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.     

Occupational Prestige as a Function of Occupant's Gender

To examine sex bias in occupational prestige, 250 male and 250 female undergraduate and graduate students in Bombay were asked to rate the respectability of 16 occupations, each with male and female occupants (e.g., a male scientist, a female scientists, etc.). Thus, the study had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (occupant's gender) × 16 (occupations) mixed design, with occupant's gender and occupations as within-subjects factors. All of the main and interaction ANOVA effects were significant. The findings clearly supported the primary hypothesis that both male and female subjects would show a sex bias in favor of the male occupant in cases of high prestige occupations.     

Sex Biases in Comparable Worth Analyses

Remunerating jobs according to their comparable worth has been suggested as one way to reduce sex inequities in wages. To implement such a policy, it is necessary to obtain unbiased ratings of a job's worth. The present study investigated whether such ratings would be biased by the incumbent's sex, the sex composition of the occupation, or the job analyst's sex. A second purpose was to ascertain what job characteristics are viewed as worthy of financial compensation. Business school undergraduates viewed videotapes of a male enacting a low prestige, anchor job and either males or females enacting a moderate and a high prestige job. Ratings of the moderate and high prestige jobs relative to the anchor revealed that both male and female analysts perceived the jobs as higher in responsibility, in persuasive ability requirements, and in monetary worth when enacted by males than by females. The occupation's sex composition had no effect on any job ratings, a finding attributed to subjects' failure to recall the sex composition information provided. Regression analyses revealed that the only significant predictors of a job's monetary worth relative to the anchor were its perceived salary, its desirability, the training it required, and the gender of the incumbent. It was concluded that sex biases in comparable worth analyses may yield an underestimation of the wages that women's work is worth.     

Professorial Prestige as a Function of Discipline and Gender

To examine gender bias in professional prestige, 200 male and 200 female undergraduate students of Bombay University were asked to rate the respectability of 20 academic disciplines, each with male and female incumbents (e.g., a male professor of anthropology, a female professor of anthropology, etc.)- The study thus had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (incumbent's gender) × 20 (academic disciplines) mixed ANOVA design with incumbent's, that is, professor's gender and disciplines as within-subjects factors. All the main and interaction effects were significant. The results showed an overall higher respectability rating of the female professor as compared to her male counterpart, this difference being stronger with female subjects than with male subjects. More importantly, the higher respectability rating of the female professor vis-à-vis the male professor was found to hold only for lower ranked disciplines.     

A status theory of the evaluation of sex-role and age-role behavior

An earlier investigation formulated a status theory of behavioral choice evaluation to explain the lesser approval for cross-sex-role behavior of males than of females. Since males are often assigned higher prestige, their deviation from male to female behavior represents a movement from higher to lower status, resulting in a loss of approval. To determine that the fit of previous data with the theory was indeed due to the status characteristic of sex roles, the current study used the theory to predict the evaluations of appropriate and cross-role behavior concerning age roles as well as sex roles. Furthermore, the effect of status upon evaluation was hypothesized to reside in the association of status with social value and, in turn, the effect of social value upon evaluation. Subjects were 57 male and 40 female university students who provided approval ratings of either appropriate or cross-age-role and sex-role behavior. For sex and age, cross-role behavior received less approval for the higher status actor. This indicated that the lesser approval of cross-sex-role behavior of males was due to the differential status ranking of male and female roles, rather than to some other feature more specific to sex roles. The proposition that social value is the explanatory link in the effect of status upon evaluation is supported by the results.     

Effect of manipulated prestige‐car ownership on both sex attractiveness ratings

Previous studies have shown that male attractiveness can be enhanced by manipulation of status through, for example, the medium of costume. The present study experimentally manipulated status by seating the same target model (male and female matched for attractiveness) expressing identical facial expressions and posture in either a ‘high status’ (Silver Bentley Continental GT) or a ‘neutral status’ (Red Ford Fiesta ST) motor‐car. A between‐subjects design was used whereby the above photographic images were presented to male and female participants for attractiveness rating. Results showed that the male target model was rated as significantly more attractive on a rating scale of 1–10 when presented to female participants in the high compared to the neutral status context. Males were not influenced by status manipulation, as there was no significant difference between attractiveness ratings for the female seated in the high compared to the neutral condition. It would appear that despite a noticeable increase in female ownership of prestige/luxury cars over recent years males, unlike females remain oblivious to such cues in matters pertaining to opposite‐sex attraction. These findings support the results of previous status enhancement of attractiveness studies especially those espousing sex differences in mate preferences are due to sex‐specific adaptations.     

