Male Narcissism and Attitudes Toward Heterosexual Women and Men, Lesbian Women, and Gay Men: Hostility toward Heterosexual Women Most of All

The present study investigated links between heterosexual men’s narcissism and attitudes toward heterosexual and non-heterosexual women and men. Male narcissism was predicted to be associated with hostility toward heterosexual women more than toward other groups, indicating investment in patriarchal power more than in conservative gender ideology or nonspecific disdain toward all people. Hierarchical regression analyses of responses from 104 male undergraduates (95% Caucasian) from Ohio in the U.S. supported the hypothesis that men’s narcissism is related most robustly to hostility toward women, rather than to equivalent derogation of all groups. Moreover, men’s narcissism is not merely a maker of traditional gender ideology, but instead is associated with favorable attitudes toward lesbian women and is unrelated to attitudes toward gay men.     

Men,Women, and the Self-Presentation of Achievement

This study examined men's and women'sself-presentation of academic achievement in aninteractional context. First-year college students wereled to expect an interaction with a peer to discussacademic achievement. However, the peer was actually aconfederate who portrayed his or her achievement in aboastful, moderate, or self-deprecating manner. Prior tothe anticipated interaction, subjects were induced to describe their own academic achievement andmake predictions about their first-semester grade pointaverages (GPAs) to be shared with the peer. Men's GPApredictions were highest in the boastful condition (and higher than their actual GPAs), nexthighest in the moderate condition, and lowest (and lowerthan their actual GPAs) in the self-deprecatingcondition. Women's predicted GPAs,unexpectedly,didnotvary by condition. Women were less comfortable inpredicting their GPAs than men, and there was a tendencyfor men to be more comfortable than women whileobserving the boastful peer and women to be morecomfortable than men while observing the self-deprecatingpeer. Results are discussed with regard to past researchand self-in-relation theory.     

Thin,Sexy Women and Strong,Muscular Men: Grade-School Children's Responses to Objectified Images of Women and Men

There are data that show that women are objectified in the media, that girls and women experience a high rate of body dissatisfaction and eating problems, and that exposure to objectified media images of women is related to the experience of self-objectification and body shame among women. Media images of women promote a thin, sexy ideal. The objectification of men in the media has increased, perhaps promoting a “drive for muscularity” among boys. In the present study grade-school girls and boys ages 6 through 12 were shown four pictures of objectified images of women and men, respectively, and asked about their responses to the pictures. Although girls and boys responded equally positively to the objectified images of the people of their gender, girls showed a more consistent response to the pictures. Further, there were stronger relationships between girls' responses to the pictures, awareness and internalization of media images, and body esteem. Girls who consistently showed a rejection response to the pictures had higher body esteem than those girls who were uncertain about how to respond to the pictures. It was concluded that, perhaps due to cultural images and cultural pressures, girls more readily develop a consistent response to objectified images of women (than boys do to objectified images of men) that relates to their feelings about their own bodies.     

Work, Family, and Religious Involvement for Men and Women

Do family formation and social establishment affect religious involvement in the same way for men and women, given increasing individualism and rapid changes in work and family roles? Using a random sample of adults from upstate New York (N = 1,006), our research builds on previous work in this area by using multiple measures of religious involvement, using multiple measures of individualism and beliefs about work and family roles, placing men and women in their work context, and looking at the relationships separately by gender. Men’s religious involvement is associated with marriage, children, and full‐time employment, signaling social establishment and maturity. Women’s involvement is higher when there are school‐aged children in the home, but it is also more intertwined with the salience of religion and with an assessment that religious institutions are a good fit with their values and lifestyles, including egalitarian views of gender. For men and women, views of religious authority and the role of religious institutions in the socialization of children are associated differently with religious involvement at different life stages. We call for further research to understand the gendered nature of religious involvement and the role of beliefs about work, family, and religion in explaining why individuals choose to be involved in religious institutions.     

Creativity in Men and Women: Threat,Other-Interest,and Self-Assessment

Previous research into gender and creativity has provided little evidence for consistent differences between men and women in creative performance. This research revisits this topic by proposing a person × situation approach, arguing that gender differences in creative performance only occur in certain contexts, but not others. Based on the assumption that men and women tend to differ in self versus other orientation, experimental instructions varied whether our participants’ (n = 169) creative efforts benefit the self or others, and whether creativity occurred under conditions of threat or not. In the absence of threat, women outperformed men in the originality of their creative efforts when the task was beneficial to others. This effect was eliminated in the presence of competitive threat. In contrast to some previous work, threat also increased creative performance under some circumstances. Results also revealed gender differences in self-assessment of creativity such that women seemed to be somewhat more attuned to the objective level of the originality of their creative performance than men. The discussion focuses on implications for research on gender differences in creativity, arguing that researchers must appreciate that gender differences in creativity, so far as they exist, are likely embedded in specific situational contexts.     

