sample of 74 husband and wife management teams was chosen to examine sex differences in job satisfaction. As hypothesized, females reported significantly higher satisfaction with advancement and compensation. The hypothesis that females would be less satisfied than males with work relationships was not supported. No differences were expected, and none were found, for two other facets of satisfaction, i.e., satisfaction with the work itself and satisfaction with company policies and procedures.     

An own gender bias and the importance of hair in face recognition

There is a large literature on the own race bias, the finding that people are better at recognizing faces of people from their own race. Here an own gender bias is shown: Males are better at identifying male faces than female faces and females are better at identifying female faces than male faces. Encoding a person's hair is shown to account for approximately half of the own gender bias when measured using hit and false alarm rates. Remember/know judgements and confidence measures are taken. Encoding a person's hair is critical for having a "remember" recollective experience. Parallels with the own race bias and implications for eyewitness testimony are discussed.     

Sex role egalitarianism as a moderator of gender congruence bias in evaluation

Sex-role egalitarianism, or the degree to which one perceives the gender of an individual to be independent of his/her abilities, rights and opportunities, was tested as a moderator of gender congruence in the evaluation of job applicants. It was hypothesized that scores on a measure of sex role egalitarianism would moderate the evaluation of female or male applicants in masculine-typed, neutral, or feminine-typed occupations. It was expected that the biases against an individual applying for a gender-atypical occupation would be reduced by a high degree of egalitarianism, whereas in neutral occupations, no bias would occur. A sample of 144 undergraduates participated in the study. Results from a sample composed mostly of white undergraduates supported part of this hypothesis with a three-way interaction between gender of applicant, gender type of occupation and sex role egalitarianism. In addition, the characteristics exhibited by the egalitarianism measure used in this investigation provided some interesting insights into the psychometric properties of the construct. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

An investigation of self-assessment bias in mental health providers

Previous research has consistently found self-assessment bias (an overly positive assessment of personal performance) to be present in a wide variety of work situations. The present investigation extended this area of research with a multi-disciplinary sample of mental health professionals. Respondents were asked to: (a) compare their own overall clinical skills and performance to others in their profession, and (b) indicate the percentage of their clients who improved, remained the same, or deteriorated as a result of treatment with them. Results indicated that 25% of mental health professionals viewed their skill to be at the 90th percentile when compared to their peers, and none viewed themselves as below average. Further, when compared to the published literature, clinicians tended to overestimate their rates of client improvement and underestimate their rates of client deterioration. The implications of this self-assessment bias for improvement of psychotherapy outcomes are discussed.     

An investigation into the relationships between gender and language

The present investigation focused upon the impact of gender and various powerful and less powerful linguistic features on the communication of unfamiliar male and female college students. Same-sex and mixed-sex dyads were recorded as they engaged in discussions regarding suggestions for a bogus freshman orientation booklet. Although few gender differences were found, the result of a factor analysis yielded three factors: questions, suggestions, and process variables. These factors are consistent with a power perspective in the use of various linguistic features. However, the present findings suggest that gender and power alone cannot explain differences in communication styles. Rather, the results suggest the need to consider other aspects of the speaker to explain differences that occur in the use of language.     

Subtle gender bias in the assessment of managerial potential

The effects of gender on evaluations of managerial potential within a corporate assessment center program were investigated. The sample consisted of 375 men and 61 women (94% White, 3% Black, 2.3% Asian, and .7% Hispanic) assessed between 1980 and 1985. Candidates were assessed on their intellectual ability, performance and interpersonal skills, and overall management potential. Women were rated higher than men on the performance-style skills; however, there were no differences in overall management potential ratings or in actual long-term job advancement. The results suggest that subtle gender bias affects evaluations of managerial potential and subsequent promotion decisions.     

Readdressing gender bias in the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory-short form

The short form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) was evaluated for gender bias. The authors replicated a study by L. Francis and D. James (1998) and administered the SEI to 361 middle and high school students (146 boys, 2l5 girls). They found that gender bias existed in 6 of the 25 items on the SEI, with 5 of those items favoring boys. Because recent literature indicates that male and female adolescents experience problems in different areas of their lives, the authors suggest that researchers consider such differences when selecting items for a standardized measure.     

