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Interethnic Differences (or Similarities?) in the Relative Individuation of Women and Men

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Abstract

What roles do ethnicity, gender, and attitudes play in determining whether a person will be perceived as a unique individual versus a homogenized group member? Attitudes toward women’s roles have been found to predict Whites’ relative individuation of women and men; however, African Americans were found to individuate women and men equally, regardless of attitude (Stewart et al. 2000). Using a name–trait matching paradigm, the present research found that when targets were identified as African American, African American participants’ (18 male and 35 female college students) attitudes toward women’s roles predicted their individuation of men and women. These results suggest that an ethnic out-group homogeneity effect, rather than gender-egalitarian attitudes, contributed to the previous finding of equivalent individuation.

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Acknowledgement

We thank Fabian Novello, Brian Tanner, Veronica Smith, and Jamie DeCoster for helpful comments on a previous draft of this manuscript. Byron Robinson is thanked for statistical consultation. We would also like to express our appreciation to Blake Weems, Stacey Necaise Hansen, Kevin Harris, Vicki Robinson, Michelle Young, Nia Phillips, Danielle Lindley, Jessica Featherston, and Michael Triplett for their many contributions to this research.

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Correspondence to Tracie L. Stewart.

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Stewart, T.L., Jaspers, K.E., Estes, S.B. et al. Interethnic Differences (or Similarities?) in the Relative Individuation of Women and Men. Sex Roles 57, 21–29 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9224-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9224-2

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