Gender bias and individualism: Responses to case vignettes among psychologists, professors, and students

This study examined the extent to which psychologists, when compared to university professors and evening school students, employ individualist values differentially in their responses to vignettes describing males and females. The participants responded to 6 vignettes by choosing initial hypotheses that reflected either utilitarian (tradition-ally masculine) or expressive (traditionally feminine) themes. Two vignettes involved a sex of client manipulation, but neither resulted in a sex of client effect. An analysis of the responses to the remaining 4 vignettes indicated a marked preference for the masculine form of individualism for males, but were evenly divided for females in all three groups. These results suggest that psychologists were just as likely to engage in bias as others.     

Occupational Achievement Motivation as a Function of Biological Sex, Sex-Linked Personality, and Occupation Stereotype

Predicted sex differences in occupational achievement motivation based on the work of Horner (1968) and Stein, Pohly and Mueller (1971) were examined by administering questionnaires to 87 female and 91 male undergraduate psychology students. Subjects made six achievement related responses to twelve occupations which had been stereotyped by a separate group of subjects as being either high prestige masculine, middle prestige masculine, middle prestige feminine or middle prestige androgynous (appropriate for both sexes). Analyses of variance were performed on all achievement responses with subjects'sex, sex-linked personality (Spence, Helmreich & Stapp, 1974), and occupational stereotype as independent variables. Significant sex by occupation stereotype interactions were found on all six dependent measures supporting the Stein et al. prediction of highest achievement motivation toward sex appropriate occupations. The fact that females did not show significantly lower motivation than males toward high prestige masculine occupations is inconsistent with earlier findings. Sex-linked personality was related to some of the achievement measures but did not interact with either occupation stereotype or biological sex.     

Sex,sex role,and psychomotor reminiscence

Effects of sex and sex role on psychomotor reminiscence and task proficiency were investigated in samples of masculine males, masculine females, feminine males, and feminine females, as defined by the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Sex contributed significantly to the variance of reminiscence and to the slopes of prerest practice gains, as others have found. Sex role contributed virtually nothing to the variance of reminiscence, but feminine subjects of both sexes reached generally higher levels of performance than masculine subjects. Sex and sex role effects were orthogonal at all points of comparison.     

Interpersonal aggression as a function of subject's sex, subject's sex role identification, opponent's sex, and degree of provocation.

Ninety-five undergraduates served as subjects in an experiment where they could administer electric shock to an opponent and receive the same from an opponent. The independent variables were subject's sex, subject's sex role identification (as measured by the Bem Sex Role Inventory), opponent's sex, as well as degree of provocation from the opponent. Aggression was defined as level of shock chosen by the subject for the opponent. The results indicated that masculine subjects facing a male opponent were more aggressive than individuals of other sex role identifications whether or not they were provoked. It was also found that masculine males were more aggressive than other males or anyof the females. Furthermore, opponent's sex influenced the males' aggressiveness but had no effect on the degree of aggression in females. Finally, aggression increased in all subjects following increases in provocation. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for pyschological androgyny.     

Workaholism,sex, and sex role stereotyping among female professionals

This paper examines the relationship between workaholism, sex, and sex role orientation among professionals. The sample consisted of 86 male and 106 female attorneys, physicians, and psychologists/therapists. Results indicated a significant relationship between sex and sex role stereotyping. Among females, workaholics were grouped exclusively in the sex role categories masculine and androgynous. Implications for counseling include increasing awareness of changing sex role attitudes among professional women and possible role conflict that can occur from integration of work and family.     

Sex of subject and gender identity as factors in humor appreciation

Appreciation of cartoon humor was examined in male and female college students who had been categorized into one of four gender identity groups (masculine, feminine, androgynous, undifferentiated) on the basis of Bem's Sex Role Inventory. Results indicated that males preferred sexual humor more than absurd humor, while females showed the reverse pattern. Furthermore, gender identity was related to humor appreciation only for females. While feminine females preferred absurd humor more than sexual humor, masculine and androgynous females were more appreciative of sexual humor. Finally, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated males, as well as masculine and androgynous females, showed greater appreciation of sexual humor which portrayed females, as opposed to males, as the sex object or brunt of the joke.     

Sex,Sex Roles,and Emotional Expressiveness

Differences in emotional expressiveness between males and females have generally been attributed to sex-role socialization, but most studies have not included measures of sex-role orientation. We hypothesized that sex role would be a more salient factor than sex and that androgynous and feminine persons would be more expressive than masculine and undifferentiated individuals. Data were gathered from 230 college students using Bem's (1975) Sex-Role Inventory and Balswick's (1975) Expression of Emotion Scale. Both hypotheses were supported.     

Attributing causes for one's own performance: The effects of sex,norms, and outcome

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of sex of subject, stated sex linkage of task, and task outcome on causal attributions of an actor's performance. Results from both studies showed that: (1) males evaluate their performance more favorably than do females, despite equivalent objective scores; (2) males claim greater ability than do females following task performance; and (3) females are more prone to use luck to explain performance. The evidence also suggests that the difference between males and females in performance evaluation and self-attribution occurs most strongly in response to failure and on masculine tasks. The results are interpreted in terms of a general expectancy model.     

