sex typing and consumer behavior

8/10/2019 Sex Typing and Consumer Behavior

1/8

Journal of Consumer Research Inc.

Sex Typing and Consumer Behavior: A Test of Gender Schema TheoryAuthor(s): Bernd H. Schmitt, France Leclerc and Laurette Dub-RiouxSource: Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jun., 1988), pp. 122-128Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2489178.

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2/8

Sex

Typing

and Consumer

Behavior:

A

Test

of Gender

Schema

Theory

BERND

H.

SCHMITT*

FRANCELECLERC

LAURETTE

DUBE-RIOUX

Using

the context of advertising, packaging,

and consumer choice, three

experi-

ments were conducted

to test the predictions

of gender

schema theory

that gen-

der-schematic

(sex-typed)

individuals and gender-aschematic

(non-sex-typed)

indi-

viduals

differ

in

the way

they process

and evaluate information

related to gender.

Results

indicated strong

sex effects,

but the predicted

sex-type effects were

not

obtained.

ender

serves

as an

importantsocial

category

in

all cultures, and each culture has developed a

rich

network of

associations

that surround

its con-

cepts

of

maleness

and femaleness. However,

in-

dividuals

within

a culture may

differ from one

an-

other

in

the

degree

to which they

utilize

cultural

definitions

of masculinity

and femininity

as

stan-

dards against

which they

perceive,

categorize,

and

evaluate

gender-related

information. According

to

Bem's

(1981, 1985) gender

schema

theory,

sex-typed

individualstend to

encode,

and organize

incoming

in-

formation

in termsof a gender

schema,

using the

tra-

ditional bipolar

masculinity/femininity

dimension

as

the

organizing

principle.

Non-sex-typed

individuals,

however,

wheneverfeasible,

use other,

nongender-re-

lated dimensions to organize information and are

thus less likely than

sex-typed

individuals to engage

in

gender-schematic

processing.

Moreover,

sex-typed

individuals are concerned

about keeping

their

behav-

ior

consistent with

the culture's

definitions

of gender

appropriateness;

non-sex-typed

individuals,

in con-

trast,

are

more

likely

to cross

the traditional

bound-

aries

of masculinity

and femininity.

Several studies

have

tested gender

schema

theory's

basic claim that sex-typed

individuals are more gen-

der-schematic than non-sex-typed individuals (see

Bem 1985 for a review). For example,

to test whether

gender-schematic individuals,

as

identified by the

Bem Sex Role

Inventory (BSRI;Bem 1974), sponta-

neously encode

and organize informationon the ba-

sis

of

the

sex-linked

associations

that constitute the

gender schema, subjects

were asked to remember

words presented

in random order (Bem 1981). These

words included

animal names, verbs, and articles of

clothing;

one-third

of

each category

had been

judged

by undergraduates s masculine (e.g.,

gorilla, hurling,

trousers),

one-third as feminine (e.g., butterfly,blush-

ing, bikini), and one-third as neutral

(e.g., ant, step-

ping, sweater). In their recall of the items, gender-

schematic subjects were more likely than gender-

aschematic subjects

to cluster the words

on

the basis

of gender, i.e.,

after

having

recalled

a masculine item

to

recall

another

masculine

item and after

having

re-

called a

feminine item to recall another feminine

item. A relatedstudy measured subjects' response la-

tencies

when asked whether

a

series

of attributes was

self-descriptive(Bem 1981).

Gender-schematic sub-

jects

were faster

than

gender-aschematic subjects

when

endorsing sex-appropriate

attributes (e.g.,

forceful

and

dominant

for

male

subjects

and

gentle

and warm for female subjects) and

when

rejecting sex-inappropriate

attributes. Finally, gen-

der-schematic subjects

were more

likely

than

gender-

aschematic subjectsto choose sex-appropriateactiv-

ities (e.g., using a

drill if

they

are male and knitting

and ironing

if

they

are

female) and

to avoid

sex-inap-

propriatebehavior. Moreover,

while performingsex-

inappropriate

activities, gender-schematic

individu-

als

feel

significantly

worse

than

gender-aschematic

n-

dividuals

(Bem

and Lenney 1976).

