Sex Differences in Relationships: Comparing Stereotypes to Self-reports

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Sex Differences in RelationshipsComparing
Stereotypes to Self-reports

• Elizabeth F. Broady
• Sarah J. Hickman
• Hanover College

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(No Transcript)
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Attitudes Toward Marriage

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Theoretical Perspectives

• Evolutionary theory
• Men may be more likely to cheat and show less
  commitment because the costs of pregnancy are
  lower (Buss Schmitt, 1993 Cann, Magnum
  Wells, 2001).
• Social role theory
• Women have been primarily responsible for work
  inside the home which has led them to develop
  more communal attitudes including more positive
  attitudes toward marriage (Eagly,1987)

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Empirical Evidence

• Oliver and Hyde, 1993
• Men have more sexual partners than women (d.25)
• Men are more likely to engage in extramarital sex
  than women (d.29)

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Graphical representation of effect size

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Why stereotypes?

• Belle, 1985
• We tend to focus on the differences when we are
  faced with two of anything

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Hypotheses

• Males and females will not differ in their
  self-reported attitudes toward marriage,
  commitment, or fidelity
• Females will perceive males as having more
  negative attitudes toward marriage, lower
  commitment, and lower fidelity than males
  themselves report
• Males will perceive females as having more
  positive attitudes toward marriage, higher
  commitment, and higher fidelity than females
  themselves report

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Variables of interest

• Attitudes toward marriage
• Commitment
• Fidelity

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Method

• Participants
• 133 (37 male, 96 female)
• Age range (18-47, M21.5)
• Ethnicity
• 79.7 Caucasian, 7.2 African American
• Procedure
• Informed Consent
• Survey (counterbalanced)
• Debriefing

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Questionnaire

• Attitudes Towards Marriage (Wallin, 1954)
• If you marry, to what extent will you miss the
  life you have had as a single person?
• Not at all (1) Very much (6)

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Questionnaire

• Commitment Scale (Lund, 1985)
• I would rather spend my free time with my partner
  than doing other things or seeing other people.
• Not at all (1) Very much (6)

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Questionnaire

• Infidelity Scale
• I have had a purely physical relationship with
  someone other than my partner.
• Never Once Twice More than twice

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Data Analysis

• Mixed Model ANOVA
• Between-subjects variable Sex
• Within-subjects variable Ratee
• Followed significant results with appropriate
  post-hoc comparisons

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Attitudes Toward Marriage
NS
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Attitudes Toward Marriage
p lt .001
NS
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Attitudes Toward Marriage
p lt .001
NS
NS
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Commitment
p .001
NS
NS
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Fidelity
p.003
p .002
NS
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Discussion

• Men and women showed no significant differences
  in their self-reported attitudes and behaviors
• Women viewed men as having more negative
  attitudes and behaviors than men self-reported
• Men were relatively accurate in predicting
  womens attitudes
• Men viewed women more negatively in regards to
  fidelity than women self-reported

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Discussion

• Women are more likely than men to discuss
  relationship issues (Brody Hall, 1993)
• Popular media emphasizes that men have difficulty
  in relationships
• Women and men perceive themselves more positively
  than the opposite sex (Epley Dunning, 2000)

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Implications

• Stereotype inflation is a problem (Hyde, 2005)
• Couple conflict
• Communication