Effects of Gendered Language on Gender Stereotyping in Computer‐Mediated Communication: The Moderating Role of Depersonalization and Gender‐Role Orientation

This experiment examined what situational and dispositional features moderate the effects of linguistic gender cues on gender stereotyping in anonymous, text‐based computer‐mediated communication. Participants played a trivia game with an ostensible partner via computer, whose comments represented either prototypically masculine or feminine language styles. Consistent with the social identity model of deindividuation effects, those who did not exchange brief personal profiles with their partner (i.e., depersonalization) were more likely to infer their partner’s gender from the language cues than those who did. Depersonalization, however, facilitated stereotype‐consistent conformity behaviors only among gender‐typed individuals; that is, participants conformed more to their masculine‐ than feminine‐comment partners, and men were less conforming than were women, only when they were both gender‐typed and depersonalized.     

Person‐Centered Emotional Support and Gender Attributions in Computer‐Mediated Communication

Without physical appearance, identification in computer‐mediated communication is relatively ambiguous and may depend on verbal cues such as usernames, content, and/or style. This is important when gender‐linked differences exist in the effects of messages, as in emotional support. This study examined gender attribution for online support providers with male, female, or ambiguous usernames, who provided highly person‐centered (HPC) or low person‐centered (LPC) messages. Participants attributed gender to helpers with gender‐ambiguous names based on HPC versus LPC messages. Female participants preferred HPC helpers over LPC helpers. Unexpectedly, men preferred HPC messages from male and gender‐ambiguous helpers more than they did when HPC messages came from females. Implications follow about computer‐mediated emotional support and theories of computer‐mediated communication and social influence.     

The Multiple Source Effect and Synthesized Speech

Two experiments examine the effect of multiple synthetic voices in an e‐commerce context. In Study 1, participants (N= 40) heard five positive reviews about a book from five different synthetic voices or from a single synthetic voice. Consistent with the multiple source effect, results showed that participants hearing multiple synthetic voices evaluated the reviewed books more positively, predicted more favorable public reaction to the books, and felt greater social presence of virtual speakers. The effects were mediated by participants’ feelings of social presence. The second experiment (N= 40) showed that the observed effects persisted even when participants were shown the purely artificial nature of synthesized speech. These results support the idea that characteristics of synthetic voices in doubly disembodied language settings influence participants’ imagination of virtual speakers, and that technological literacy does not hinder social responses to anthropomorphic technologies such as text‐to‐speech (TTS).     

What Do North American Babies Hear? A large‐scale cross‐corpus analysis

A range of demographic variables influences how much speech young children hear. However, because studies have used vastly different sampling methods, quantitative comparison of interlocking demographic effects has been nearly impossible, across or within studies. We harnessed a unique collection of existing naturalistic, day‐long recordings from 61 homes across four North American cities to examine language input as a function of age, gender, and maternal education. We analyzed adult speech heard by 3‐ to 20‐month‐olds who wore audio recorders for an entire day. We annotated speaker gender and speech register (child‐directed or adult‐directed) for 10,861 utterances from female and male adults in these recordings. Examining age, gender, and maternal education collectively in this ecologically valid dataset, we find several key results. First, the speaker gender imbalance in the input is striking: children heard 2–3× more speech from females than males. Second, children in higher‐maternal education homes heard more child‐directed speech than those in lower‐maternal education homes. Finally, our analyses revealed a previously unreported effect: the proportion of child‐directed speech in the input increases with age, due to a decrease in adult‐directed speech with age. This large‐scale analysis is an important step forward in collectively examining demographic variables that influence early development, made possible by pooled, comparable, day‐long recordings of children's language environments. The audio recordings, annotations, and annotation software are readily available for reuse and reanalysis by other researchers.     

The effects of cognitive activity and perceptual details on speech source monitoring

Our purpose in this study was to investigate the effects of cognitive operations and perceptual details on speech source monitoring. In Phase 1, correctly spelled words and anagrams were presented in Expt 1. Words were read aloud by participants, by a same‐sex voice, or by an opposite‐sex voice. Immediately after Phase 1, in Phase 2, participants were asked whether each word had been read aloud by the participants themselves, by a same‐sex voice, or by an opposite‐sex voice. Source discrimination between own speech and that produced by a same‐sex voice was poorer than between own speech and an opposite‐sex voice. In addition, misattribution of the speech of another to one's self increased as the level of cognitive effort required for the task increased. In Expt 2, misattributions to same‐sex voice were assigned ‘know’ responses more frequently and misattributions to one's self were assigned ‘remember’ responses more frequently. These results suggest that qualitative characteristics such as perceptual detail and cognitive operations are differentially influencing misattributions to the self and those to same‐sex voices.     