Recently, several

studies have tested but failed to

confirm

vender

schema

theorv

in

the

area

of

con-

*

Bernd

H. Schmitt is a Ph.D.

candidate

in the Department

of

Psychology,

France

Leclerc is a Ph.D.

candidate

in the Johnson

Graduate

School of Management,

and

Laurette Dube-Rioux

is

a

Ph.D. candidate

in the School of Hotel

Administration,

all at

Cor-

nell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. The order of the second and

third

authors was determined

by the flip of

a coin. The authors

wish

to

thank Sandra

L. Bem, Pradeep

Kakkar, J.

Edward Russo,

and

three anonymous

reviewers

for

their helpful comments

on an ear-

lier

version of

this article; the

authors also

wish to thank Isabelle

Rougemont for

her invaluable

help in conducting

Experiments

1

and 2,

and Laurel Sgan

and Deanna Silver for preparing

the

stimuli

and running

the

subjects

in

Experiment

3.

A

longer version

of this

article may

be obtained by writing

to

the first author,

who will be

at

the Columbia University

Graduate School of Business,

New

York,

NY

10027, as

of the 1988

fall semester.

122

?)

JOURNAL OF CONSUMER

RESEARCH

*

Vol. 15

* June

1988

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3/8

SEX TYPING AND

CONSUMER

BEHAVIOR 123

sumer behavior.

However, many

of these studies

were

iimited

in

scope,

and some were flawed

by method-

ological and conceptual

shortcomings.

Most studies

(e.g.,

Allison et al.

1980; Coughlin

and

O'Connor

1985; Gentry and

Doering 1977; Gentry, Doering,

and O'Brien 1978) tested only one aspect of market-

ing (e.g., product

choice or

product

perceptions)

or

used only

one measure of

advertising

effectiveness

(e.g.,

ad

recall or

purchase intent).

Some studies did

not use the BSRI

in

determining individuals'

sex

type

(e.g.,Gentryand

Doering 1977; Gentry,Doering,

and

O'Brien

1978; Gentry

and Haley 1984).'

Most

impor-

tantly, the hypotheses of some studies are not deriv-

able

from genderschema theory.

McIntyre et al. con-

tended

that

they provided partial support

for gender

schema

theory

because emphasis on traditional

roles and on sexist

products may . . . produce a com-

mercial

that is extremely

salient, and offensive to peo-

ple with a

liberal gender schema (1986,

p. 190)-a

type of schema that does not exist in Bem's theory.

Similarly,

Kahle

and

Homer

hypothesized,

on the ba-

sis of

gender schema theory as they

claimed, that

males ought to valuefood more based on

the 'size of

the

kill'

(e.g., cattle

are

harder to kill than

chickens),

whereas the

nutritional

aspects

of

food

ought

to be

more

important

for

women, who have

historically

planned

menus and prepared food

(1985, p. 243).

This

hypothesis cannot be derived from

gender

schema

theory,

because

the

theory does

not

make

claims about how role

assignimients

t different

times

of

human

history

influence the selection of

lunch

items today.

In

sum, it is

not

clear

whether gender

schema

theory

has been

given

a fair

test

in

consumer

research.

This

article's three

experiments

were

designed

to

test

the

theory

extensively.

In

designing

the three ex-

periments,

we tried

to adhere as

closely

as

possible

to

experimental paradigms

employed

in

previous psy-

chological

research that revealed

positive

results

for

gender

schema

theory.

In

Experiment 1,

subjects judged jeans

advertise-

ments that depicted

a man

and

a woman

either

in

a

sex-role conformist

or

in

a

sex-role nonconformist

way.

In

a second

part

of the

experiment,

subjects pro-

vided appeal ratings

for

fragrance

lacons

(two

mascu-

line,

two

feminine).

