Mediating Effect of Prestige on Occupational Stereotypes

Abstract

180 undergraduates rated level of aspiration and likelihood of success for male or female targets of high, low, or unknown physical attractiveness possessing masculine, feminine, or androgynous gender characteristics for occupations varying in prestige and gender orientation. Perceived level of aspiration and likelihood of success was influenced by sex of target only for female-oriented occupations. Physical attractiveness increased the perceived likelihood of success in high prestige male-oriented and neutral occupations. Gender characteristics influenced perceived level of aspiration for all high prestige occupations but for only one low prestige occupation. Results are discussed relative to changing stereotypes in today's society.

Gender‐Based Biases in Occupational Hiring Decisions1

“…However, in explaining our findings, we assume that. consistent with a large body of previous research (Croxton et al, 1989;Glick, 1991;Hackman et al, 1992;Porter et al, 1983;Unger & Crawford, 1992), the job strongly associated with male employees will be afforded higher status than the job strongly associated with female employees. negative label of "sexist."…”

“…Males, we also predict, will be judged more suitable for a male job than female applicants. These predictions reflect the higher status afforded to males in the workplace (Croxton et al, 1989;Glick, 1991;Lott, 1987), with males being perceived as being able to do any job, but females only certain jobs. They are also consistent with the idea of different standards of comparison being applied to male and female applicants (Foschi et al, 1994;Ruble et al, 1984).…”

Screening Job Applicants: The Impact of Physical Attractiveness and Application Quality

“…Attractive, as compared to unattractive, individuals are judged more highly on academic tasks (Landy and Sigall 1974;Maruyama and Miller 1980), are treated more generously when grades are assigned (Felson 1980) and receive more support (Sigelman, Thomas, Sigelman and Ribich 1986). Furthermore, physical attractiveness has been found to affect juror decisions (Downs and Lyons 1991;MacCoun 1990;Saladin, Saper and Breen 1988;Sigall and Ostrove 1975;Wuensch, Castellow and Moore 1991), helping behaviour (Benson, Karabenick and Lerner 1976), parents' attitudes towards their own infants (Ottinger and Berman 1989;Stephan and Langlois 1984), psychological well-being of adults (Umberson and Hughes 1987), status cues (Kalick 1988), social and professional competence evaluations (Cann 1991), level of prestige of a given occupation (Croxton, Van Rensselaer, Dutton and Ellis 1989), and employment opportunities and job evaluations (Dipboye, Fromkin and Wiback 1975;Dipboye, Arvey and Terpstra 1977;Raza and Carpenter 1987).…”

Choosing a career : a study of motivational factors and demographics that influence P-12 pre-service teachers.

“…For instance, previously mentioned is that the teaching profession has been feminized over time (Drury & Baer, 2011). The message society has given to young people is that professions are perceived as female-oriented and maleoriented occupations (Croxton et al, 1989). For example, teaching is identified as a female-oriented occupation, and it is often not presented as a viable option for males.…”

“…Gender occupational stereotypes play a significant role during individuals' process of choosing teaching as a career because these predict the likelihood of success in a career (Croxton, Van Rensselaer, Dutton, & Ellis, 1989). Coulter and McNay (1993) conducted a longitudinal qualitative study in Canada to explore the experiences of elementary male school teachers.…”