Abstract
Males and females read descriptions of a male or female worker who succeeded or failed as a manager or secretary. Subjects responded with impressions of the worker, causal attributions for his/her success or failure, and evaluations of the likelihood of a number of positive and negative consequences for the worker. Based upon earlier work, a generalized third-order interaction between worker sex, occupation, and outcome was hypothesized. In contrast to this hypothesis, highly consistent and powerful main effects of outcome were found on all three types of dependent measures. Briefly, successful workers were viewed more positively and expected to experience more positive consequences than those who failed, regardless of their sex or occupation. In addition, success was attributed more to ability and effort and less to the job itself than was failure. The discussion centers on conditions that might limit the effects of sex-role stereotyping on observer reactions to success and failure.
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