First and third person wording of items on a sex role attitude questionnaire were examined. No correlation was found between women's scores on two versions of the Wellesley Role Orientation Scale (WROS) which were identical except for the pronouns. These results suggest that despite similar content, items worded in the first person are not equivalent to third person items as measures of sex roles. Third person scores of women were much higher than first person scores and were similar to third person scores of men. This was interpreted as indicating that normative expectations regarding women's roles are far more traditional than stated preferences of college women in the sample studied.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlperT. G.The relationship between role orientation and achievement motivation in college women.Journal of Personality, 1973, 41, 9–31.
2.
BillerH. B.Father, Child, and Sex-RolesLexington, Mass.: Heath Lexington Books, 1971.
3.
BroganD., & KutnerN. G.Measuring sex-role orientation: A normative approach.Journal of Marriage and the family, 1976, 31–40.
4.
DeauxK., & EmswillerT.Explanations of successful performance on sex linked tasks: What is skill for the male is luck for the female.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1974, 29, 80–85.
5.
DeauxK., & TaynorJ.Evaluation of male and female ability: Bias works two ways.Psychological Reports, 1973, 32, 261–262.
6.
FishbeinM.Attitude and the prediction of behavior. In FishbeinM., ed., Readings in Attitude Theory and Measurement.New York: Wiley, 1967.
7.
FlingS., & ManosevitzM.Sex typing in nursery school children's play interests.Developmental Psychology, 1972, 7, 146–152.
8.
GoldbergP.Are women prejudiced against women?Trans-Action, 1968, 5, 28–30.
9.
MehrabianA.Male and female scales of the tendency to achieve.Educational and Psychological Measurement, 1968, 28, 493–502.
10.
PetersonM. J.The asymmetry of sex-role perceptions.Sex Roles, 1975, 1, 267–278.
11.
RotterJ. B.Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement.Psychological Monographs, 1966, 80, (1, whole No. 609).
12.
SpenceJ. T., & HelmreichR. L.Masculinity and femininity: Their psychological dimensions, correlates, and antecedents.Austin: University of Texas Press, 1978.
13.
SpenceJ. T., HelmreichR., & StappJ.A short version of the attitudes toward women scale (AWS).Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1973, 2, 219–229.
14.
TriandisH. C.Attitude and attitude change.New York: Wiley, 1971.
