A further analysis of the affective meanings associated with male and female sex-trait stereotypes

Abstract

This study was concerned with the qualitative differences in the male and female sex-trait stereotypes. Previous research employing the item pool of the Adjective Check List (ACL) had indicated no relationship between the stereotype loading of the adjectives and their “favorability” ratings. In the present study, university students rated the ACL items for “strength” and “activity,” and these ratings were used to demonstrate that the male stereotype was appreciably stronger and more active than the female stereotype. It was found that the strength ratings were highly correlated with both activity and favorability ratings which were, themselves, unrelated. It was concluded that the principal qualitative difference between the stereotypes lay in the connotations of activity and passivity associated, respectively, with the male and female stereotype traits, and that any assertion of greater “social desirability” for the male stereotype was based on its greater “activity” and not, as is often supposed, on its greater “favorability.”