Gender and use of the masculine generic : a look at ratings of speakers

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dc.contributor.authorBarnes, Maria Pauletteen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-13T00:07:22Z
dc.date.available2024-08-13T00:07:22Z
dc.date.copyright1993en_US
dc.date.issued1993
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Psychology
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractGiven the observed differences in communication style between men and women and the unparallel nature of the English language, gender-specific language is among the topics being studied for sexism in psychological research. One such use of language, the masculine generic, has been examined by Martyna (1980b). Martyna reported a tendency for males and females of various ages to match the generic they use with gender of the sentence agent in sentences that portray the agent in a traditional role. Additionally, Martyna found that females used the masculine generic less than did males and that males had an easier time imagining themselves as he, a form of the masculine generic, than did females. In this thesis, hypotheses based upon Martyna's (1980b) work were tested. Subjects listened to an audiotaped presentation of either a male or a female speaker who used a masculine generic or a gender non-specific generic. Subjects rated the presentation on evaluative, potency, and activity dimensions of a semantic differential scale. A MANOVA was carried out, and a significant generic by subject gender interaction of the activity ratings was found. Women in the study who were in the masculine generic conditions rated the presentation higher on the activity items of a semantic differential scale than did women in the gender nonĀ­-specific conditions. Men, in contrast, gave higher activity ratings when a gender non-specific generic, rather than the masculine generic, was employed. It was also found that women were more variable in their ratings of the presentation: Women in comparison to men had greater variances in their ratings on the evaluative dimension; and women who heard a male speaker use the masculine generic were more variable in their activity ratings than were those women who heard the male speaker use the gender non-specific generic. Taken with the findings of past research that showed that men and women tend to employ disparate generics, it was speculated that subjects who heard a generic that is inconsistent with that which they themselves employ gave higher activity ratings to the presentation than if a generic consistent with that which they (subjects) would typically use was employed in the presentation. Further work is recommended in order to validate the questionnaire used in the study.en
dc.format.extent71 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/17173
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.titleGender and use of the masculine generic : a look at ratings of speakersen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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