Research on gender stereotypes has contrasted males with females, describing males by competency traits and females by traits which denote warmth or emotionality. However, it has become clear that these traits do not satisfactorily describe all members of either sex, since not all men possess only masculine characteristics and not all women…

A sample of 180 students was given the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Nonscience females were more often classified as feminine, while more females in science were classified as androgenous. No difference was found in the number of biological and physical science majors classified as feminine. (MNS)

The expression of children's concepts of sex-roles was explored by examining changes in the masculinity and femininity of human figure drawings of males and females. A total of 106 sixth-grade students participated in two Draw-a-Person sessions. In the drawing task, persons to be drawn were either specified in terms of gender or unspecified as to…

Despite recent research showing men capable of nurturing behavior, most men remain reluctant to care for children. Some researchers have suggested that men are fearful of nurturing as a result of traditional sex role socialization while others have suggested an increased role of external factors in explaining the lack of men in child care (pay,…

The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) has come under much criticism relating to the interpretation of the masculinity and femininity scales upon which its four sex role types are based. To investigate the masculinity-femininity construct using the BSRI under standard self-description instructions and under self-description instructions in one of two…

The objectives of this study were to investigate (1) whether prior opinions concerning a child's sex influence the qualities attributed to the child; (2) whether differences exist in the responses of male and female raters; and (3) the effect of forced-choice responses vis-a-vis non-forced responses. An 8-minute videotape of a 22-month-old infant…

Four hundred undergraduates were asked to describe their construals of male and female stereotypes. Results support the notion that people's perceptions of maleness are more stereotypically framed than their perceptions of femaleness, suggesting that more draconian notions of gender appropriateness are applied to males than to females in our…

Androgyny research has been hampered by a dependency upon traditional masculine and feminine sex roles for definition. Bakan's (1966) concept of agency and communion, which parallels masculinity and femininity, refers to behavioral competencies, involving a style or manner of interacting with the environment devoid of gender designations and…

A study examined S.L. Bem's Gender Schema Theory as it relates to communicator style. It was hypothesized that (1) speakers using a "powerless" speech style would be perceived less positively than would "powerful" speakers, and (2) sex-typed subjects, that is, those who adhere to a traditional sex role schema, would perceive…