Interpersonal dominance-warmth dimensions of hostile and benevolent sexism: Insights from the self and friends

Abstract

Ambivalent sexism theory conceptualizes sexism as comprised of two distinct yet complementary attitudinal views of women: hostile sexism (HS) and benevolent sexism (BS). HS is an antipathy toward women; BS is an ostensibly positive view of women as pure and warm yet weak and incompetent. The current research adds to extant models of individual differences and sexism by capturing a wider range of interpersonal warmth-dominance measures associated with both BS and HS. Four studies were conducted that featured online and student samples (N = 772; 55.7% female) as well as self (Studies 1–4) and friend-reports (Study 4). We found that men's HS correlated positively with interpersonally dominant characteristics and negatively with interpersonal warmth. In contrast, men's BS correlated positively with both interpersonal dominance and warmth measures. For women, HS positively correlated with one interpersonal dominance measure (i.e., Machiavellianism) and negatively with warmth measures. However, the relationships between BS and dominance-warmth measures were less consistent or clear for women. Furthermore, preliminary evidence suggests that BS (but not HS) was associated with apparent biases in self-perception. Extending prior research on prejudice and personality, this research provides a comprehensive examination on the relationships between ambivalent sexism and interpersonal dimensions of dominance and warmth.