Group Gender Composition Research Articles

The effectiveness of men and women in problem-solving groups as a function of group gender composition

Previous research suggests that the fewer women in a group, the less likely their ideas will be considered. The present study was designed to test the effect of gender composition on women's influence. Thirty groups were asked to solve two problems, first as individuals, then as groups. Composition and gender of the subject receiving a helpful clue were varied. Subjects rated the second task and members of the group, and a Bales Interaction Analysis was conducted. Results indicated that men were more influential than women only when in the minority, that women had smaller proportions of leadership acts than men, and that some stereotyped attitudes existed. Results were discussed in terms of previous findings, and suggestions for future research were made.

Gender and leadership emergence: An experimental study

This investigation examined the skill and gender of individual group discussants and the gender composition of the group as factors potentially affecting perceptions of emergent leadership. Results highlighted the relationship between performing procedural behaviors and being perceived as a group leader and pointed to complexities associated with the group's gender composition. Although acknowledging the role of gender, however, the results confirmed that task competence was crucially related to any individual's emerging as a group's leader.

The effects of sex-role attitudes and group composition on men and women in groups

The dual impact of group gender composition and sex-role attitudes on self-perceptions and social behavior was explored. Androgynous and stereotyped men and women were placed in groups of skewed sex composition. Subjects' self-descriptions of masculine attributes shifted significantly in the group environment. In some instances, sex role-stereotyped subjects responded most stereotypically when their gender was in the minority in the group. Differences between men and women and between androgynous and stereotyped subjects in sex role-related preferences for group roles and discussion topics were also found.

A cross-cultural analysis of recruitment into all male groups: An ethological perspective

Empirical data were gathered on proxemic behaviors between adults and children in 10 cultures. The results were analyzed by gender composition of adult groups, by gender of child and by age of child. Across the 10 culture sample, the older boy-adult male dyad was uniquely over-represented compared to the five other combinations of adult groups and children. This asymmetry of association of the older boy-man dyad is discussed in reference to the asymmetrical division of labor by gender which was presumed extant during the development of the genus Homo . It is assumed that for pre-agrarian Homo , hunting was a male prerogative. Consequently, persistent and strong selective pressures would be generated upon men to develop male-male bonds and to recruit older boys into all male hunting groups. It is suggested that the “bonding” behaviors are mediated and canalized by the neural and hormonal systems which in turn are subtended by particular constellations of genetic material operating within a normative and generalized environment.