Nonverbal cues to sex-role attitudes

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between self-reported attitudes toward “masculinity-femininity” and nonverbal behavior as judged by peers. Subjects ( Ss) were preselected using an Mf questionnaire into: high-“feminine” males ( N = 16) and females ( N = 15) and low-feminine males ( N = 16) and females ( N = 15). The 62 Ss were videotaped in a 5-min standardized interview. Peer-age judges ( Js) then viewed the videotapes without sound and asked to check which of the 170 adjectives describe Ss. Some Js were asked to rate average college male and female. A large number of adjectives discriminated the sexes (91 out of 170). Women were more often seen as warm, affable, oversocialized, emotional, and unstable. Men were seen as forceful, dominant, and detached. Sixty-two adjectives discriminated high- and low-feminine women. Feminine women were seen as warm, affable, oversocialized, and submissive, while low-feminine women were seen as dominant. High-feminine men were described as impulsive, dominant, and socially uneasy, while low-feminine men were seen as oversocialized and conventional.