Abstract
This study compares and contrasts the use of gender-related concepts in other-and self-perception. The schematic use and stereotypic and affective meanings of feminine and masculine were derived from hierarchical classes analysis (HICLAS) of participants' (N = 72; 50 females, 22 males, 54% white) ratings of self and significant others. The study reveals that people use these concepts differently in their perception of others than in their perception of self. In addition, the meaning of masculine and feminine constructed by these participants differs significantly from their traditional definitions. Finally, being feminine is evaluated more positively than being masculine in the perception of others, while the ego protective function of gender leads participants to evaluate their own gender's features most positively in self-perception.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ashmore, R. D., Del Boca, F. K., & Titus, D. (1984).Types of women and men: Yours, mine and ours. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Toronto, August.
Ashmore, R. D., Del Boca, F. K., & Wohlers, A. J. (1986). Gender stereotypes. In R. D. Ashmore & F. K. Del Boca (Eds.),The social psychology of female-male relations: A critical analysis of central concepts. New York: Academic Press.
Ashmore, R. D., & Ogilvie, D. M. (1988).Gender identity, sex stereotypes, and social action. Research proposal funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Ashmore, R. D. & Ogilvie, D. (1992) He's such a nice boy ⋯ When he's with Grandma: Gender and evaluation in self-with-other representations. In R. P. Lipka & T. M. Brinhaupt (Eds.),The self: Definitional and methodological issues. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Bakan, D. (1966).The duality of human existence: An essay on psychology and religion. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Bem, D. J. (1972). Self perception theory. In L. Berkowitz (ed.),Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (vol. 6). New York: Academic Press.
Bem, S. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42 155–162.
Bem, S. L. (1985). Androgyny and gender schema theory: A conceptual and empirical integration. In T. B. Sonderegger (Ed.),Psychology and gender. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (Vol. 3). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Broverman, I., Broverman, D., Clarkson, F., Rosenkrantz, P., & Vogel, S. (1970). Sex-role stereotypes and clinical judgements of mental health.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 34 1–7.
Constantinople, A. (1973). Masculinity-femininity: An exception to a famous dictum?Psychological Bulletin, 80 389–407.
Cook, E. P. (1985). Psychological androgyny. New York: Pergamon Press.
Deaux, K. (1984). From individual differences to social categories: Analysis of a decade's research on gender.American Psychologist, 39 105–116.
De Boeck, P., & Rosenberg, S. (1988). Hierarchical classes: Model and data analysis.Psychometrica, 53 361–381.
De Lisi, R., & Soundranayagam, L. (1990). The conceptual structure of sex role stereotypes in college students.Sex Roles, 23 593–611.
Eagly, A. H., Mladinic, A., & Otto, S. (1991). Are women evaluated more favorably than men? An analysis of attitudes, beliefs, and emotions.Psychology of Women Quarterly, 15 203–216.
Feinman, S. (1974). Approval of cross-sex-role behavior.Psychological Reports, 35 643–648.
Gergen, K. (1991).The saturated self. New York: Basic Books.
Gilligan, C. (1982).In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hort, B. E., Fagot, B. I., & Leinbach, M. D. (1990). Are people's notion of maleness more stereotypically framed than their notion of femaleness?"Sex Roles, 23 197–212.
Kessler, S. J., & McKenna, W. (1978).Gender: An ethnomethodological approach. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Maccoby, E. E. (1987). The varied meanings of"masculine" and “feminine.” In J. M. Reinisch, L. A. Rosenblum, & S. A. Sanders (Eds.),Masculinity/femininity: Basic perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.
Morawski, J. G. (1985). The measurement of masculinity and femininity: Engendering categorical realities. In A. J. Stewart & M. B. Lykes (Eds.),Gender and personality. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Markus, H., & Oyserman, D. (1989). Gender and thought: The role of the self-concept. In M. Crawford & M. Gentry (Eds.),Gender and thought: Psychological perspectives. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Ogilvie, D. M., & Ashmore, R. D. (1991). Self-with other representations as a unit of analysis in self-concept research. In R. C. Curtis (Ed.),The relational self: Theoretical convergences in psychoanalysis and social psychology. New York: Guilford Publications.
Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957).The measurement of meaning. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Park, B., & Rothbart, M. (1982). Perception of outgroup homogeneity and levels of social categorization: Memory for the subordinate attributes of ingroup and outgroup members.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42 1051–1068.
Parsons, T., & Bales, R. F. (1955).Family, socialization and interaction processes. New York: The Free Press.
Prentice, D. A. (1990). Familiarity and differences in self- and other-representations.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59 369–383.
Rosenberg, S. (1988). Self and others: Studies in social personality and autobiography. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 21). New York: Academic Press.
Rosenkrantz, P., Vogel, S., Bee, H., Broverman, I., & Broverman, D. M. (1968). Sex-role stereotypes and self-concepts in college students.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 32 287–295.
Schutz, A. (1967).The phenomenology of the social world. (G. Walsh & F. Lehnert, Trans.). Evanston, Il: Northwestern University Press. (Original work published in 1932).
Six, B., & Eckes, T. (1991). A closer look at the complex structure of gender stereotypes.Sex Roles, 24 57–71.
Spence, J. T. (1984). Masculinity, femininity and gender-related traits: A conceptual analysis and critique of current research. In B. A. Maher & W. B. Maher (Eds.),Progress in experimental personality research (Vol. 13). New York: Academic Press.
Spence, J. T. (1985). Gender identity and its implications for the concepts of masculinity and femininity. In T. B. Sonderegger (Ed.),Psychology and gender. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (Vol. 32). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Spence, J. T., Helmreich, R. L., & Holahan, C. K. (1979). Negative and positive components of psychological masculinity and femininity and their relationships to self-reports of neurotic acting out behaviors.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37 1673–1682.
Spence, J. T., Helmreich, R. L., & Stapp, J. (1974). The Personal Attributes Questionnaire: A measure of sex-role stereotypes and masculinity-femininity.JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology.
Van Mechelen, I., & De Boeck, P. (1990). Projection of a binary criterion into a model of hierarchical classes.Psychometrika, 55 677–694.
Williams, J. E., & Best, D. L. (1982).Measuring sex stereotypes: A thirty nation study. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Williams, J. E., & Best, D. L. (1990).Measuring sex stereotypes: A multination study. Newbury Park: Sage.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pennell, G.E., Ogilvie, D.M. You and me as she and he: The meaning of gender-related concepts in other- and self-perception. Sex Roles 33, 29–57 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01547934
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01547934