性别化名字对个体印象评价及人际交往的影响

名字在个体印象评价和人际交往中发挥着重要作用。本研究结合刻板印象内容模型, 从刻板印象维护视角出发, 通过3个研究考察了性别化名字的热情能力感知, 基于此探究性别化名字对不同性别个体的印象评价及人际交往的影响。结果发现：(1)人们对男性化名字的能力评价高于女性化名字, 对女性化名字的热情评价高于男性化名字; (2)性别化名字影响男性的能力评价和女性的热情评价; (3)性别化名字影响人们对女性的交友偏好, 热情评价在其中起到完全中介作用; 性别化名字影响人们和男性的共事偏好, 能力评价起到完全中介作用。研究揭示了性别化名字影响印象评价的模式, 并为理解人际交往中名字的作用机制提供了新的研究思路。     

Characteristics attributed to individuals on the basis of their first names

Characteristics connoted by first names were explored in 7 studies. Four factors were identified: Ethical Caring, Popular Fun, Successful, and Masculine-Feminine (Study 1, N = 165). Men's names connoted more masculine characteristics, less ethical caring, and more successful characteristics than did women's names (Study 2, N = 274). Nicknames connoted less successful characteristics, more popular fun, and less ethical caring characteristics than did given names (Study 3, N = 289). Androgynous names connoted more popular fun and less masculine characteristics for men and more popular fun, less ethical caring, and more masculine characteristics for women than did gender-specific names (Study 4, N = 378). Less conventionally spelled names connoted uniformly less attractive characteristics (Study 5, N = 145). For men only, longer names connoted more ethical caring, less popular fun, more successful, and less masculine characteristics (Study 6, N = 620). More anxiety and neuroticism were attributed to those with less common names and more exuberance was attributed to those with more attractive names (Study 7, N = 137).     

Name ambiguity and androgyny

Subjects with gender-ambiguous names or nicknames (i.e., names that can belong to either males or females) were compared on Bem's androgyny scale to subjects having common or uncommon first names or nicknames to determine if name ambiguity was related to sex-role identification. The results showed that for our sample of college undergraduates (N=489), both males (N=246) and females (N=243) with ambiguous nicknames (e.g., Pat, Tony, Marty) were more often classified as androgynous on the Bem inventory than were subjects with uncommon, common, or no nicknames. Ambiguous first names were unrelated to the androgyny scale. Name and nickname ambiguity were not related to liking of name, self-concept, family tradition, social class differences, or grade point average.A version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Atlanta, March 1978.     

The Effects of Names on Perception of Intelligence, Popularity, and Competence

Three experiments were conducted to explore the effects of first names on judgments of intelligence, popularity, and competence. In Experiment 1, first names that were used more often in the past than they are now (called Older Generation names) were rated by a sample of college-aged judges as less popular and less intelligent than were first names that are used more often now than in the past (called Younger Generation names). In addition, male first names tended to have higher ratings of these same qualities than did female first names. In Experiments 2 and 3, either resumes or personal ads were used to provide additional information to the raters. Results similar to those found in Experiment 1 were obtained. In general the present experiment used groups of names rather than individual names so as to control for possible irrelevant and idiosyncratic differences that might be found among individual names. Relevance to research in which men and women are compared was discussed.     

Sex-role expectations of socially desirable first names

This study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between child-naming practices and the perpetuation of traditional sex-role expectations of masculine and feminine behaviors. It was hypothesized that desirable male and female first names would be rated as more sex-typed the more frequently they occurred in the culture. No relationship on a cross-sex-typed effect was predicted for undesirable first names. Psychology undergraduates (N=149) nominated desirable and undesirable male and female first names. The frequency of nomination was correlated with ratings of masculinity or femininity of the names, and the results supported the hypotheses. A significant correlation was found between frequency and degree of stereotypy of first names rated as desirable, but no effect was found for undesirable first names. These results were discussed in terms of role-conflict theory. Secondary issues raised were the use of androgynous first names and the effects of first names on affirmative action procedures.     

