Predicting spatial performance from gender stereotyping in activity preferences and in self-concept.

Tested competing hypotheses, derived from Bem's gender schema theory and Spence's gender identity theory. Two samples of college students were given a spatial task (either Piaget's water-level task or the Card Rotations Test) and self-report measures of participation in gender-stereotyped, space-related activities and of stereotypical masculine and feminine personality traits. Used causal modeling techniques to test the adequacy of the path models associated with the predictions from Bem's and Spence's theories. In both samples, sex, self-concept, and spatial activities made significant direct contributions to the prediction of spatial performance, supporting Spence's theory. The tendency of those with higher masculine trait scores to perform better on the spatial tasks was sometimes moderated by sex and feminine trait score. Implications of the results for the question of the origin of sex differences in spatial performance are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-schemas and gender.

Examined the information processing consequences of self-schemas about gender in 2 studies (467 undergraduates). Systematic differences in cognitive performance were observed among Ss identified as masculine schematics, feminine schematics, low androgynous, and high androgynous (Bem Sex-Role Inventory). Feminine schematics remembered more feminine than masculine attributes, endorsed more feminine qualities, required shorter processing times for "me" judgments to these attributes, were more confident of their judgments, and were able to supply relatively more examples of past feminine than masculine behavior. A parallel pattern of results was found for masculine stimuli in masculine schematics. Androgynous Ss recalled as many masculine as feminine attributes and did not differentiate between masculine and feminine attributes with respect to latency or confidence. Comparison of the 2 groups of androgynous Ss shows that only low androgynous Ss should be considered aschematic with respect to gender. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and sex roles as predictors of self-disclosure.

Previous research has found that gender differences in reported willingness to self-disclose depend on the intimacy of S's relationship with the target person. The authors tested the hypothesis that this effect is mediated by sex roles and holds only for Ss who have adopted traditional sex roles as measured by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI). 216 undergraduates participated. Results do not support the hypothesis, although BSRI scores were related to self-disclosure. Androgynous Ss reported more self-disclosure than all other Ss. Scores on the masculine dimensions of the BSRI predicted disclosure to strangers and acquaintances, but scores on both the masculine and feminine dimensions were needed to predict disclosure to intimate targets. It is suggested that intimate self-disclosures require both assertiveness associated with the traditional masculine role and the sensitivity and expressiveness associated with the traditional feminine role. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interaction of sex role self-concept with relationship quality and relationship beliefs in married, heterosexual cohabiting, gay, and lesbian couples.

Examined the relationship between sex-role self-concept (masculine, feminine, undifferentiated, and androgynous) and relationship quality and dysfunctional relationship beliefs among 44 married (mean age 29.68 yrs), 35 heterosexual cohabiting (mean age 28.68 yrs), 50 homosexual (mean age 31.28 yrs), and 56 lesbian (mean age 31.18 yrs) couples. Ss completed questionnaires on demographic and background information, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, a relationship beliefs inventory, and relationship quality assessments. Individual partner analyses revealed that relationship quality and relationship beliefs differed by Ss' sex-role self-concept. Androgynous and feminine Ss reported higher relationship quality than masculine and undifferentiated Ss; androgynous Ss had fewer "disagreement is destructive" beliefs than feminine Ss; and androgynous Ss had fewer "partner cannot change" beliefs than undifferentiated Ss. Couple analyses showed a relation between partners' sex-role self-concept only for the heterosexual cohabiting couples. For these couples, masculine men tended to pair with feminine or undifferentiated women, and androgynous partners tended to pair together. Relative to other couples, those in which one or both partners were androgynous or feminine reported the highest relationship quality; couples in which one or both partners were undifferentiated or masculine reported the lowest. These effects did not vary by type of couple. It is concluded that sex-role self-concept is a robust factor in appraisals of relationship quality. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of age at puberty on spatial ability in girls: A question of mechanism.

