WOMEN AS MEN AND PEOPLE - EFFECTS OF GENDER-MARKED LANGUAGE

This study examined the implications of gender-marked language. It was hypothesized that man-suffix occupation titles (e.g. chairman) would lead perceivers to interpret a social target's personality as more mas culine than no-suffix occupation titles (e.g., chair) and that person- suffix occupation titles (e.g., chairperson) would lead perceivers to interpret a social target's personality as less masculine than no-suff ix occupation titles. Experiment 1 supported these predictions. Moreov er the effect was stronger for participants who reported more traditio nal gender role beliefs. Experiment 2 replicated this effect and showe d that repeated exposure to occupation title suffixes (i.e., priming), coupled with the knowledge that the occupation title was chosen by th e target (i.e., implicit personality effects), mediated the findings. In addition to explaining some of the cognitive underpinnings of sexis t language, these results speak to conditions when priming will influe nce social perception.