Gender Stereotypes Associated with Altruistic Acts

Possible gender stereotypes associated with altruistic acts presented in two types of vignettes were investigated. A sample of 72 General Psychology students were recruited to participate. The researchers had three main hypotheses: Females would more likely be perceived as the performers of an altruistic act, females would more likely be perceived as the receivers of an altruistic act, and the more extreme act of altruism would be perceived to be made by a male and the minor by a female. Results revealed a main effect of Vignette Type on the perceived gender of the performer and the receiver of the altruistic act. A significant Rater Gender x Vignette Type interaction on Gender of Receiver was also found. This study was important and beneficial to examine expectations of gender during the performance of altruistic acts and puts societal influence on gender roles into context. Prosocial behavior is a broad term that is defined as “voluntary behavior intended to benefit another” (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006, p. 646). Prosocial behavior was not extensively studied until 1970, and since then has been a great area of interest and the focus of many studies due to a desire to understand human nature and motivation involved in prosocial and moral behaviors (Eisenberg, et al., 2006). Altruism is considered a subgroup of prosocial behavior, and can be defined as “voluntary, intentional behavior that benefits another and that is not motivated by the expectation of external rewards or avoidance of externally produced punishments” (Chou, 1998, p. 195). Altruism and prosocial behavior, in general, have been studied from a variety of different angles. The major topics in research conducted on prosocial behavior are biological, cultural, and social determinants of prosocial tendencies. Research has also looked at developmental trends in prosocial behavior and how cognition and disposition relate to prosocial behavior. Furthermore, gender differences associated with the performance of altruistic acts, the different attitudes towards altruism based on gender, and the gender stereotypes that exist related to altruistic acts have been studied (Eisenberg, et al., 2006). Dietz, Kalof, and Stern (2002) looked at gender in relation to specific social psychological values; both the meaning and the importance of these values were analyzed. A national U.S. sample of white adult participants had to rank order the values of altruism, selfinterest, traditionalism, and openness to change through a computer-assisted telephone interview. It was found that, overall, there was no significant difference in value meaning for men and women. However, the importance and priority those values were given differed in men and women. Specifically, it was found that women placed more importance on the social psychological value of altruism than did men. The authors projected that this difference could be due to the differences in socialization of men and women. Women are socialized to have concern for others and to take care of one another, while men are mainly socialized to be in competition with each other. Gender Stereotypes Associated 2 Despite the fact that men and women tend to place different values on altruistic acts, Krebs (1970) found that there were no gender differences in the actual performance of altruistic behaviors. Similarly, Chou (1998) examined the affect of gender and participation in volunteer activities on altruistic behaviors. The study found that there was a positive effect of age on altruistic behaviorthe older the adolescent, the greater was their score for prosocial behavior. However, there was no gender difference for the frequency of altruistic behaviors. Conversely, a meta-analysis conducted by Eagly and Crowley (1986) found that, when looking at actual number of altruistic behaviors, men perform altruistic acts more frequently than women. Specifically, the higher frequency of helping usually occurred during situations considered instrumental. Instrumental situations deal with more self-oriented behaviors including independence and self-confidence, such as a situation involving a high amount of risk or ability to stay calm and think rationally in an emergency (Eagly & Crowley, 1986). This is compared to expressive situations that deal with more interpersonal behaviors and are associated with concern for others (Spence & Helmreich, 1980). The higher frequency of helping was also involved in situations chivalrous or heroic in nature (Eagly & Crowley, 1986). Spence and Helmreich (1980) reviewed all of the literature on gender role attitudes and behaviors and originally classified the gender role traits into these two categories: instrumental and expressive. They found that women traditionally possess “interpersonally-oriented expressive qualities, for example, kind, tactful, aware of other’s feelings,” whereas men actually possess stereotypical “self-assertive instrumental attributes, for example, independent, active, self-confident” (p. 150). Eisenberg, et al. (2006) aptly pointed out that there are many inconsistencies amongst the studies involving which gender is actually more