Sex role and occupational stereotypes: Three studies of impression formation

The effects of sex and academic field of college teachers on perceptions of teacher competence and sex-role stereotypes are tested in three college samples. Contrary to expectations that male and female teachers would be described in sex-typed ways, regardless of academic major, subjects in these three studies rated male and female instructors in the same academic field essentially the same. The instructor's academic field (science or humanities) is consistently the most important determinant of impressions. It is suggested that although college students still hold traditional sex-role stereotypes, these become less important in first impressions when subjects received occupational information about women and men.