What's in a Title? The Ms. Stereotype and Images of Women's Titles of Address

Abstract

The hypothesis that the title Ms. elicits a stereotype was tested in two separate experiments. In both cases, university students of both sexes were presented with a brief description of a stimulus person whose title of address was varied (i.e., Ms., Mrs., Miss, or Mr.). In Experiment I, subjects conveyed their impressions on semantic differential ratings and life outcome ratings. Experiment II employed a larger pool of semantic differential ratings and explored the impact of the Ms. stimulus person's marital status and the female respondents' attitude toward women on the Ms. stereotype. The two experiments were consistent in showing that a woman who prefers the title Ms. gives the impression of being more achievement oriented, socially assertive and dynamic, but less interpersonally warm, relative to her counterparts with traditional titles of address. Some implications of the Ms. stereotype were discussed.