Tested 2 hypotheses related to the finding of D. P. Waber (see record 1977-20876-001) that late maturers of both sexes perform better on measures of spatial ability than early maturers do. Waber hypothesized that this phenomenon is related to hemispheric organization of cognitive functions. An alternative hypothesis is that the differences are related to psychosocial correlates of timing of puberty. These hypotheses were evaluated by measuring pubertal status; spatial ability; patterns of functional hemispheric specialization, as assessed by a dichhaptic task; participation in spatial activities; and masculine and feminine personality traits and interests in 85 11-yr-old girls. Results indicate that (a) spatial ability was positively correlated with later maturation; (b) spatial ability was positively correlated with masculine personality traits, masculine intellectual interests in the ideal self, and wanting to be a boy; (c) later maturation was positively correlated with the Femininity Scale of the California Psychological Inventory and negatively correlated with participation in 22 spatial activities; and (d) performance on the dichhaptic task was not correlated with either timing of puberty or spatial ability. Regression analyses indicated that masculinity variables and maturation rate had independent associations with spatial ability. It is suggested that both factors could be sources of sex differences in spatial ability. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of the relationship between psychological androgyny and components of self-concept.

357 college students participated in a study designed to investigate whether the higher levels of self-esteem and self-concept of androgynous individuals are due to an integration of both masculine and feminine traits or due only to a high level of masculinity. Ss completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and a semantic differential scale previously shown to assess 4 dimensions of the self-concept. The androgynous group scored higher than the undifferentiated group on adjustment to the environment. The androgynous and masculine groups scored higher than the feminine and undifferentiated groups on achievement/leadership, which tends to reflect an instrumental role. Androgynous and feminine Ss scored higher than masculine and undifferentiated Ss on congeniality/sociability, which reflects an expressive role. The masculine and feminine groups scored at appropriate ends of the masculinity/femininity self-concept dimension, with the androgynous and undifferentiated groups at intermediate levels. These results support S. L. Bem's (1975, 1977) theory of androgynous flexibility. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The structure of working memory abilities across the adult life span.

The present study addresses three questions regarding age differences in working memory: (1) whether performance on complex span tasks decreases as a function of age at a faster rate than performance on simple span tasks; (2) whether spatial working memory decreases at a faster rate than verbal working memory; and (3) whether the structure of working memory abilities is different for different age groups. Adults, ages 20–89 (n = 388), performed three simple and three complex verbal span tasks and three simple and three complex spatial memory tasks. Performance on the spatial tasks decreased at faster rates as a function of age than performance on the verbal tasks, but within each domain, performance on complex and simple span tasks decreased at the same rates. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that domain-differentiated models yielded better fits than models involving domain-general constructs, providing further evidence of the need to distinguish verbal and spatial working memory abilities. Regardless of which domain-differentiated model was examined, and despite the faster rates of decrease in the spatial domain, age group comparisons revealed that the factor structure of working memory abilities was highly similar in younger and older adults and showed no evidence of age-related dedifferentiation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of interpersonal orientation and the sex-type of the task on choosing to work alone or in groups.

The preferences of men and women for working alone or with others were examined. 150 undergraduates were presented with masculine and feminine tasks and were offered the choice of working alone or with others on the tasks. A cognitive model predicted that the congruence between gender and the sex-type of the task would affect expectancies of success, which, in turn would affect choice. From an individual difference perspective, it was predicted that interpersonal orientation would affect choice. The cognitive perspective model was supported, whereas interpersonal orientation had little effect on choice. The results were discussed in terms of their implications for task perceptions and gender differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of gender stereotype activation on entrepreneurial intentions.

