Searching for a Place to Belong: Androgyny in a Gender Binary Society

Abstract

In this study, sixty participants from the University of Central Florida (UCF) were asked to watch short, videotaped scenarios of a job applicant at an interview and rate their perceptions of the job applicant. All participants first viewed a gender-ambiguous job applicant and were given a questionnaire. Statements used in the questionnaire were based upon common gender stereotypes in order to determine whether the participants believed the job applicant was a male or female. Participants were also asked to describe the job applicant to someone else while speaking into a tape recorder. Afterward, participants viewed one of three videotaped scenarios in which the original job applicant returned for a follow-up interview. The scenarios differed in how the applicant was disambiguated in terms of sex. In other words, in one follow-up interview, the applicant appeared to be a male, in another the applicant appeared to be female, and in the third, the applicant appeared to be androgynous. The androgynous scenario provided as a control group for the study. All participants were given four psychology scales: the PAQ, Tolerance of Ambiguity scale, Social Desirability scale, and the Authoritarianism scale. Results showed that gender disambiguation did have an impact on how participants perceived the job applicant, and that being classified as female resulted in more negative stereotyping.

Notes

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Thesis Completion

2005

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Sims, Valerie

Degree

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree Program

Psychology

Subjects

Arts and Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic; Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Sciences

Format

Print

Identifier

DP0021902

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Document Type

Honors in the Major Thesis

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