We

predicted

that

gender-sche-

matic

subjects, compared

to

gender-aschematic

ndi-

viduals,

would show a more

positive

attitude toward

sex-role conformist advertisements than toward sex-

role nonconformist advertisements.

Additionally,

gender-schematic

individuals

should

show

stronger

preferences

than

gender-aschematic

individuals for

sex-appropriate

ragrance

lacons.

In

Experiment2,

subjectswere shown

the names

of

18 magazines

(one-third

masculine,

one-third femi-

nine,

one-third neutral).

We

predicted that gender-

schematic individuals would be more likely than

gender-aschematic

individuals to

remember

sex-ap-

propriate

magazines

and,

in

their

recall of the

maga-

zines,

to cluster

them on the

basis of gender.After

the

recall task,

subjects

were asked whether

they would

be

interested

in

reading

each

magazine. Gender-sche-

matic

subjects should be

more likely than

gender-

aschematic subjects

to choose sex-role

conformist

magazines.

Moreover,

gender-schematic subjects

should

be faster

than

gender-aschematic

subjects

when

making

sex-role

conformist choices

and slower

when

making sex-role

nonconformist

choices.

Experiment 3 was

designed to test whether

the two

groupswould

differ from one

another

in

their

mem-

oryforsex-roleconformist andsex-rolenonconform-

ist

advertisements.

We predicted

that

gender-sche-

matic

individuals would be

more likely to

remember

sex-role

conformist

advertisements than

sex-role

nonconformist

advertisements.

Gender-aschematic

individuals,

however, should be less

likely to

show

such a differential

recall.2

EXPERIMENT 1

Method

Experiment

1

was

presented as a

study

on

advertis-

ing

and packaging,

and 151

students from an

under-

graduatemarketing course atCornellUniversity par-

ticipated. At the

end of the

study,

subjects completed

the

BSRI,

which was

used

to

determine

subjects'

sex

types.3 The

sample

contained 39

androgynous

sub-

'

Bem (1985) has not excluded the use of other sex role invento-

ries in a test of gender schema theory. However, Kelly, Furman,

and Young

(1978)

have

shown

that a

large proportion

of

subjects

may be classified nto differentsex-type categories, depending on

the inventoryused.

2

Recent research

n

social cognition has shown

that people are

often better at

remembering chema-consistent

nformation (Tay-

lor and

Crocker 1981). The results of

some studies, however, are

inconsistent with this prediction. For

example, based on research

by Hastie and Kumar

(1979),

we

would predict that

gender-sche-

matic

individualswould be betterat

remembering ex-rolenoncon-

formist rather than

sex-role conformist

advertisements,

but

gen-

der-aschematic ndividualswould be less

likely to

show

this differ-

ential recall. In either

case,

we would

predict differencesbetween

gender-schematic

nd

gender-aschematic

ndividuals.

3

The BSRI is a

paper-and-pencil est that asks

subjects to indi-

cate the extent to which each of 60 attributesdescribeshimself or

herself.The BSRIconsists

of two 20-item scales that

reflectAmeri-

can

culture's definition of

masculinity (e.g.,

self-reliant, inde-

pendent ) and of

femininity (e.g.,

affectionate, tender ), and

20 neutral tems (e.g.,

happy, sincere ).In

various psychomet-

ric analyses, Bem

(1974) demonstrated

hat the masculinity (M)

and

femininity (F) scales are

orthogonal,

hat the BSRI s

internally

consistent (coefficient

alpha

>

0.8)

and

test-retestreliable

r

>

0.9),

and

that high scores do not reflect a

general

tendency

to

respond

in a socially

desirabledirection.

Recently, Qualls (1987) provided

evidence for the BSRI's

reliability alpha

>

0.85) and for ts

conver-

gent and discriminant

validity.

