A status account of gender stereotypes: Beyond communality and agency

Women's lower status relative to men can account for people's differential attribution to women and men, of the constructs of the Extended Personal At tributes Questionnaire (EPAQ; Spence, Helmreich, & Holahnn, 1979). Ratings in all three studies were made on the EPAQ scales. In Study la, participant s rated their perceptions of the stereotypes of women and of men. In Study Ib, participants reported their own perceptions of women and men. In Study 2, participants were presented a minimal status manipulation (Conway, Pizza miglio, & Mount, 1996) for which status is unconfounded with gender; partic ipants then reported their perceptions of low- and high-status individuals. The men in Studies In and Ib were perceived as were high-status individual s in Study 2. Except for (i.e., verbal passive-aggression nagging, whining) , women in Studies la and Ib were perceived as were low-status individuals in Study 2. Results are discussed in terms of status accounts of gender ste reotypes and gender differences in social behavior.