Premium
Effects of occupational choice and sex‐role preferences on the attractiveness of competent men and women 1
Author(s) -
Shaffer David R.,
Johnson Robert D.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1980.tb02382.x
Subject(s) - attractiveness , psychology , social psychology , physical attractiveness , sexual attraction , developmental psychology , stimulus (psychology) , sexual behavior , cognitive psychology , psychoanalysis
The present experiment assessed the impact of a person's sex role and occupational preferences on his/her social attractiveness, attractiveness as a coworker, and attractiveness to a prospective employer. Male and female subjects were provided information describing a competent male or a competent female stimulus person. Stimulus persons (SPs) were portrayed as favoring either traditionally masculine or traditionally feminine occupations, and as masculine or feminine in their sex‐role preferences. As expected, both male and female SPs were seen as most socially attractive when their sex‐role preferences were “gender consistent.” In contrast, subjects favored SPs who expressed masculine sex‐role preferences when assessing the individual's attractiveness as a prospective employee. These findings were compared and contrasted with the results of earlier research, and the implications of sex‐role deviance for males and for females were discussed.