Cigarette Smoking in Popular Films: Does It Increase Viewers' Likelihood to Smoke?1

The effect of viewing smoking in popular films was investigated. Participants were instructed to rate main characters in scenes from popular films on 12 characteristics (e. g., attractive, sexy, sociable). One group watched 6 scenes from popular films in which the main character they rated was smoking. The other group watched scenes from the same 6 films in which they rated the same main characters who were not smoking. The participants rated the female characters shown smoking less favorably on all rated characteristics, but not the male characters. The male regular and occasional smokers had a higher current desire to smoke if the film characters they had viewed smoked. Both female and male participants who viewed the characters smoking were more likely to indicate a likelihood to smoke than were the participants who viewed the nonsmoking scenes.     

Sex-role identity as a moderator of the polarization effect in person perception

Male and female subjects with different sex-role identities (Androgynous, Masculine, Feminine, Undifferentiated) rated likability of male and female stimulus persons in the impression formation paradigm. Under certain conditions all the female subjects and feminine males manifested a polarization effect; that is, they made more polar ratings of opposite-sexed stimulus persons in contrast to same-sexed stimulus persons. On the other hand, under certain conditions Masculinetyped males rated male stimulus persons more negatively than female stimulus persons. Results were discussed in terms of moderating effects on the polarization phenomenon and possible explanatory mechanisms.     

Mental Distress and Physical Symptoms in the Slums of New Delhi: The Role of Individual,Household, and Neighborhood Factors1

Same‐gender researchers interviewed 218 male and 198 female residents of 7 slums in New Delhi, India, which varied in terms of both household‐level variables (e.g., number of people and number of rooms per house) and neighborhood‐level variables (e.g., number of families sharing a water source). Consistent with prior research, women rated household stressors more negatively than did men. In contrast, men rated environmental stressors (traffic, garbage, air pollution, and crime) more negatively than did women. Individual‐level factors (age and psychological variables) significantly predicted both mental distress and physical symptoms. However, multivariate analyses revealed significant household‐and neighborhood‐level effects on mental distress, but not physical symptoms.     

Emotion in the neutral face: a mechanism for impression formation?

The current work examined contributions of emotion-resembling facial cues to impression formation. There exist common facial cues that make people look emotional, male or female, and from which we derive personality inferences. We first conducted a Pilot Study to assess these effects. We found that neutral female versus neutral male faces were rated as more submissive, affiliative, na?ve, honest, cooperative, babyish, fearful, happy, and less angry than neutral male faces. In our Primary Study, we then "warped" these same neutral faces over their corresponding anger and fear displays so the resultant facial appearance cues now structurally resembled emotion while retaining a neutral visage (e.g., no wrinkles, furrows, creases, etc.). The gender effects found in the Pilot Study were replicated in the Primary Study, suggesting clear stereotype-driven impressions. Critically, ratings of the neutral-over-fear warps versus neutral-over-anger warps also revealed a profile similar to the gender-based ratings, revealing perceptually driven impressions directly attributable to emotion overgeneralisation.     

Phonological cues influence sex decisions about novel names

Investigations of first names in English have found that male and female names are distinguished by different phonological characteristics. This paper reports on findings that suggest native speakers of English rely on those same cues when making judgments about the sex of names with which they are unfamiliar. When presented with 40 novel, i.e., "invented" names, 25 university undergraduates judged one-syllable names and consonant-final names as male names; however, they judged two-syllable names and vowel-final names as female names. These findings indicate that certain phonological features are strong enough predictors of sex that they can be used to designate sex even with names never before encountered.     

