Perceptions of Sex Roles: Is There Any Consistency?

Abstract

The research examined how the sexes are perceived in a number of different situations. A questionnaire was used to obtain the perceptions of 16 situations, each containing a male or female, by 209 subjects (114 females, 95 males). Subjects described their perceptions in each situation on 40 word pairs. All effects were significant in a repeated-measures multivariate analysis of covariance of the data. The correlations of the 40 word pairs contained 6 oblique, principal axis factors: Thoughtful, Egotistical, Beauty, Confidence, Easy Going, and Bad. The results show the sexes to be perceived inconsistently in the different situations. Such findings contrast with previous sex-role stereotypes and support an interactional viewpoint.

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