Affect Control Theory: Gender

Sex Differences in Sentiments

Do the feelings you have in social interaction differ from feelings experienced by the opposite sex? Affect control theory researchers started studying this issue in the 1960s. Here's what they found out about female-male differences.

U.S.A. females and males have different sentiments about certain things, but not about a lot of things.

One study statistically tested male EPA ratings against females' ratings to see if they were different. The study found differences, but only barely beyond what would be expected by chance. The table below shows the results: ten to twelve percent of the male and female EPA profiles differed significantly at the .10 significance level, whereas ten percent would be expected by chance.

Percent of Concepts With a Male-Female Difference in Sentiment, Significant at the 0.10 level
	Evaluation	Potency	Activity
650 Identities	11%	11%	11%
600 Behaviors	11%	12%	10%

Here are concepts that give the most extreme male-female differences (from another U.S.A. study).

	Identities		Behaviors		Settings
	Evaluation	Potency	Evaluation	Potency	Evaluation
Females more positive	lunatic, state trooper, fall guy, psychoanalyst, prude, slave, henchman, jackass, dullard, satyr, fairy, ghoul, shyster, moppet, second-story man	urchin, wit, firebug, fall guy, boy friend, turncoat, surgeon, brother, miser, strumpet, wretch, fairy, sodomite, thief, libertine	silence, ape, hold, desire, disobey, disgrace, flail, titillate, wheedle, confront, consider, seize, laud, placate, appease	subjugate, poison, abandon, antagonize, irritate, spit on, aggravate, bite, berate, strike, harangue, debauch, upstage, victimize, murder	religious fellowship service, wedding, ballet, amusement park, hell, marriage counselor office, pep rally, soup kitchen, concentration camp, death row
Sexes have the same EPA	star, wit, elementary school teacher, half sister, salesgirl, swinger, genius, flatfoot, miner		love, marry, indoctrinate, approve of, endure, discipline, chide, deprive, convert, con, cuddle, signal, address, refuse, dance with		gymnasium, conference, penthouse, crowd, stable, New Years Eve, seminar, mall, bus, highway, junkyard
Males more positive	vixen, g-man, nymph, sluggard, bisexual, heterosexual, hooker, bandit, peeping tom, call girl, mistress, academic, porno star, troublemaker, criminal	g-man, sluggard, paranoid, pimp, gossip, psychopath, bisexual, heel, ghoul, scamp, genius, heterosexual, bandit, big shot, gambler	seduce, exhort, deflower, disrobe, undress, ravish, humble, pet, rape, harangue, disturb, heal, criticize, overdose, browbeat	overdose, disable, exhort, stab, cuff, repulse, rob, annihilate, use, vex, manipulate, bind, abuse, outdo	bedroom, experiment, casino, battle, brewery, bar, examination, burlesque show, topless bar, orgy

What kind of conclusions can you draw from these results? Well, it does appear that males think sexuality identities, behaviors, and settings are nicer than females do; and females evaluate social-control identities, behaviors, and settings more positively than males do. These seem to be pretty safe generalizations, even though the table reveals some contradictions. It is hard to find much more in the table. In particular, male-female differences in potency sentiments are difficult to characterize at all.

Male-female differences in evaluations of sexuality appear in Germany more clearly than in the U.S.A. Such differences also appear in Canada, Japan, and China.

Sentiments About Females and Males

Identities

People feel somewhat differently about female identities as compared to male identities. Male identities generally are felt to be more potent than female counterparts.

The following chart showing mean sentiments of U.S.A. individuals demonstrates this. The first-named identity in each gendered pair in the legend is the identity with more potency, and that is the identity that is plotted higher on the graph. Male identities are more potent in all pairs except mother-father. Even the mother-father pair is not much of an exception since the graph shows that mother and father are nearly the same in goodness and powerfulness.

The relative powerlessness of female identities in the U.S.A. doesn't come from male chauvinism of the raters, since data for this display came solely from females!

The potency advantage for male identities is no quirk of American culture either. The next chart shows the same pattern in sentiments of German females, too. (Some identity pairs are lost because of missing data in the German study.) The male identity is more potent in each gendered pair of identities in Germany.

The next chart shows that male identities are more potent for Chinese females, too - in every pair of gendered identities, except mother-father. (Again, some pairs were lost because of missing data .) This is true despite a half century of radical communist leadership in China committed to raising the status of women!

On the other hand, a 1990s study of gender identities in the U.S.A. shows some deviations from this pattern with woman, wife, and housewife being at least as powerful as the male counterparts, and only mother being less powerful than the male counterpart. (All of the female roles are rated as nicer than the male counterparts.) This suggests that the potency of female identities other than mother increased since the 1970s, perhaps as a result of the feminist social movement.

So -

	Male identities have a potency advantage.
	This doesn't come out of gender subcultures because it is the same for both female and male raters.
	The potency advantage for male identities occurs in multiple societies.
	But perhaps it is disappearing as societies liberalize with regard to gender issues.

Traits

Asking what makes some traits seem male while others seem female replicates and extends the finding regarding role identities. According to the researchers who did this study, traits that imply a person is "productive, accomplished, and up for any type of challenge" typically are viewed as male, whereas the opposite kinds of traits are female. In fact, one of the stereotypes carried in gendered traits is that not only are females "unproductive and unaccomplished; they are also depicted as possessing numerous mental and emotional weaknesses that would impede all hope of accomplishment."

	Male stereotype traits, high on potency and evaluation: active, confident, energetic, adventurous, stable, strong, industrious, wise, independent.
	Female stereotype traits, low on potency and evaluation: foolish, inhibited, snobbish, unstable, unambitious, weak.

