Current Psychology

, 30:275 | Cite as

Beyond Credentials: The Effect of Physician Sex and Specialty on How Physicians Are Perceived

Article
First Online:

Abstract

The experiment investigated the effect of physician sex and specialty on participants’ perceptions of doctors. Participants (N = 206) viewed a physician profile (male/female orthopedic surgeon or male/female dermatologist) and then evaluated the physician on a survey. While male participants reported they would be more willing to see a female physician and believed female physicians would be more caring, female participants reported they would be more willing to see physicians in counter-stereotypical specialties and rated them as more caring. The study suggests that not only do men and women focus on different things in selecting physicians but also that negative stereotypes of female physicians have dramatically decreased.

Keywords

Physician perceptions Sex Medical specialty 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Lauren Dundes and Dr. Judith Hall for all their advice and support.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Behavioral Science Research ProgramRoslyn High SchoolRoslynUSA

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