Gender differences in rival characteristics that evoke jealousy in response to emotional versus sexual infidelity

Previous research has shown that in men jealousy is evoked more by a rival's status‐related characteristics than in women, whereas in women jealousy is evoked more by a rival's physical attractiveness than in men. The present study examined whether the occurrence of this gender difference depends upon the type of infidelity one's partner engages in, i.e., emotional or sexual infidelity, and whether these types of jealousy evoke different emotional responses. An experiment was conducted using hypothetical jealousy situations with a 2 (participant gender: male vs. female) × 2 (rival physical attractiveness: high vs. low) × 2 (rival dominance: high vs. low) × 2 (type of infidelity: sexual vs. emotional) mixed‐factor design. Jealousy evoked by emotional infidelity was primarily characterized by feelings of threat, and jealousy after sexual infidelity was primarily characterized by feelings of betrayal and anger. Following emotional infidelity, in men, a rival's dominance, and in women, a rival's physical attractiveness, evoked feelings of threat but not feelings of anger‐betrayal. In contrast, after sexual infidelity, in men, but not in women, a rival's physical attractiveness evoked feelings of betrayal‐anger but not anxiety or suspicion.     

Strengthening socio‐emotional competencies in a school setting: Data from the Pyramid project

Background. Development of socio‐emotional competencies is key to children's successful social interaction at home and at school. Aims. This study examines the efficacy of a UK primary school‐based intervention, the Pyramid project, in strengthening children's socio‐emotional competencies. Sample. Participants were 385 children from seven schools in two UK cities. All children were aged 7–8 years and in school Year 3. Children were screened for socio‐emotional difficulties through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1997 ) and a multi‐agency meeting of relevant professionals before being allocated to attend a Pyramid Club intervention (n= 103) or a comparison group (n= 282). Method. A 2 × 2 mixed‐model design was used: group (intervention group vs. comparison group) × 2 time points (pre‐ vs. 12 weeks post‐intervention) with repeated measures on the time factor to investigate the impact of the Pyramid Year 3 intervention. Teachers completed the SDQ‐T4‐16 for all children pre‐ and post‐intervention to measure participants’ socio‐emotional health status. Results. As measured by the two SDQ difficulty sub‐scales of Emotional and Peer problems and the SDQ strength sub‐scale of Prosocial behaviour, post‐intervention improvements in the Pyramid attendee group were of greater magnitude than those of the comparison group. Conclusions. The Pyramid project intervention improves the socio‐emotional health of vulnerable children through promoting positive outcomes as well as reducing socio‐emotional deficits. These findings further support the inclusion of a salutogenic approach in promoting children's socio‐emotional well‐being.     

‘I Remember When I Learned That!’ developmental and gender differences in children's memories of learning episodes

Eighty 4‐ to 9‐year‐old children answered factual knowledge questions in math, science and social studies during one‐on‐one interviews. Children indicated whether they had known or guessed each answer, and whether they (a) remembered the moment they learned the answer (episodic response) or (b) did not remember. For episodic responses, children provided memory narratives of learning episodes. One third of children's responses identified a learning episode. There was a developmental trend in which older children were more episodic than younger children, and when children knew and provided correct answers, there was a gender difference in which females were more episodic than males. Developmental and gender differences in the characteristics of memory narratives were also apparent. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender Influences on Preschool Children's Social Problem-Solving Strategies

The authors investigated gender influences on the nature and competency of preschool children's social problem-solving strategies. Preschool-age children (N = 179; 91 boys, 88 girls) responded to hypothetical social situations designed to assess their social problem-solving skills in the areas of provocation, peer group entry, and sharing or taking turns. Results indicated that, overall, girls' responses were more competent (i.e., reflective of successful functioning with peers) than those of boys, and girls' strategies were less likely to involve retaliation or verbal or physical aggression. The competency of the children's responses also varied with the gender of the target child. Findings are discussed in terms of the influence of gender-related social experiences on the types of strategies and behaviors that may be viewed as competent for boys and girls of preschool age.     

