THE EFFECT OF INTERPERSONAL EXPECTANCIES ON MENS SELF-PRESENTATION OFGENDER-ROLE ATTITUDES TO WOMEN

The degree to which 56 white male participants changed their self-pres entation of gender role attitudes to females was investigated as a fun ction of a female partner's desirability and gender role attitudes. It was predicted from previous theory and research that males would be h ighly motivated to change their self-presentation to appear more simil ar to a desirable women described as either traditional or nontraditio nal in her gender role attitudes, but would not be similarly motivated when expecting to interact with an undesirable woman. The results sup ported the predicted findings and replicated the findings of Zanna and Pack [(1975) ''On the Self-Fulfilling Nature of Apparent Sex-Differen ces in Behavior,'' Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 11, pp. 583-591], who studied the behavior of female participants. The ro le of expectancies and the context in which interactions between men a nd women occur are important to understanding gender-linked behavior a nd attitudes.