The productivity advantage implied in male traits corresponds to the potency advantage for male identities.

However, further analysis of traits with moderate potency revealed another gender distinction. Positively evaluated traits seem characteristic of women, and negatively evaluated traits seem characteristic of men. A second stereotype carried in gendered traits is that females seem nice in that they care about others, whereas men seem nasty in that they just look out for themselves.

	Male stereotype traits, negative evaluation: cruel, hostile, tough, self-centered.
	Female stereotype traits, positive evaluation: sentimental, gentle, emotional, kind, sincere, helpful.

One way of summarizing the results regarding stereotypes carried in gendered traits is that men have a power advantage, and women have a status advantage. Men have to get others to serve them by setting up punishment-reward contingencies. Women, on the other hand, having the kind of status that derives from others' esteem, enjoy the condition of others trying to please them without instigation.

These findings held true in the U.S.A. and Canada. We don't know yet if the stereotypes are the same in other cultures.

Sex Differences in Impression Formation

Events create impressions of the individuals participating in the events. Maybe females and males form impressions differently?

ACT studies reveal that females and males are largely similar in the way that they form evaluation, potency, or activity impressions of actors, behaviors, objects, and settings in social events. (Another section of this tutorial defines the impression formation effects mentioned below.)

	Stability effects are substantial and similar for both sexes, in the U.S.A., Canada, and Japan.
	The morality effect has a substantial impact on impressions of an actor for both sexes, in the U.S.A., Canada, and Japan.
	Actor-behavior evaluation consistency influences impressions of an actor for males and females alike in the U.S.A. and Canada - in Japan, too, except the effect did nor show up among Japanese of either sex in one study.
	Behavior-object evaluation consistency has a major impact on impressions of an actor, for both sexes in the U.S.A., Canada, and Japan. Additionally, an impact on evaluations of settings for both sexes has been found where studies of settings were conducted - U.S.A. and Japan.
	Congruency of behavior evaluation with object potency influences impressions of an actor for U.S. and Canadian males and females. The effect occurs for both sexes in Japan, too, in one study, but is negligible for both sexes in another study.

Some male-female differences have been found - mainly with regard to the strength of particular effects, sometimes in the sense that an effect present for one sex is absent for the other.

	Actor-behavior potency consistency reduces impressions of an actor's potency and increases impressions of an object's potency among U.S.A. males and females. However, in Canada while this pattern holds for females, there is no impact on actor potency for Canadian males. This consistency effect is not found for either sex in Japan.
	Congruency of behavior potency with object evaluation influences impressions of an actor's goodness for both sexes in the U.S.A. One study in Japan found the same thing, but another found the effect working only for males. In Canada, this congruency effect does not occur for either females or males with regard to impressions of actors; the effect does influence evaluation and potency impressions of behavior for Canadian males but not for Canadian females.
	Potency balance has different impacts for males and females. However, the differing impacts vary from study to study in the U.S.A., Canada, and Japan, so sex differences in potency balance cannot be summarized in a succinct way.

Overall, research reveals major similarities in the ways that females and males process the affective meanings of social events. The sex differences that do occur seem to be small in impact, and vary in different studies. The glass-half-empty view of the available results is that interpretive processes are overwhelmingly the same across sexes, though some subtle differences may arise. The glass-half-full view is that there is a basic interpretive system shared by humans, but special modes of interpretation arise in different cultural groups, with gender being a primary center of sub-cultural differences in ways of interpreting events.

Copular Assertions

Impressions are formed in events, and also in "copular" assertions that link modifiers and identities (e.g., the father is angry). Copular assertions are studied in ACT as modifier-identity combinations (the angry father).

Some differences have been found between cultures in how modifier-identity impressions develop. So, if the copular processing changes from one culture to another, maybe females and males differ, too.

The truth may be subtle:

	Females and males form impressions from modifier-identity combinations in the same way, whether the individuals are from the U.S., Canada, or Japan. However ...
	The sexes may weight the factors differently in arriving at an overall impression. There is evidence for differential weighting in Japan.

You'll just have to wait until more research is done before this gets sorted out!

Sex of Characters in Events

Sex could enter your feelings about events in another way. You might feel differently about a happening involving females as opposed to males. Does the sex of participants in an event influence impression formation processes (aside from female and male identities being different)?

So far only one ACT study has examined this issue, and it was a study of self-directed action rather than of actions directed from one person to another. The study showed that impressions did form differently regarding male and female actors. In particular, evaluative consistency between actor and behavior was a more important factor in evaluating female as opposed to male actors. One effect is that females with good identities seem extra bad when engaging in bad behavior - more so than males engaging in the same behavior - so more morality is expected of females with positive identities. Another consequence is that the bad actions of deviant females do not seem quite so evil as the same actions by males.

Note that females and males did not differ in their thinking in this regard. Both sexes agreed in thinking that male and female self-directed actions required somewhat different interpretations.

Conclusion

So what conclusions can you draw from ACT research on female-male differences?

	Females and males process the affective meanings of social interaction similarly, but not exactly the same.
	Sentiments differ across the sexes as a product of gender subcultures, but these sub-cultural differences are quite limited in the U.S.A.
	Information about males and females is processed in somewhat different ways, with male and female individuals engaging in the same distinctions. In particular:
	In some circumstances, people expect females' behaviors to be especially evaluatively consistent with their identities - more so than for males. Females must cope with everyone examining their behavior for consistency with their identity.
	Female identities almost always are felt to be less potent than male counterparts, so females frequently have to perform in interaction as the less powerful person.

URL: www.indiana.edu/~socpsy/ACT/acttutorial/gender.htm