The Relationship of Sex to Occupational Prestige

This study asked the question, Does the prestige of an occupation vary with the sex of the worker? For example, do male and female vocational counselors have the same occupational prestige? An equisection scaling procedure was used to develop an instrument to measure occupational prestige. When this instrument was administered to a sample of graduate students in guidance, some significant results were found but none of them held up on cross-validation. Neither was the differential allocation of prestige a function of the sex of the judge nor the form of the instrument     

Stereotypes of males and females in two occupations

Male and female raters evaluated a male or a female civil engineer or custodian on six characteristics. Factor analysis identified three orthogonal dimensions in these ratings: Rationality, Emotionality, and Likability. Rationality correlated highly with occupational prestige, while Emotionality was uncorrelated with prestige. Likability ratings exposed an interaction between sex of rater and sex of ratee, female raters finding females in these occupations far less likable than males. It is concluded that the sex of an occupational incumbent may have important effects on stereotypical image associated with that individual.     

Attitudes in four age groups toward sex role division in adult occupations and activities

Kindergarten, eighth grade, college, and adult subjects were presented with a list of 43 adult occupations. They indicated for each whether it should be performed by a male, female, or either. Liberality, defined in terms of the number of “either” responses, increased markedly from kindergarten to eighth grade through college and then showed a moderate decrease in the adult sample. In each age group except kindergarten there was a significant sex difference with females being more liberal. Analysis of individual roles showed that both sexes were willing to let women into prestige occupations but females were more willing than males to have household and child-caring tasks performed by both sexes.     

Effects of Additional Men on Prestige and Desirability of Occupations Typically Performed by Women

To examine the effects of masculine participation in occupations typically performed by women, 200 subjects rated the prestige and desirability of five occupations following information that proportions of male practitioners would increase or remain constant Findings showed that increased participation by men increased the prestige and desirability of all occupations. Ratings on 12 bipolar adjective scales from the semantic differential showed that increases in prestige and desirability were accompanied by attributions of increased activity, security, usefulness, success, and wealth to occupations admitting additional men.     

The Relationship of Sex to Occupational Prestige in an African Country

This study set out to find the answers to two questions in relation to the developing African nation of Zambia. Did the sex of the respondent affect the prestige gradings of occupations? Did the sex of the incumbent affect the prestige gradings of selected occupations? The study was part of a much larger one designed, for one reason, to assess the differential affects of sex, living area, and education on occupational prestige, and to investigate factors involved in prestige. To answer the two questions a specially designed questionnaire was administered to over 1,100 secondary school pupils across Zambia. It seems that the sex of the respondent has little effect on the prestige positioning of occupations; but significant downward movements in prestige grading for particular occupations were found when females were incumbents. In this latter case, a significant difference among respondents was also found: Girls rated female incumbents significantly higher than did boys.     

The attributional response of males and females to noncontingent feedback

The attributions of male and female college student subjects following exposure to noncontingent, contingent, and no-feedback conditions were analyzed in a 2×3 multivariate analysis of variance. The experimental hypothesis was that exposure to noncontingent feedback would result in more depressive attributions than exposure to contingent feedback or to no feedback, and that this effect would be moderated by gender. The hypothesis was partially supported in that females receiving noncontingent feedback on a concept discrimination problem subsequently made more internal attributions for negative events than male subjects receiving noncontingent feedback and female subjects receiving contingent feedback or no feedback.     

"Eating lightly" and the self-presentation of femininity

In Experiment 1, male and female subjects were given an opportunity to snack as they participated in a "get-acquainted study" with a same-sex or opposite-sex partner (confederate) whose social desirability was manipulated. Consistent with the hypothesis that women may eat less when motivated to present themselves in a feminine light, female subjects ate significantly less with a desirable male partner than in the remaining three conditions. In contrast, male subjects did not eat more (or less) with a desirable woman, although they did show an overall tendency to eat less with female (vs. male) partners. In Experiment 2, female subjects snacked as they got acquainted with a desirable male partner (confederate). Before this interaction, subjects received feedback indicating that they had either very masculine or very feminine interests. In addition, subjects believed either that their male partner was aware of their gender feedback or that he was unaware. Consistent with predictions derived from Schlenker's (1982) analytic-identity theory of social conduct, subjects in the partner-aware conditions ate less when they had received masculine (vs. feminine) feedback, whereas subjects in the partner-unaware conditions ate less when they had received feminine (vs. masculine) feedback. Implications for understanding eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are discussed.     

