Social Influence, Gender, and Masculine Ideology
Introduction
The ability to have an influence can give an individual a sense of where they stand in society (Mahaffy, 2004). Social influence can be correlated to whether or not you are able to persuade someone to hire you for a job, give you a promotion, or take you stance on a political issue (Carli, 2001). Social Influence can have an impact on an individual and on a community of like individuals. Things that can affect your social influence may stem from inequalities that exist in our society, such as gender, and race. Studies show that gender plays a role in how influential a person is, particularly when considering how women influence men. Race can exacerbate the effect that gender has
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Women are expected to be more warm and communal, not dominant and agentic (Eagly & Karau, 1991). When women succeed in areas traditionally dominated by men, women are disliked and viewed more negatively (Heilman, et. al., 2004). If women use aggressive language they are seen as uncharacteristic and as having broken social rules. On the other hand, women who use more prosaically and less intense language are found to be more persuasive (Burgoon, Dillard, Doran, 1983). This is possibly due to prosocial methods of speech are expected of women and are viewed as being in line with societies stereotype of female behavior. These stereotypes in society could be why men tend to emerge more as leaders in leaderless groups than women do. Expectations for men are to be more agentic as in: independent, assertive, competent, and masterful. Expectations foe women are to be more communal, as in: more selfless, friendly, caring, and emotionally open (Eagly, & Karau, …show more content…
Unless the very ridged culturally defined ideas of masculinity are loosened and redefined there will be continued resistance of women leaders. Positive examples of men in more nurturing, communal, and friendly roles could help to redefine masculinity. Changes in one gender identity are reliant on the other gender, because in the gender dichotomy, both genders need to work to create new standards and limitations for themselves and each other.
Limitations
Many studies were performed on college students, especially psychology students receiving extra-credit for an intro or general psychology course. These results may not be as applicable or replicable outside of the university environment. Some studies only found marginally significant results with gender interactions (Chaiken, 1979). There are more similarities between men and women than there are noted differences. Many studies sometimes stretch the differences between men and women but mostly the results are only slightly significant (Hyde,