Each respondent's

composite

M

and

F

scores

were calculated,

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4/8

124

THE

JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

jects (21 males, 18 females), 37 undifferentiatedsub-

jects (18 males, 19 females), and

56 traditionally sex-

typed subjects (26 males, 30 females).

According to

Bem (1985), androgynous and undifferentiated

sub-

jects are gender-aschematic, and

traditionally sex-

typed subjects are gender-schematic. Because gender

schema theory

does

not make

specific predictions

about cross-sex-typed

individuals

(Bem 1985, p.

195), they were excluded from subsequent analyses.

In the first part of Experiment 1, subjects saw

12

jeans advertisements.

Jeans

were

selected as a

prod-

uct category because they

are

popularamong college

students and because they qualify

as a neutral

prod-

uct

(Gentry, Doering,

and O'Brien

1978). Each

ad-

vertisement consisted of a male or female describing

himself or herself

with a

masculine

statement (e.g.,

I

seek out

positions

of

authority. ),

a feminine state-

ment (e.g.,

I

try to get

others to notice the

way

I

dress. ),

or

a neutral

statement

(e.g.,

I admire

free,

spontaneous people. ).The personin the picturewas

always

the same

male

or female. Each

subject

saw

each person

in

the

advertisement

in

connection with

two

masculine, two feminine,

and two neutral state-

ments, resulting

n 12advertisements.The masculine

and feminine

statements

in

the advertisements were

selected from the

ANDRO

PRF,

a sex role

inventory

that includes

self-descriptive

statements of

the

Per-

sonality

Research Form

(PRF);

items of the PRF

that

are not

part

of

the

ANDRO PRF and that had

been

found

to be non-sex-typed (Berzins, Welling, and

Wetter

1978)

were selected

as neutral

statements. The

order of

presentation

of the 12

advertisements was

randomized across subjects.

Using seven-point

Lik-

ert-type scales, subjects indicated for each of the 12

advertisementshow

much

they

liked the

type

of

per-

son

portrayed

n the

advertisement,

how similar

they

thought they

were to

that

type

of

person,

and how

effective the advertisement

might

be

in

convincing

people

to

buy the product.

This

part

of the

experi-

ment took

the form

of a

2

(sex

of

subject)

X

3 (sex

type)

X

2

(sex

of

person

in

the

advertisement)

X

3

(type

of

statement) experimentaldesign.

The first wo

factors

were

between-subjectsvariables,

and the latter

factors were

within-subjects

variables.

The stimuli of the

second

part

of

Experiment

1

were

professionally rendered drawings of four fragrance

flacons

of

different

shapes. Subjects

ndicated on

sev-

en-point scales how appealingthey would find

each

flacon

if

they were to purchasea

fragrance for their

own

use,

for a

male friend,

and for a

female

friend.

The four flacons

were selected on the basis of a

pre-

test;

20 pretest subjects had rated two flacons

as mas-

culine and two flacons as feminine. The shapesof

the two

masculine flacons

were

rectangular

and

the

shapes of the

feminine flacons

were

round and

more

refined. The second

part took the form of a 2 (sex)

X

3

(sex

type)

X

4

(flacon shape) design. The

presentation

order of flacon

shape, the

within-subjects

variable,

wascounterbalanced.

Results

Did

gender-schematic and gender-aschematicsub-

jects

differ

in

the way that they

responded

to the sex-

typed items of the PRF that

were

used as

self-descrip-

tive statements

in

the

jeans

advertisements?To

pro-

vide such a manipulation check, subjects' responses

on the

similarity

measure

were

analyzed by

a

2

(sex

of

subject)

X

3 (sex

type)

X

2

(sex

of

person

in

the

ad)

X

3

(type

of

statement)

ANOVA,

which

revealed a

significant

three-way

interaction of

sex,

sex

typing,

and

type

of statement

(F(6,270)

=

76.92, p

0.25). Instead,

the main effect of sex of reader (F(1,55) = 16.20, p

sex typing and consumer behavior

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