Sex differences in attributions for sex-typed tasks1

Recent studies have indicated that males make more egotistical attributions than females, that is, males make more internal attributions for success and more external attributions for failure than females do. These sex differences in attributions were examined in terms of male/female differences in expectancies for success and ego-involvement in the tasks. Male and female subjects succeeded or failed on a masculine or a feminine task. It was found that males made more egotistical attributions than females on the masculine task, but females made more egotistical attributions than males on the feminine task. A covariance analysis revealed that these sex differences in attributions could be explained in terms of the differences between the males and females in expectancy for success and in ego-involvement. Finally, it was found that ego-involvement was a more important determinant of egotisical attributions in the present study than was expectancy.     

Sex role orientation, level of cognitive development and mathematics performance in late adolescence

Sex differences in mathematics performance are found in late adolescence. This study investigates the effects of psychological sex role orientation (BSRI: masculine, feminine, undifferentiated, androgynous) and level of cognitive development (concrete, formal) on performance in mathematics. ANOVA analysis (N = 69; 18 males, 51 females) revealed significant effects for level of cognitive development and for masculine by feminine sex role orientation interaction. Subjects whose BSRI masculine and feminine scores were either both low or both high scored significantly lower on the mathematics test than subjects whose scores on either masculine or feminine scales were high. This indicates lower mathematics performance for androgynous and undifferentiated subjects. This result is hypothesized to be a function of the particular age level of these subjects and their concomitant overconcern with appropriate sex role development.     

Sex differences in feelings attributed to a woman in situations involving coercion and sexual advances.

This study investigated sex differences of feelings attributed to a woman in situations involving varying degrees of coercion and sexual advances. Sixteen vignettes (12 dealing with sex and coercion, 4 dealing with coercion only) were rated on 17 semantic differential scales by 59 undergraduates (44 females, 15 males) and 45 graduate students (18 females, 27 males). The 16 vignettes yielded factors of Sexual Flattery/Overtures, Sexual Aggressiveness, and Violence. Factor analyses of the 17 semantic differential scales yielded factors of Helplessness, Aversiveness, and Threat. High agreement was found between males and females in both the graduate and undergraduate samples on the relative intensity of feelings attributed to the woman across the sex/coercion vignettes for the three dimensions of Helplessness, Aversiveness, and Threat. Even more importantly, systematic differences between males and females on intensity of attributed feelings across the semantic differential factors were independently replicated using the graduate and undergraduate samples. Analyses of variance revealed that males showed significantly greater attributions on the factors Helplessness and Threat on scenes mainly dealing with sexual flattery/overtures, whereas they showed significantly less attributions on the factor Aversiveness on scenes dealing with sexual aggressiveness and rape. In short, while there was strong agreement between men and women, there were also replicated significant systematic differences with men overestimating the psychological impact of less intense incidents and underestimating the psychological impact on women of more intense incidents.     

The influence of sex and sex role orientation on sexual coercion

One hundred female and 77 male college students completed a questionnaire in which they indicated whether they had ever used physical or verbal coercive strategies to initiate sexual behavior with a partner, or had ever engaged in sexual behavior in response to a partner's coercive initiatives. Results showed that males are far more likely than females to initiate coerced sexual behavior and females are more likely to be victimized. In addition, masculine persons reported using coercive strategies more than other sex role orientation types. However, this was due principally to the fact that males were masculine types much more frequently than females. Therefore, sex (that is, being male or female) seems a more critical factor in determining, initiating, or responding to sexual coercion than sex role orientation.     

College Adjustment Problems and Attitudes Toward Drinking Reported by Feminine, Androgynous, and Masculine College Women

Two studies compared attitudes toward various issues and adaptations to demands of college life that were reported by feminine, androgynous, and masculine sex-typed females. Study 1 showed that feminine sex-typed females reported lower involvement in academic competition, fewer difficulties with peer pressures, and less exclusion by fraternities and sororities from college social life than did androgynous and masculine females. Androgynous and masculine females gave similar responses, showing high involvement in academic competition, negative reactions to peer pressures, and resentment toward male friends who cancel plans. Study 2 compared attitudes of feminine, androgynous, and masculine female college students toward drinking. Discriminant analysis showed that over 99% of the subjects could be correctly classified according to sex type on the basis of two dimensions: (1) sociable drinking and (2) drinking due to peer pressure and social discomfort. Masculine arid androgynous females were significantly more likely than feminine females to endorse questions related to social drinking. Masculine females showed the greatest potential for problem drinking from social pressures and for escape from social discomfort. Results supported Kelly and Worell's (1977) argument that the adaptive values of different sex-role orientations depend on the demands of the environment.     

