Sex Differences in Relationships: Comparing Stereotypes to Self-reports

1. Sex Differences in Relationships:Comparing Stereotypes to Self-reports Elizabeth F. Broady Sarah J. Hickman Hanover College

3. Attitudes Toward Marriage

4. 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)

5. 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)

6. Graphical representation of effect size

7. Why stereotypes? • Belle, 1985 • We tend to focus on the differences when we are faced with two of anything

8. 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

9. Variables of interest • Attitudes toward marriage • Commitment • Fidelity

10. Method • Participants • 133 (37 male, 96 female) • Age range (18-47, M=21.5) • Ethnicity • 79.7% Caucasian, 7.2% African American • Procedure • Informed Consent • Survey (counterbalanced) • Debriefing

11. 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)

12. 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)

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

14. Data Analysis • Mixed Model ANOVA • Between-subjects variable= Sex • Within-subjects variable= Ratee • Followed significant results with appropriate post-hoc comparisons

15. Attitudes Toward Marriage NS

16. Attitudes Toward Marriage p < .001 NS

17. Attitudes Toward Marriage p < .001 NS NS

18. Commitment p= .001 NS NS

19. Fidelity p=.003 p= .002 NS

20. 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 women’s attitudes • Men viewed women more negatively in regards to fidelity than women self-reported

21. 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)

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