Abstract
The present study of gender differences in the perception of sexuality was designed to systematically vary verbal and nonverbal videotaped cues of a conversation between a male-female dyad. Comparisons were made between 78 males and 99 females who were primarily Caucasian and enrolled in general psychology courses. Participants were able to either see and hear, to only see, or to only hear the same interaction. In the see and hear condition, there were no gender differences in the perception of sexuality; in the see only condition, females rated the actress lower in sexuality; and in the hear only condition, males rated the actress higher in sexuality. Results indicate that methodological differences may account for contradictory findings in prior studies.
References
Abbey, A. (1982). Sex differences in attributions for friendly behavior: Do males misperceive females' friendliness?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42 830–838.
Abbey, A. (1987). Misperceptions of friendly behavior as sexual interest: A survey of naturally occurring incidents.Psychology of Women Quarterly, 11 173–194.
Abbey, A., Cozzarelli, C., McLaughlin, K., & Harnish, R. J. 1987). The effects of clothing and dyad sex composition on perceptions of sexual intent: Do women and men evaluate these cues differently.Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 17 108–126.
Abbey, A. & Harnish, R. J. (1995). Perception of sexual intent: The role of gender, alcohol consumption, and rape supportive attitudes.Sex Roles, 32 297–313.
Abbey, A. & Melby, C. (1986). The effects of nonverbal cues on gender differences in perceptions of sexual intent.Sex Roles 5 283–298.
Eckman, P., Friesan, W., O'Sullivan, M., Diacoyanni-Tarlatzis, I., Krause, R., & Pitcarin, T. (1987). Universal and cultural differences in the judgments of facial expressions of emotion.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53 712–717.
Edmondson, C. B. & Conger, J. C. (1995). The impact of mode of presentation on gender differences in social perception.Sex Roles, 32 169–183.
Hall, E. T., & Whyte, W. F. (1960). Intercultural communication: A guide to men of action.Human Organization 19 5–12.
Harnish, R. J., Abbey, A., & DeBono, K. G. (1990). Toward an understanding of “the sex game”: The effects of gender and self-monitoring on perceptions of sexuality and likability in initial interactions.Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20 1333–1344.
Johnson, C. B., Stockdale, M. S., & Saal, F. E. (1991). Persistence of men's misperceptions of friendly cues across a variety of interpersonal encounters.Psychology of Women Quarterly, 15 463–475.
Kanin, E. J. (1984). Date rape: Unofficial criminals and victims.Victimology, 9 95–108.
Kirk, R. E. (1995).Experimental design: Procedures for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Koss, M. P., & Gidycz, C. A., & Wisniewski, N. (1987). The scope of rape: Incidence and prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of higher education students.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55 162–170.
Lottes, I. L. (1991). The relationship between nontraditional gender roles and sexual coercion.Journal of Psychology and Human-Sexuality, 4 89–109.
Major, B., & Heslin, R. (1982). Perceptions of cross-sex and same-sex nonreciprocal touch: Is it better to give than to receive?Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 6 148–162.
Matsumato, D., & Kudoh, T. (1987). Cultural similarities and differences in the semantic dimensions of body postures.Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 11 171–188.
Poppen, P. J., & Segal, N. J. (1988). The influence of sex and sex role orientation on sexual coercion.Sex Roles, 19 689–701.
Quackenbush, R. L. (1987). Sex roles and social perception.Human Relations, 40 659–670.
Rubin, Z. (1970). Measurement of romantic love.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16 265–273.
Saal, F. E., Johnson, C. B., & Weber, N. (1989). Friendly or sexy? It may depend on whom you ask.Psychology of Women Quarterly, 13 263–276.
Shotland, R. L., & Craig, J. M. (1988). Can men and women differentiate between friendly and sexually interested behavior?Social Psychology Quarterly, 51 66–73.
Sigal, J., Gibbs, M., Adams, B., & Derfler, R. (1988). The effect of romantic and nonromantic films on perception of female friendly and seductive behavior.Sex Roles, 19 545–554.
Struckman-Johnson, C. (1988). Forced sex on dates: It happens to men, too.Journal of Sex Research.24 234–241.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tomich, P.L., Schuster, P.M. Gender differences in the perception of sexuality: Methodological considerations. Sex Roles 34, 865–874 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01544320
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01544320