Wired for Gender: Experientiality and Gender-Stereotyping in Computer-Mediated Communication

The present experiments examined how experiential thinking moderates gender stereotyping in anonymous, text-based computer-mediated communication. In Experiment 1, participants played a trivia game with an ostensible partner via computer, represented by a randomly assigned gender-marked character. Consistent with the cognitive-experiential self-theory, high experientials were more likely than lows to infer their partner's gender from arbitrary characters and also exhibited greater conformity to the male- than to female-charactered partners. In Experiment 2, when the partner's comments revealed gender-linked language differences, high experientials were more likely than lows to base their gender inferences on the linguistic features. Women were more likely to accept the partner's answers when masculine than feminine questions were asked and showed greater overall conformity than men, but such self-stereotyping was more pronounced among high experientials than lows.