Sex differences in influenceability.

Abstract

This article examines the hypothesis that women are more influenceable than men in a variety of situations. On the basis of a literature review focusing primarily on persuasion and conformity research, the hypothesis is rejected. For persuasion research and for conformity studies not involving group pressure, there is scant empirical support for a sex difference, and for group pressure conformity research, there is support among a substantial minority of studies. Also explored in this article is the possibility that various sex differences in social influence studies are a product of contextual features of experimental settings. The importance of the cultural context in which research is conducted is suggested by the fact that findings reporting greater influenceability among females were more prevalent in studies published prior to 1970 than in those published in the 1970s. In addition, the importance of the content area of the influence attempt is well established. Finally, sex differences in various psychological processes that may mediate persuasion and conformity are evaluated as possible explanations for those influenceability sex differences that appear to be genuine. The explanation that there is a propensity to yield inherent in the female sex role appears to account for some aspects of influenceability findings, but a second explanation, a tendency for women more than men to be oriented to interpersonal goals in group settings, is also plausible.Social psychology textbooks that discuss sex differences in influenceability typically express the view that women are more easily influenced than men (

Influence of primed social roles on gender differences in conformity

“…These results highlight the importance of examining gender roles in future conformity research. Overall, the results support recent research that indicates a subtle change in women's gender roles (Diekman & Eagly, 2000;Diekman & Goodfriend, 2006 A review of the literature on gender differences in conformity reveals a series of inconsistent results across studies (e.g., Collin, Di Sano, & Malik, 1994;Eagly, Wood, & Fishbaugh, 1981;Endler, 1966;Follingstad, 1979;Maslach, Santee, & Wade, 1987;Maupin & Fisher, 1989;Reysen & Reysen, 2004;Santee & Jackson, 1982;Sistrunk & McDavid, 1971) and meta-analyses (Cooper, 1979;Eagly, 1978;Eagly & Carli, 1981). While most researchers argue that there is little evidence to suggest that women always conform more than men, most researchers find at least some evidence to support the idea that women conform more than men sometimes or in some situations.…”

“…The belief or attitude is held by an influence agent, either another individual or more commonly a group, and is devoid of any supporting arguments. Participants make the decision to either change their belief or attitude to match that of the influence agent (conformity) or choose an attitude or belief from a selection of other possible alternatives (dissent; Eagly, 1978). The decision to conform or dissent is either made in the presence of or under the alleged surveillance of the influence agent (group pressure) or made in private (no group pressure).…”

“…An early meta-analysis by Eagly (1978) used a tally method to compare the total number of studies that reported significant gender differences in conformity to the total number of studies that reported null findings. In this meta-analysis, the author differentiated between the presence and absence of group pressure when examining overall gender differences.…”

“…An examination of the literature on gender differences in conformity reveals a string of inconsistent results (e.g., Cooper, 1979;Eagly, 1978;Eagly & Carli, 1981). Some studies support the idea that women conform more than men, while other studies find no gender differences.…”

Positive and Negative Opinion Modeling: The Influence of Another's Similarity and Dissimilarity.

“…It is worth noting that historically it was believed that women are more easily influenced and that men are more influential (Eagly, 1978). In addition, some data have suggested that women participate in social comparison slightly more often than men (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999) and that women may be more affected by downward comparisons (Kemmelmeier & Oyserman, 2001).…”