The accessibility of characters in single sentences: proper names,common nouns,and first mention

Accessibility of characters in two-character sentences (e.g., The butler helped Calvin at the wedding reception) was investigated with a probe recognition task. Probes were either the first character (e.g., butler) or the second character (e.g., Calvin) in a sentence and were designated by proper names or common nouns crossed with name or noun nonprobes. Results show that (1) probes in first position are more accessible than those in second position, but not when noun probes are paired with name nonprobes, (2) characters designated by names are generally more accessible than those designated by nouns, and (3) the first name in a sentence is more available than other characters, regardless of position. Thus, accessibility of characters in a sentence seems dependent on discourse function, with named characters seen as main characters, rather than on nondiscourse-related factors, such as temporal distinctiveness.     

An Improved Device for the Continuous Pneumatic Recording of Respiration and Changes in Blood Pressure

Boys and girls in grades 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 11 (N = 2212) rated the desirability of 179 male and 246 female first names. The popularity of specific first names was found to vary systematically across the grades. The first name preferences of adolescent girls were somewhat different from those of adolescent boys and younger children of both sexes.     

Gender bias in caregiving professions: The role of perceived warmth

One hypothesized reason for why a disproportionately low number of men enter caregiving fields is how such men are perceived. In two studies, drawing upon the Stereotype Content Model and the lack‐of‐fit model, we tested whether men would encounter more social (e.g., likeability bias) and economic (e.g., hiring or job opportunity bias) penalties than women in caregiving professions due to perceptions that men are less warm than women. In all three studies, we created job or employment materials in which the gender of the candidate or employee was manipulated. In Study 1, a female preschool teacher received higher warmth ratings than a male preschool teacher, which in turn predicted preference for the female teacher over the male teacher. In Study 2, a female social worker was rated more highly in warmth and job hireability than a male social worker; warmth also mediated the relationships between gender and both likeability and job hireability. In Study 3, a male preschool teacher was rated lower in warmth, likeability, job hireability, and job suitability than both a female preschool teacher and a preschool teacher with an unspecified gender. There were no differences between perceived competence of men and women in caregiving positions when competence was assessed. Implications for the factors that predict adverse reactions to and penalties against men in caregiving occupations, as well as interventions to combat the potential negative effects of such penalties on men's interest in caregiving careers, are discussed.     

Belief in COVID-19 misinformation: Hopeful claims are rated as truer

Misinformation surrounding COVID-19 spread rapidly and widely, posing a significant threat to public health. Here, we examined whether some types of misinformation are more believable than others, to the extent that they offer people hope in uncertain times. An initial group of subjects rated a series of COVID-19 misinformation statements for whether each made them feel more or less hopeful (if true). Based on these ratings, we selected two sets of misinformation that differed in their average rated hopefulness; the two sets did not differ in word length or reading ease. In two studies, people rated their belief in each statement. Results from both studies revealed that people rated the more hopeful misinformation (e.g., COVID cures and prevention methods) as truer than less hopeful misinformation (e.g., transmission vectors). These findings are consistent with a motivated reasoning account of misinformation acceptance.     

Why Susie sells seashells by the seashore: implicit egotism and major life decisions

Because most people possess positive associations about themselves, most people prefer things that are connected to the self (e.g., the letters in one's name). The authors refer to such preferences as implicit egotism. Ten studies assessed the role of implicit egotism in 2 major life decisions: where people choose to live and what people choose to do for a living. Studies 1-5 showed that people are disproportionately likely to live in places whose names resemble their own first or last names (e.g., people named Louis are disproportionately likely to live in St. Louis). Study 6 extended this finding to birthday number preferences. People were disproportionately likely to live in cities whose names began with their birthday numbers (e.g., Two Harbors, MN). Studies 7-10 suggested that people disproportionately choose careers whose labels resemble their names (e.g., people named Dennis or Denise are overrepresented among dentists). Implicit egotism appears to influence major life decisions. This idea stands in sharp contrast to many models of rational choice and attests to the importance of understanding implicit beliefs.     

