Status, communality, and agency: Implications for stereotypes of gender and other groups.

Abstract

Four studies addressed the hypothesis, based on correspondence bias, that low- relative to high-status individuals are perceived as more communal and less agentic. Study 1 instantiated status in terms of occupations, and findings were as expected. The findings of Study 2 reconciled those of Study 1 and of A. H. Eagly and V. J. Steffen (1984) in that they demonstrated that high-status occupations are differentially construed in terms of their interpersonal communal demands. The hypothesis received clear support in Studies 3 and 4, in which a general instantiation of status independent of occupations, social roles, and gender was adopted. The findings are discussed in terms of gender stereotypes and social role theory of gender ( A. H. Eagly, 1987 ) as well as in terms of other stereotypes.