Students' perceptions of female professors

This paper examines student attitudes towards academic women. The literature on females in male-dominated professions suggests that clients resent their authority, deny their competence, and accord them less prestige than men. One hundred and eighty one university students evaluated professors in terms of 21 semantic differential scales and an occupational prestige ranking instrument. Contrary to expectation, female professors were perceived as more competent than male instructors in both task and socio-emotional competence. Further, the males were not assigned a significantly higher prestige score. Despite Goldberg's (1968) conclusion that females are prejudiced against their own sex, the attitudes of the female students were the more favorable.     

Female participation rates and the occupational prestige of the professions: Are they inversely related?

Contradictory empirical evidence concerning the impact of increasing numbers of women on the prestige and desirability of selected high-status professions is examined. It is concluded that, when alternative methodological issues are considered, the existing empirical literature does not definitively address the question of whether or not an increasing female participation rate in high-status professions will erode the prestige and desirebility of those professions. A 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design was used to control for the sex of the subjects (132 males, 132 females) and simultaneously manipulate the professions studied and the participation rate of women in those professions (constant, significant increase). The results indicate that the prospect of increasing numbers of women entering high-status professions does not result in a decline in either the prestige or desirability of those professions for the sample used in this study.     

Temporal effects on attributions for one's own behavior: The role of task outcome

Previous investigations into how attributions for one's own behavior change over time have resulted in surprisingly inconsistent results. Two experiments were conducted to account for these discrepant findings. In Experiment 1 male undergraduates were given feedback indicating that they had done either well or poorly on a skill-assessment test. Half of the subjects believed they were being videotaped when performing the test, half did not. In addition, half of the subjects completed attribution questionnaires immediately after the feedback, whereas half completed the questionnaires 2 or 3 days later. It was found that subjects who felt they had succeeded on the task made attributions that were more dispositional over time and subjects who felt they had failed made attributions that were more situational over time. No effect for the videotape manipulation was found. Experiment 2 replicated the task outcome effect and provided evidence suggesting that the effect was caused by a selective forgetting of unflattering attributions.     

The effects of feedback with chronically institutionalized mental patients

The ability of two female and one male chronically institutionalized adult mental patients to comprehend and retain feedback on individualized problem behaviors and the effect of that feedback on changes in the occurrences of those behaviors were examined. Feedback on five problem behaviors was provided to each subject within a small therapy group setting employing a multiple baseline across subjects experimental design. Comprehension and retention tests occurred two, five, and seven days following the feedback in the small groups, while the rates of the occurrences of the problem behaviors were time-sampled throughout the subjects' waking day via use of the Time-Sample Behavioral Checklist (Paul, 1987). Results indicated that, although there were no changes in the rates of occurrence, these subjects were able to retain and understand the feedback on their problem behaviors. Implications for further investigations and for the utility of feedback with chronically institutionalized adults are discussed.     

Locus of Control and Voluntary Heart-Rate Change

Summary: Investigated the effects of locus of control on voluntary control of heart-rate change. The 32 subjects were randomly assigned to one of two heart-rate change groups: Increase or decrease. The groups were counterbalanced for locus of control and sex. No heart-rate feedback was provided to subjects, and all subjects performed the appropriate task for two sessions. Results indicated that during the initial session, internals were better able to increase their heart-rates than externals; the externals were better able to decrease their heart-rates than internals. This association, however, diminished to nonsignificance in the second session.     

Locus of control and voluntary heart-rate change.

Investigated the effects of locus of control on voluntary control of heart-rate change. The 32 subjects were randomly assigned to one of two heart-rate change groups: Increase or decrease. The groups were counterbalanced for locus of control and sex. No heart-rate feedback was provided to subjects, and all subjects performed the appropriate task for two sessions. Results indicated that during the initial session, internals were better able to increase their heart-rates than externals; the externals were better able to decrease their heart-rates internals. This association, however, diminished to nonsignificance in the second session.