Sex-role identity and male and female homosexuality

The incidences of sex-role outcome within homosexual and heterosexual male and female young adult samples were compared using a fourfold typology (both masculine and feminine, masculine, feminine, neither masculine nor feminine). Sex-role identity disparities between the female groups were more clear-cut; the most striking difference was the high incidence of masculinity (60%) within the homosexual female group. No significant differences for males were found, although a trend was noted toward higher incidence of femininity and lower incidence of masculinity in homosexuals. The second purpose of the study was to search for possible developmental antecedents to heterosexual deficit in unselected college samples. The same key pattern of psychometric indices was identified for males and females. Low heterosexuality and the closest approximation to the modal sex-role identity among homosexuals of their sex were found in females primarily identified with masculine fathers and low in role consistency and in males primarily identified with feminine mothers and low in role consistency.     

Influence of sex and gender roles on high school status systems

Past research has indicated significant sex differences in determinants of male and female high school students' status as measured by how subjects would like to have been remembered from their high school years. In order to determine if remembrance preference is sex or gender role related, 671 subjects were administered the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and a questionnaire asking if they most wanted to be remembered from high school as a brilliant student, leader in activities, athletic star or most popular. Using both the median split and t-ratio procedures in scoring the BSRI, 206 subjects were selected because they were sex-typed (masculine males, feminine females), cross sex-typed (masculine females, feminine males), or androgynous (scoring high on both masculine and feminine traits). To find a model of best fit, the data were subjected to a log-linear analysis. The variables included were sex, gender role, and remembrance preference. Rather than sex being the influential factor, the model of best fit was a gender role by remembrance preference interaction. If subjects were masculine, they were more likely to choose athletic star than were feminine or androgynous subjects. Most popular and leader in activities were both more likely to be chosen by feminine and androgynous subjects. All groups chose brilliant student more often than any other category. It was concluded that some previously designated sex differences may instead be differences in gender role. Further research should address the distinction between the two.     

SEX-ROLE IDENTITY, GENDER IDENTITY, AND SELF-SCHEMATA

Forty females and 40 males were shown slides of masculine and feminine phrases controlled for social desirability, sex-linked content, syllable length, and negative semantic construction to evaluate schematic processing on the dimensions of masculinity and femininity. Their responses to the phrases were timed. The BSRI, PAQ, and SSR1Q administered subsequent to the slide presentation were used to categorize subjects into groups of masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated. Comparisons between the groups evaluated by the different scales indicated that the PAQ was the best predictor of schematic processing and that the SSRIQ and gender were not predictors of schematic processing. Correlations between the SSRIQ and the masculine and feminine scales of the BSRI and PAQ provided evidence partially supportive of Storms's (1979) theory that sex-role identity influences the development of same-sex-typed attributes but does not influence opposite-sex-typed attributes.     

The effects of sex and sex-role identity on the attribution of maladjustment

This study examined the effects of a stimulus person's gender and sex-role identity and an observer's gender and sex-role identity on the observer's judgments of the stimulus person's personality and level of adjustment. After having been classified as androgynous or nonandrogynous, 141 males and females viewed videotapes of a case conference on a bogus client. In the videotapes the client's gender and sex-role identity were factorially manipulated. As predicted, male clients and clients with a masculine sex-role identity were seen as possessing less favorable personality characteristics and as being less mentally healthy than were female clients and clients with a feminine history. Sex-role incongruence (e.g., a masculine female) influenced the subjects' judgments only of a female client. A sex-role congruent female was seen as more attractive and better adjusted than a sex-role incongruent female. The subjects' gender and sex-role identity did not influence their judgments of the clients in any consistent or interpretable fashion. Finally, it was found that the subjects were most influenced by sex-role congruence/incongruence of opposite sex stimulus persons. The discussion of these results centered on: (a) the relative influence of gender and sex-role identity on people's perceptions of a stimulus person and (b) the need for further exploration of how subject characteristics might influence these perceptions.This study is based on a Masters thesis submitted to the University of South Florida in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree. Portions of the study were presented at the 1978 meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association. All correspondence should be sent to the second author c/o Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620.     

National Survey of Social Workers' Sexual Attraction to Their Clients: Results,Implications, and Comparison to Psychologists

A survey form sent to psychologists (Pope, Keith-Spiegel, & Tabachnick, 1986) was adapted and sent to 1,000 clinical social workers (return rate = 45%). Most participants reported sexual attraction to a client, causing (for most) guilt, anxiety, or confusion. Some reported having sexual fantasies about a client while engaging in sex with someone other than a client. Relatively few (3.6% men; 0.5% women) reported sex with a client; training was related to likelihood of offending, though the effect is small and complex. An analysis of eight national studies (data from 5,148 therapists) found significant effects for gender (more male offenders) and year of study (about 10% annual decrease in reported offenses since 1977) but not profession (i.e., no difference among psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers). Most social workers reported no graduate training whatsoever about sexual attraction; only 10% reported adequate training.     

SEX ROLE ORIENTATION AND TYPE A BEHAVIOR PATTERN

Male and female college students completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Jenkins Activity Survey, a part of which is the Type A Scale. Correlational results showed that as Type A scores increased, BSRI scores decreased (more masculine sex role orientation). Analysis of variance showed that males and females with masculine sex role orientations (SROs) had significantly higher Type A scores than those with androgynous SROs, who in turn had significantly higher Type A scores than those with feminine SROs.