In this study, the impact of implicit and explicit activation of gender stereotypes on men's and women's intentions to pursue a traditionally masculine career, such as entrepreneurship, was examined. On the basis of stereotype activation theory, it was hypothesized that men and women would confirm the gender stereotype about entrepreneurship when it was presented implicitly but disconfirm it when it was presented explicitly. Hypotheses were tested by randomly assigning 469 business students to one of 6 experimental conditions and then measuring their entrepreneurial intentions. Results supported the hypothesis when entrepreneurship was associated with stereotypically masculine characteristics but not when it was associated with traditionally feminine characteristics. Men also had higher entrepreneurial intention scores compared with women when no stereotypical information about entrepreneurship was presented, suggesting that underlying societal stereotypes associating entrepreneurship with masculine characteristics may influence people's intentions. However, men and women reported similar intentions when entrepreneurship was presented as gender neutral, suggesting that widely held gender stereotypes can be nullified. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical androgyny and cognitive functioning in adolescence.

Investigated the relationship of physical manifestations of sex hormone influence to cognitive functioning in a longitudinal sample of 106 male and 99 female adolescents. Cognitive and physical data were obtained on all Ss at ages 13, 16, and 18 yrs. Spatial abilities and verbal production measures were taken from the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scales and the Primary Mental Abilities Test. Physical measures were ratings of nude whole-body photographs. Results suggest that, in males, the relatively less masculine (androgynous) physical characteristics were positively related to spatial ability and negatively related to fluent production. Similarly, more masculine physical characteristics were positively related to fluent production and negatively related to spatial ability. Fluent production was unrelated to physical characteristics in females. The less feminine (androgynous) physical characteristics were related to spatial ability. Possibilities for the development of these relationships are discussed. (11/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent behaviors related to masculine, feminine, and androgynous sex role orientations.

Administered the Berzins-Welling ANDRO scale, a measure of psychological androgyny, and the Parent Behavior Form in a counterbalanced design to 181 male and 300 female undergraduates. Ss of each gender were classified into 1 of 4 sex role categories: masculine typed, feminine typed, androgynous, or indeterminate. Parent scale differences indicate that reported parental affection principally differentiated male groups, whereas parental cognitive or achievement encouragement and permissiveness differentiated female sex role categories. Indeterminates consistently reported the least parental warmth and cognitive involvement, whereas androgynous Ss generally reported the highest. Results indicate that new conceptualizations of sex role orientations, which consider masculine and feminine characteristics to be independent, uncorrelated dimensions, are distinctively related to reported parent child-rearing practices. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Power displays between women and men in discussions of gender-linked tasks: A multichannel study.

Conducted a multichannel investigation of how gender-based familiarity moderates verbal and nonverbal behaviors between men and women. Undergraduates in 24 mixed-sex dyads discussed masculine, feminine, and non-gender-linked topics. The primary dependent variables were verbal and nonverbal behaviors related to social power. The verbal behaviors examined were speech initiations and total amount of speech; the nonverbal behaviors studied were visual behavior (while speaking and while listening), gesturing, chin thrusts, and smiling. Systematic differences in the behaviors of men and women emerged on the gender-linked tasks. On the masculine task men displayed more verbal and nonverbal power-related behavior than did women. On the feminine task women exhibited more power than men on most of the verbal and nonverbal measures. On the non-gender-linked task men displayed greater power both verbally and nonverbally than did women. There were 2 exceptions to this overall pattern. Across all conditions, women smiled more often than did men, and men had a higher frequency of chin thrusts than did women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Yoga breathing through a particular nostril increases spatial memory scores without lateralized effects

Uninostril breathing facilitates the performance on spatial and verbal cognitive tasks, said to be right and left brain functions, respectively. Since hemispheric memory functions are also known to be lateralized, the present study assessed the effects of uninostril breathing on the performance in verbal and spatial memory tests. School children (N = 108 whose ages ranged from 10 to 17 years) were randomly assigned to four groups. Each group practiced a specific yoga breathing technique: (i) right nostril breathing, (ii) left nostril breathing, (iii) alternate nostril breathing, or (iv) breath awareness without manipulation of nostrils. These techniques were practiced for 10 days. Verbal and spatial memory was assessed initially and after 10 days. An age-matched control group of 27 were similarly assessed. All 4 trained groups showed a significant increase in spatial test scores at retest, but the control group showed no change. Average increase in spatial memory scores for the trained groups was 84%. It appears yoga breathing increases spatial rather than verbal scores, without a lateralized effect.     

