Stereotypes of Males' and Females' Speech

Abstract

Parallel designs were used to test the hypotheses that (a) strongly assertive forms would be attributed relatively more often to males and less assertive forms relatively more often to females, and (b) syntactic forms associated with males would be rated more intelligent and those associated with females less so. The results ( ns = 24) for 4 groups of undergraduates were consistent with each of these predictions, suggesting that recently reported “changes in attitudes” toward women may have been more a function of changes in the social desirability of expressing anti-feminist prejudices than of changes in the attitudes.