Male and female nurturing: Perceptions of style and competence

College men and women evaluated male and female characters in five stories about babysitters. The characters: (1) refused to babysit, (2) babysat with minimal caretaking activities, (3) babysat with an active play style, (4) babysat with a quiet play style, or (5) babysat with a combined style. The refuser was considered most masculine but was consistently devalued. The quiet play, the active play, and combined caretakers were evaluated most positively. Evaluations of babysitters were more dependent on the behaviors they engaged in than on their gender. Nurturing men and women were both valued.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, August 1985.