Role of sex, gender roles, and attraction in predicting emergent leaders.

Examined the influence of sex, gender role characteristics, and interpersonal attractiveness on the selection of emergent leaders. Data were collected on 2 occasions from 122 subjects in 28 task groups performing "sex neutral" tasks for valued rewards over many weeks of interaction. Results showed no significant difference in the proportion of men and women to emerge as leaders through intragroup sociometric choice. Regardless of sex, group members with masculine gender role characteristics emerged as leaders significantly more than those with feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated gender role characteristics. Emergent leaders received significantly higher interpersonal attractiveness ratings than nonleaders within groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The stability of working memory: Do previous tasks influence complex span?

Schmeichel (2007) reported that performing an initial task before completing a working memory span task can lower span scores and suggested that the effect was due to depleted cognitive resources. We showed that the detrimental effect of prior tasks depends on a match between the stimuli used in the span task and the preceding task. A task requiring participants to ignore words reduced performance on a subsequent word-based verbal span task but not on an arrow-based spatial span task. Ignoring arrows had the opposite pattern of effects: reducing performance on the spatial span task but not on the word-based span task. Finally, we showed that antisaccade, a nonverbal task that taxes domain-general processes implicated in working memory, did not influence subsequent performance of either a verbal or a spatial span task. Together these results suggest that while span is sensitive to prior tasks, that sensitivity does not stem from depleted resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of androgyny on the quality of psychotherapeutic relationships.

Tested the hypothesis that androgynous therapists would form more favorable psychotherapy relationships with their clients than masculine or feminine therapists. 52 psychology practicum dyads (therapists aged 26–40 yrs, clients aged 18–30 yrs) were examined in the context of in vivo psychotherapy sessions. The therapists and clients each completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory—Revised, and clients also completed the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory. Results indicate that androgynous therapists were judged to produce more favorable relationships, regardless of gender. It is suggested that this superior relationship with androgynous therapists may be attributed to their uniqueness in dealing with problem-solving and interpersonal situations and their ability to blend masculine and feminine orientations. They can be assertive, yet supportive; engage in activities both traditionally gender appropriate and non-sex-typed; demonstrate a greater array of personal behavior and emotionality; organize cognitive data in non-gender-related ways; and combine an open, naturalistic interviewing style with directiveness. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The semantics of grammatical gender: a cross-cultural study

Although most present-day scholars claim that grammatical gender has no meaning correlates, anecdotal evidence dating back to the Greeks suggests that grammatical gender carries connotative meanings of femininity and masculinity. In the present study native German speakers (tested in Germany) and native Spanish speakers (tested in Mexico) judged 54 high-frequency translation equivalents on semantic differential scales chosen to reflect dimensions of evaluation, potency, and activity. Half the words were of feminine gender in German but of masculine gender in Spanish (Type I words), and half were of masculine gender in German and of feminine gender in Spanish (Type II words). As predicted, German speakers judged Type II words higher in potency than Type I words, whereas Spanish speakers judged Type I words higher in potency than Type II words. The conclusion was that grammatical gender does affect meaning.     

Role of self-efficacy and self-concept beliefs in mathematical problem solving: A path analysis.

Path analysis was used to test the predictive and mediational role of self-efficacy beliefs in mathematical problem solving. Results revealed that math self-efficacy was more predictive of problem solving than was math self-concept, perceived usefulness of mathematics, prior experience with mathematics, or gender (N?=?350). Self-efficacy also mediated the effect of gender and prior experience on self-concept, perceived usefulness, and problem solving. Gender and prior experience influenced self-concept, perceived usefulness, and problem solving largely through the mediational role of self-efficacy. Men had higher performance, self-efficacy, and self-concept and lower anxiety, but these differences were due largely to the influence of self-efficacy, for gender had a direct effect only on self-efficacy and a prior experience variable. Results support the hypothesized role of self-efficacy in A. Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)