Social comparison, self-stereotyping, and gender differences in self-construals.
Four studies examined gender differences in self-construals and the role of social comparison in generating these differences. Consistent with previous research, Study 1 (N=461) showed that women define themselves as higher in relational interdependence than men, and men define themselves as higher in independence/agency than women. Study 2 (N=301) showed that within-gender social comparison decreases gender differences in self-construals relative to a control condition, whereas between-genders comparison increases gender differences on both relational interdependence and independence/agency. Studies 3 (N=169) and 4 (N=278) confirmed these findings and showed that changing self-construal changes gender differences in social dominance orientation. Across the 4 studies, strong evidence for the role of in-group stereotyping as mediator of the effect of gender on self-construal was observed on the relational dimension but not on the agentic dimension.
Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universite Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France. Serge.Guimond@srvpsy.univ-bpclermont.fr
Serge
S
Guimond
Armand
A
Chatard
Delphine
D
Martinot
Richard J
RJ
Crisp
Sandrine
S
Redersdorff
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003858:Dependency, Psychological; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D012649:Self Concept; D012931:Social Environment; D012933:Social Identification; D013240:Stereotyping