Medical Men, Women of Letters, and Treatments for Eighteenth-Century Hysteria

This paper explores evolving treatments for hysteria in the eighteenth century by examining a selection of works by both physician-writers and educated literary women. The treatments I identify—which range from aggressive bloodlettings, diets, and beatings, to exercise, fresh air, and writing cures—reveal a unique culture of therapy in which female sufferers and doctors exert an influence on one another's notions of what constitutes appropriate management of women's mental illness. A scrutiny of this exchange of ideas suggests that female patients were not simply oppressed and silenced by male practitioners; rather, their collective voice, intellect, and expertise helped to form progressive treatments for eighteenth-century hysteria.     

Men and Women Supervisors' Job Responsibility,Job Satisfaction,and Employee Monitoring

A gender-based job responsibility framework emphasizing job satisfaction and employee monitoring is presented in this study and is tested using a national sample of 2,607 supervisors representing a variety of industries. Overall, the path analysis indicated that male managers reported greater perceived responsibility than did female managers. Findings also indicated that perceived responsibility was positively related to both job satisfaction and employee monitoring. The limitations of the study are highlighted, and the managerial implications of the results and suggestions for future research are presented.     

Most Admired Women and Men: Gallup,Good Housekeeping,and gender

In order to understand how gender roles influence the selection of people who are admired, we analyzed the results of the Most Admired Men and Women polls conducted annually by Gallup and Good Housekeeping. Most Admired Men were more likely than women to have achieved their fame without sponsorship of a well-known family or spouse. However, the proportion of Autonomous women was higher in the 1980s and 1990s than previously. Men were more likely to be admired for their service in the military, politics, religion, and economics; women were more likely to be admired because they belonged to a royal or political family, or because of their work as activists and reformers or in the area of entertainment and culture. A small percentage of both men and women had been the victim of personal tragedy. The great majority of the admired individuals were White Americans. No Hispanics or Native Americans made the lists, and all but one of the Asians were women. In short, both gender and ethnic stereotypes seem to have influenced the choice of Most Admired Men and Women.     

Personality Profiles of Homosexual Men and Women

There has been surprisingly little research on possible differences between homosexual and heterosexual personalities, although the few studies that have been conducted suggest some interesting differences. We devised two hypothesis that may account for these differences. First, differences appear to reflect generalized social nonconformity and alienation due to the social stigmatization of the homosexual. Second, these differences seem to express a more specific tendency to deviation from socially normative sex roles. The two hypotheses imply a number of predictions concerning specific personality traits, which were tested by comparing the 16PF (Cattell, Eber, & Tatsuoka, 1970) personality profiles of a group of male (N = 34) and female (N = 31) homosexuals with those obtained from the two large student samples (male, N = 899 and female, N = 912) whose scores are commonly used as norms for the South African version of the 16PF. The findings suggested reasonably good support for the two hypotheses, particularly considering the limitations of the study with respect to the adequacy of the comparison groups used and the relative heterogeneity of the 16PF scale content.     

Men,Women, and Religiosity in Northern Ireland: Testing the Theories

ABSTRACT

Previous research suggests that females are more religious than males. Four theories have been put forward to explain this. This article uses cross-sectional survey data from the 2008 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey to test two of these theories, based on a newly developed scale measuring religiosity. The analysis indicates strong support for the socialisation theory, but not necessarily for structural location. Separate analysis for men and women indicates a similar pattern, although the effect of individual variables is different for men and women. The article concludes with a discussion of measurement issues.     

Body Appraisal,Weight Management Goals,and Well-Being Among Midlife Men and Women

In this paper, we assess the extent to which subjective and objective body appraisals relate to weight management goals and ultimately to life satisfaction in midlife men and women. The sample consisted of 141 midlife men and women (aged 55–59) from the Foley Longitudinal Study of Adulthood. We used both logistic and hierarchical linear regressions to examine relationships among and between variables. Both men and women expressed similar levels of body appraisal, and similar weight management goals; lower body appraisal and the presence of a weight management goal were both related to lower well-being. This study suggests that subjective and objective body appraisals may motivate the setting of weight management goals, and are significant contributors to well-being in midlife. Results are discussed in the context of aging, as well as gender.     

Social Connectedness,Social Appraisal,and Perceived Stress in College Women and Men

This study examined the effects of social connectedness, social appraisal of the campus climate, and perceived stress of college women and men. Drawing from self‐verification theory, social appraisal was hypothesized to mediate the effects of connectedness on perceived stress. Two hundred and fourteen college students were surveyed. Results support a partial mediation effect for women. Men, however, were more likely to negatively appraise the campus climate, and social connectedness was more negatively related to perceived stress for men than for women. Results are interpreted according to gender differences in independent and interdependent self‐construal. The need to clearly define and measure social connectedness and social appraisal is also discussed. Counseling implications focus on the promotion and assessment of connectedness on campus.     

Understanding Social Connectedness in College Women and Men

A sense of connectedness for men was hypothesized to be based on relationships that emphasize forms of social comparison, whereas a sense of connectedness for women was hypothesized to be based on relationships that emphasize forms of intimacy and physical proximity. The results from this study generally supported the hypotheses for both women and men. For women, relationships that emphasized reliable alliance and not guidance contributed to social connectedness. For men, relationships that emphasized reassurance of worth but not reliable alliance or opportunity for nurturance contributed to social connectedness. Differences in how women and men construct social connectedness are discussed in terms of counseling implications and future research.