An investigation of cross‐national differences in positivity and job satisfaction

The present research examined the role of national differences in positivity as an explanation of cross‐national variation in job satisfaction (JS) ratings. National positivity values were derived from a sample of current employees by calculating the mean residual in a regression of global JS on mean facet satisfaction ratings. As predicted, the positivity values derived in the present research showed convergent validity with other indices of nation‐level positivity, and national differences in extraversion. National differences in positivity showed significant incremental associations with national differences in JS ratings after controlling for the effects of acquiescence, perceived differences in working conditions, and national development. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Influences of job type, job status, and gender on achievement motivation

This study explored two issues. First, the stereotype was explored that teachers are lower in intrinsic achievement motivation than those in other occupations; second, that job type, job status, and/or gender influence intrinsic achievement motivation. Job type was explored based on the stereotype of a high achievement motivation condition (banking) versus a low condition (teaching). Job status was examined as currently working versus retirement from the occupation. Gender referred to sex, male and female. Each of the eight cells of a 2x2x2 factorial design contained 15 subjects randomly drawn from population pools (N=264) screened for membership on specific age, years of employment, and years of retirement. Intrinsic achievement motivation was assessed by the four factors of the Helmreich and Spence (1974) Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire (WOFO). Data were analyzed for main and interaction effects using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). No support was found for the proposition that banking personnel are higher in motivation than teachers. On the second issue, gender and job status yielded statistically significant effects, suggesting that a person’s gender and whether he is working or retired both exert an influence upon his intrinsic achievement motivation.     

Attitudes about gender bias in language: A reevaluation

Past research findings identified the gender-biased nature of language and the need to incorporate linguistic changes to alleviate this problem. One suggested change was the adoption of a generic pronoun. Given that most research in this area was conducted 10–15 years ago, it is important to determine present opinion on language and language change. In the present study, male and female respondents from five samples completed a questionnaire regarding gender bias in language. National Organization of Women (NOW) members and psychology students indicated more interest in and had made more of an effort to change their language, and would be more likely to adopt a new gender-neutral pronoun than faculty, or medical or English students. Student groups were motivated more by authorities requiring nonbiased language and others' use of a new pronoun than faculty or NOW members, and the media was an important influence for all groups.This research was supported in part by a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medicine.     

Evidence of fast and automatic gender bias in affective priming

Previous studies have revealed a gender bias in ratings of the valence and intensity of supraliminally presented facial expressions of emotion such that positive emotions receive higher ratings when expressed by females and negative emotions receive higher ratings when expressed by males. However, surprisingly, this gender bias has not been investigated for suboptimal presentation of emotional expressions. Our first experiment aimed at investigating the existence of such a bias for very fast presentation of the stimulus (20 ms onset) on the basis of a classic priming procedure commonly used in affective priming studies that involved the use of a single prime. Our second experiment aimed at proposing a new method involving four fast, repeated presentations of the prime-target pairs (based on the innovative design proposed by Höschel and Irle), that could be used to reduce the gender bias in future studies in affective sciences. Results show that the classic procedure for subliminal affective priming seems, indeed, sensitive to gender bias, but that it is possible to maximise the affective effect and decrease the impact of the gender bias using repeated presentations of the prime.     

An investigation of age and gender differences in physical self-concept among Turkish late adolescents

The purpose of the study was to evaluate age and gender differences in physical self-concept of Turkish university students. The Physical Self-Perception Profile was administered to participants for assessing physical self-concept. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant main effect for gender, but no significant main effect for year in school. There was also no year in school by gender interaction. Univariate analysis indicated significant gender differences in sport competence, physical condition, body attractiveness, and physical strength (favoring males except for body attractiveness).     

Mentoring,job satisfaction,gender, and the legal profession

We examine the prevalence of mentoring among lawyers and the effect mentoring has on their employment situations, with special attention to gender differences. The data come from a 1989 cross-sectional survey of 1132 Georgia lawyers (80% white and 18% black). No significant difference in having mentors was found across racial categories. Results initially show female lawyers are more likely than males to have mentors, but this is due to gender differences in type of law practice and position in them; among associate-level lawyers in law firms there is no gender difference in having a mentor. Having a mentor improves lawyers' job satisfaction; and the size of this benefit is the same for both sexes.A revision of a paper presented at the 1992 annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 12.