Auditory Stroop reveals implicit gender associations in adults and children

Gender provides a powerful social heuristic for structuring incoming information. Thus, it may be difficult to attend to aspects of a person’s sex without also activating irrelevant gender associations. In two experiments, an auditory Stroop revealed implicit gender associations. Participants categorized the sex of voices saying names and words stereotypically associated with male, female or neutral gender roles. Both adults and children were slower when the voice’s sex was stereotypically incongruent with the spoken word or name. Although both groups showed such interference, children—who are generally less flexible about gender roles—showed more interference in response to gender-stereotypical words (e.g., football) than names (e.g., Rachel), whereas adults showed the opposite pattern. Given the simplicity of this task, the auditory Stroop might be used both to tap into implicit gender associations and to investigate their development.     

The Interactive Effects of Facial Maturity and Name Warmth on Perceptions of Job Candidates

This study investigated the interactive effects of' name warmth and facial maturity on job-hiring recommendations and trait perceptions of others. Subjects examined the bogus resume of a job applicant, attached to which was a picture of a babyfaced or maturefaced female or male. The name of the applicant was either cold or warm, as determined by pretesting. The suitability of the candidate for jobs requiring warmth and competence was rated, and other trait judgments were made. Results revealed that applicants with warm names were viewed as more suitable for a job requiring warmth, hut less suitable for a job requiring competence, and were judged as more sincere, but less powerful, than were applicants with cold names. Name warmth modified the perceptions of power and coldness that are typical when perceiving maturefaced people, although babyfaced job-seekers' name warmth did not affect their suitability for jobs. Specifically, maturefaced applicants with warm names were judged as less powerful and more suited for a job requiring warm than were maturefaced applicants with cold names, and maturefaced female applicants with warm names were perceived as more sincere than their cold-named counterparts. The results are discussed within a context suggesting that both physical appearance, and other nonbehavioral information jointly, and systematically influence impressions of others.     

Gay Stereotypes: The Use of Sexual Orientation as a Cue for Gender-Related Attributes

This study investigated whether gay men and lesbians are assumed to have attributes stereotypically associated with the other gender. Participants were 110 male and female undergraduates from a private, Midwestern, U.S. university. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions (i.e., gay male, lesbian, heterosexual female, heterosexual male) and rated their given target on possession of traditionally masculine and feminine occupational interests, activities, and traits. Results revealed that, despite some changes in the status of gay men and lesbians in society, stereotypes regarding sexual orientation were similar to those seen in studies conducted 20 years ago. Specifically, gay males were viewed as less masculine/more feminine than heterosexual males, and lesbians were viewed as more masculine/less feminine than heterosexual females.     

Ambivalent Sexism and Applicant Evaluations: Effects on Ambiguous Applicants

The purpose of the current research was to evaluate how gender stereotypes and sexist attitudes affect responses to hypothetical job applicants. In Study 1 (N?=?93) undergraduate and graduate students in the Southwestern USA evaluated a male, female, or gender-ambiguous resume. They also completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI; Glick and Fiske 1996). Hypotheses were tested using ANOVA. Results suggested that participants who expressed more hostile sexist attitudes evaluated the gender-ambiguous applicant more negatively than a male or female applicant. In Study 2 (N?=?117), graduate and undergraduate participants were asked to indicate the gender of the ambiguous applicant. Those who scored high on hostile sexism, and perceived a gender-ambiguous applicant to be male, provided the most favorable evaluations.     

Observers' reaction to touchers

20 men and 20 women were shown nine photographs in which two people were interacting. The first photograph shown showed a male and a female engaged in a nontouching interaction. The remaining eight photographs showed a touching interaction. Subjects rated their affective reaction to each of the touching interactions relative to their reaction to the first (nontouch) interaction. In the latter 8 photographs, the person facing the camera was either male or female, the person with back to camera was either male or female, and the touch shown was either a hand touch or a hug. All touching interactions were rated more positively than the standard (nontouch interactions). Male and female subjects tended to show identical reactions to the photographs. More positive reactions were shown to cross-sex hugging than to same-sex hugging and interactions showing hand touch.