The approach‐avoidance framework for identifying athletes’ coping style as a function of gender and race

Anshel, M.H., Kang, M. & Miesner, M. (2010). The approach‐avoidance framework for identifying athletes’ coping style as a function of gender and race. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. The purpose of this study was to identify the coping styles of competitive athletes as a function of gender and race in response to events experienced during the contest perceived as highly stressful using the approach and avoidance coping framework. Participants (N = 218) consisted of 111 males (48 African American and 63 Caucasian) and 107 females (41 African American and 66 Caucasian), and ranged in age from 18 to 54 yrs (M ± SD; 22.29 ± 3.9 yrs). They attended a university in the southeastern US, and were considered highly skilled athletes based on their current or former participation as competitive athletes. A 12‐item inventory was completed consisting of six approach coping and six avoidance coping strategy items. Confirmatory factor analysis, composite reliability and Cronbach’s alpha indicated acceptable model‐data fit and internal scale consistency. The results suggested the athletes’ preferred coping style was avoidance, rather than approach. A 2 × 2 ANOVA showed significant main effects for gender (p = 0.003) and race (p < 0.01); males used more approach coping than females, while Caucasians applied more approach coping than African Americans. No significant interaction was found. The results indicated the need for future study on examining gender and race as moderating variables in examining athletes’ coping styles.     

Experimental Tests of Normative Group Influence and Representation Effects in Computer‐Mediated Communication

Two experiments addressed the questions of if and how normative social influence operates in anonymous computer‐mediated communication (CMC) and human‐computer interaction (HCI). In Experiment 1, a 2 (public response vs. private response) × 2 (one interactant vs. four interactants) × 3 (textbox vs. stick figure vs. animated character) mixed‐design experiment (N = 72), we investigated how conformity pressure operates in a simulated CMC setting. Each participant was asked to make a decision in hypothetical social dilemmas after being presented with a unanimous opinion by other (ostensible) participants. The experiment examined how the visual representation of interaction partners on the screen moderates this social influence process. Group conformity effects were shown to be more salient when the participant's responses were allegedly seen by others, compared to when the responses were given in private. In addition, participants attributed greater competence, social attractiveness, and trustworthiness to partners represented by anthropomorphic characters than those represented by textboxes or stick figures. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1, replacing interaction with a computer(s) rather than (ostensible) people, to create an interaction setting in which no normative pressure was expected to occur. The perception of interaction partner (human vs. computer) moderated the group conformity effect such that people expressed greater public agreement with human partners than with computers. No such difference was found for the private expression of opinion. As expected, the number of computer agents did not affect participants' opinions whether the responses were given in private or in public, while visual representation had a significant impact on both conformity measures and source perception variables.     

Gender,status and the use of power strategies

The present study examined the effects of gender and status on the use of power strategies. The experiment consisted of a computer‐based problem‐solving task performed in pairs, where participants interacted with simulated long‐distance partners. Participants were 36 female and 38 male undergraduate students, who were assigned to be influencing agents and were required to convince their partners to accept their help in the problem‐solving process. Status was manipulated by the extent to which partners were dependent upon the participants' resources. Partners were either same sex or other sex. Results indicated an interactive effect of agent gender by status. Men used more frequently ‘masculine’‐typed and less frequently ‘feminine’‐typed strategies than did women in low status positions, whereas in high status positions no significant gender differences in power strategy choices were found. These findings suggest that gender differences and similarities vary according to social contexts. Implications of the findings for both theory and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multidimensional Gender Identity and Psychological Adjustment in Middle Childhood: A Study in China

This study examined the multiple components of gender identity (Egan and Perry 2001) and their relationships with psychological adjustment among 201 boys and 160 girls (aged 9 to 12 years) in Mainland China. Boys were found to be more content about their gender but feel more pressure to conform to gender stereotypes than girls. No gender or age differences were found in children’s intergroup bias. Higher gender typicality was related to greater global self-worth, greater social competence, and lower sense of loneliness. However, neither felt pressure nor gender contentment significantly predicted psychological adjustment. These results were compared with findings of previous United States-based studies to highlight the impacts of cultural contexts on gender identity and their effects on adjustment.     

Cultural,contextual, and gender differences in peer talk: A comparative study

Tulviste, T., Mizera, L., De Geer, B. & Tryggvason, M.‐T. (2010). Cultural, contextual, and gender differences in peer talk: A comparative study. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. The study focused on cultural, contextual, and gender differences in children’s peer talk. Same‐sex dyads of Estonian (n = 38), Finnish (n = 38), and Swedish (n = 34) preschool age children were videotaped during unstructured and structured play settings. We found only one gender difference in children’s talkativeness and in the use of regulatory speech: during free play, Swedish boys used more imperatives per directives than Swedish girls. At the same time there were significant cultural and contextual differences. Estonian children were most directive and Swedish children were least directive. Finnish children were less directive than Estonian children but more directive than Swedish children. It was concluded that cultural and contextual factors strongly influence the likelihood, extent, and nature of gender differences in peer talk.     