altruistic. Furthermore, Eisenberg, et al. (2006) pointed out that “based on stereotypic gender roles, females generally are expected and believed to be more responsive, empathetic, and prosocial than males, whereas males are expected to be relatively independent and achievement oriented” (p. 696). Other than this acknowledgement of gender stereotypes in altruistic situations, studies conducted on the perceptions of gender on altruistic behaviors are minimal. Such studies mostly involve children’s perceptions about gender and the role of gender in altruistic acts. The research has consistently found that, when children are asked who is more altruistic, girls are generally rated as more altruistic than boys; this perception also exists in teachers (Shigetomi, Hartmann, & Gelfand, 1981). Further research on children’s perceptions of gender in altruistic situations has explored the possibility that this impression that girls are more altruistic may be due to a measurement bias (Zarbatany, Hartmann, Gelfand, & Vinciguerra, 1985). Specifically, Zarbatany, et al. (1985) created an empirically derived measure with examples given by children to minimize a sex-bias in the formerly used theoretically produced instrument. Sixty-five children were asked to write descriptions of when they have watched a peer, or have directly “(a) helped another child, (b) shared with another child, (c) made another child feel better, and (d) got another child out of a tough spot” (Zarbatany, et al., 1985, p. 98). These four types of prosocial behavior are referred to frequently when discussing child altruism because they are a good representation of prosocial behavior as a whole. The children were then asked whether they thought boys, girls, or neither, were more likely to perform these four types of prosocial behavior. The descriptions were then rated as either more masculine or more feminine in relation to these four categories and a measure was created containing items on a 5 point scale as “definitely more likely to be performed by boys (1) to equally likely to be performed by boys and girls (3) to definitely more likely to be performed by girls (5)” (Zarbatany, et al., 1985, p. 99). Gender Stereotypes Associated 3 Zarbatany, et al. (1985) then administered this measurement to a second group of 58 children in two forms: peer nomination or gender rating. Once again, girls were generally perceived to be more altruistic than boys. However, they found that it depended greatly on the content of the items and on the scale of measurement. For the feminine and gender neutral items, girls were more often selected as altruistic, for more masculine situations, males were more often selected. Overall, girls were more likely to select girls as being more altruistic, and boys were more likely to select boys during responses. The only major difference between the two forms used to collect data was that the numbers were more extreme on the gender rating form than on the peer nomination form (Zarbatany, et al., 1985). This review of the literature suggests that there is still much to learn about gender stereotypes that may accompany adults’ perceptions of altruistic behavior. After reviewing previous research, and specifically Zarbatany, et al. (1985), the present study was designed to further examine gender stereotypes associated with altruistic acts but with adults instead of children. Two types of vignettes were presented to explore any differences in perceptions associated with different levels of altruism. One vignette described a major act of altruism; a situation where there was a greater cost (e.g., effort) to the person performing the act and greater benefit to the recipient. A second vignette described a minor act of altruism; a situation where there was a smaller cost to the person performing the act and lesser benefit to the recipient (Swap, 1991). The analysis focused on participants’ inferences about the gender of the actors in the altruism vignettes. There are three main hypotheses for this research. First, it was expected that people would infer a person who performs an altruistic act is more likely to be female. This hypothesis was based on previous research suggesting that people generally believe girls are more altruistic than boys (Shigetomi, et al., 1981). Second, it was expected that people would infer a person who receives an altruistic act is more likely to be female. While there was no research found that directly examined perception’s of the gender of the recipient of an altruistic act, this hypothesis is a consistent with research on gender stereotypes. For example, Deaux and Lewis (1984) found that women are stereotypically viewed as more passive and males as more aggressive. Finally, it was expected that participants would infer a person who performs the more extreme act of altruism is more likely to be male and a person who performs a minor act of altruism is more likely to be female. This final hypothesis was based on Eagly and Crowly’s (1986) research which found that while females are expected to exhibit many helping behavioral traits and have the stereotypical caring type persona; males are expected to engage in high risk behaviors that are associated with heroism.