Differences in attitudinal responses under conditions of implicitly manipulated group salience.

Abstract

It was hypothesized that the salience of group membership might be aroused implicitly by cues provided in the objective situation without the explicit reminders of group membership used in previous research. Further, that by merely varying the number of persons of each sex, in an aggregate responding to a questionnaire which included material relevant to the sex group norms, the salience of the norms of the respective groups would be aroused, and these norms would influence responses to the relevant material. Subjects responded anonymously to a questionnaire dealing with attitudes toward feminism and toward child rearing, under three conditions of group composition, with either a male or female experimenter. The hypothesis was clearly supported for males but not for females. That is, males' responses on feminist items varied significantly over the conditions of group composition, but females' did not. Responses to the child-rearing items did not vary for either sex over conditions of group composition. The pattern of results for male subjects was accounted for as the result of the resolution of conflicting norms -chauvinism and chivalry. The relevance of this experiment to methodological procedures is indicated, it being stressed that in the administration of group questionnaires, even though anonymous, neither the characteristics of the individuals composing the aggregate nor those of the administrator could be ignored.

Sons Versus Daughters: Sex Composition of Children and Maternal Views on Socialization

“…Moreover, the extent to which women are excluded from powerful positions and the way they are evaluated by their peers in work settings are associated with the sex composition of the group (Martin 1985;Kanter 1977). Shomer and Centers (1970) offer one explanation: that attitudes and norms are influenced by the salience of group characteristics. They find that as the proportion of females in a group increases, men's responses toward feminism shift closer to women's.…”

Numerical distinctiveness, social identity and gender salience

“…Relevant research into the effects of differing sex ratios has not always provided a clear picture (e.g. Ruble & Higgins, 1976;Shomer & Centers, 1970) and it appears that shifts in manifest femininity or masculinity per se do not necessarily correspond directly to variation in subjective gender salience (e.g. Hogg, 1985).…”

African Identity of the Negro American and Achievement

“…The point is that race and family background were not explicitly salient issues in the data collection situation, only the remedial program was (Kelley, 1955). Further, inasmuch as the proportion of Negroes and whites in the program approximated the proportion in the city, implicitly manipulated group salience was probably not operating (Shomer & Centers, 1970).…”