“Why Can’t Boys Be #LikeAGirl?”: Sticky Essentialism and Ambivalent (De)gendering in Fathers’ Online Accounts of Children’s Gender and Sexuality

In our media-centric age, stories and commentary about children’s gender socialization are exchanged online. Yet we know quite little about how fathers interpret the gender and sexual identities of their children and share those interpretations with others via social media. In this article, I present findings from a qualitative content analysis of blog posts about children’s gender and sexuality (n?=?122) written by American and Canadian fathers (n?=?36). I apply Kane’s (2012) “gender trap” typology to analyze how dad bloggers support and/or challenge heteronormative gendered identities, behaviors, relationships, and activities for children. Most of these fathers present anxious accounts of experimenting with gender-neutral parenting, imagining their children in future roles and relationships, permitting nonconformity in girls versus boys, and connecting childrearing to broader social inequalities. I develop the concepts of sticky essentialism—to demonstrate how essentialist logics permeate fathers’ explanations for gendered childhoods, and ambivalent (de)gendering—to explain fathers’ mixed feelings toward heteronormative gender socialization and accountability. To conclude, I discuss risks and benefits of fathers blogging publicly about children’s gender and sexuality.

     

Visibility and anonymity effects on attraction and group cohesiveness

This study investigated attraction and group cohesiveness under different visibility and anonymity conditions for social categories that differed in their capacity to be visually cued. Using computer‐mediated communication in 36 mixed gender (visually cued category) and nationality (non‐visually cued category) groups, we manipulated social category salience (via discussion topic), and anonymity versus visibility (via live video links). Under high salience, the effects of anonymity versus visibility were moderated by availability of visible category cues. Visibility increased attraction and cohesiveness for visually cued groups, whereas anonymity increased attraction and cohesiveness for non‐visually cued groups. Path analysis showed that, under high salience, effects of visibility and anonymity were mediated by self‐categorization processes, triggered by prototypicality of self in the case of non‐visually cued groups under anonymity. In low salience conditions, visibility directly cued attraction independently from self‐categorization, in line with relational attraction processes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Telling stories: Gender differences in peers’ emotion talk and communication style

Eighty girls and 64 boys (M= 6 years; 8 months, SD= .65) narrated a wordless picture book in mixed‐ or same‐gender dyads. In mixed‐gender as well as same‐gender dyads, girls used more emotion explanations than did boys. Combined across dyad type, girls used more emotion labels than did boys. Girls used a higher proportion of collaborative speech acts than did boys in same‐gender dyads, but girls and boys used the same amount in mixed‐gender dyads. Whereas girls used a higher proportion of informing acts in mixed‐gender dyads than did boys, boys used more than did girls in same‐gender dyads. The findings support contextual models of gender and suggest that speaker as well as partner gender influence emotion expression and conversational style.     

Gender differences in teachers’ perceptions of students’ temperament,educational competence,and teachability

Background. Student's temperament plays a significant role in teacher's perception of the student's learning style, educational competence (EC), and teachability. Hence, temperament contributes to student's academic achievement and teacher's subjective ratings of school grades. However, little is known about the effect of gender and teacher's age on this association. Aims. We examined the effect of teacher's and student's gender and teacher's age on teacher‐perceived temperament, EC, and teachability, and whether there is significant same gender or different gender association between teachers and students in this relationship. Sample. The participants were population‐based sample of 3,212 Finnish adolescents (M= 15.1 years) and 221 subject teachers. Methods. Temperament was assessed with Temperament Assessment Battery for Children – Revised and Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey batteries and EC with three subscales covering Cognitive ability, Motivation, and Maturity. Data were analyzed with multi‐level modelling. Results. Teachers perceived boys’ temperament and EC more negatively than girls’. However, the differences between boys and girls were not as large when perceived by male teachers, as they were when perceived by female teachers. Males perceived boys more positively and more capable in EC and teachability than females. They were also stricter regarding their perceptions of girls’ traits. With increasing age, males perceived boys’ inhibition as higher and mood lower. Generally, the older the teacher, the more mature he/she perceived the student. Conclusions. Teachers’ ratings varied systematically by their gender and age, and by students’ gender. This bias may have an effect on school grades and needs be taken into consideration in teacher education.