Abstract
Following the research of Goffman (1976) and Henley (1977) on sex differences in nonverbal behavior, 1,296 portrait photographs from high school and university yearbooks and from the media files of a university were analyzed for sex differences. Females smiled with a significantly greater frequency and expansiveness than males and head canted significantly more than males. Results supporting the hypothesis that males would face the camera more directly than females failed to reach the acceptable significance level. The prediction that persons working in opposite-sex roles would deintensify their gender displays failed to gain support.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Argyle, M., & McHenry, R. Do spectacles really affect judgements of intelligence? British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 1971, 10, 27–29.
Brannigan, C., & Humphries, C. Human nonverbal behavior: A means of communication. In N. G. Blurton-Jones, (Ed.), Ethological studies of child behavior,. London: Cambridge University Press, 1972.
Bugental, D. E., Kaswan, J. W., Love, L. R., & Fox, M. N. Child vs. adult perception of evaluative messages in verbal, vocal and visual channels. Developmental Psychology, 1970, 2, 267–275.
Ekman, P. Universals and cultural differences in facial expressions of emotion. In J. K. Cole, (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation,. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971.
Games, P. A., & Howell, J. F. Pairwise multiple comparison procedures with unequal n's and/or variants: A Monte Carlo study. Journal of Educational Statistics, 1976, 1, 113–125.
Goffman, E. Gender advertisements. Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication, 1976, 3, 2.
Henley, N. M. Body politics: Power, sex and nonverbal communication,. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1977.
Herr, D. G., & Gaebelein, J. Nonorthogonal two-way analysis of variance. Psychological Bulletin, 1978, 85, 207–216.
Kendon, A., & Ferber, A. A description of some human greetings. In R. P. Michael, & J. H. Crook, (Eds.), Comparative ecology and behavior in primates,. London: Academic Press, 1973.
Keselman, H. J., & Rogan, J. C. A comparison of the Modified-Tukey and Scheffe methods of multiple comparisons for pairwise contrasts. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1978, 73, 47–52.
Mackey, W. C. Parameters of the smile as a social guide. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1976, 129, 125–130.
Rosenfeld, H. M. The experimental analysis of interpersonal influence processes. Journal of Communication, 1972, 4, 424–442.
Thornton, G. The effect of wearing glasses upon judgements of personality traits of persons seen briefly. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1944, 28, 203–7.
van Hooff, J. A.R.A.M., A comparative approach to the phylogeny of laughter and smiling. In R. A. Hinde (Ed.), Non-Verbal Communication,. Cambridge University Press, 1972, 209–242.
Webb, E. J. Campbell, D. I., Schwartz, R. D., and Sechrest, L. Unobtrusive measures: Nonreactive research in the social sciences,. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1972.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The author expresses appreciation to Bill Drell and Andrea Wilson for their assistance in data collection.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ragan, J.M. Gender displays in portrait photographs. Sex Roles 8, 33–43 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287672
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287672