Abstract
In this study we analyze the link between Instrumental/Expressive traits and sexist attitudes. The sample is made up of 496 male and female Spanish university professors (230 women and 266 men). In addition to collecting sociodemographic information from the participants, the following scales were administered: the Personal Attributes Questionnaire by Spence and Helmreich (PAQ, 1978); the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory [ASI, Glick and Fiske: 1996, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70, pp. 491–512]; and the Neosexism Scale [Tougas et al.: 1995, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21(8), pp. 842–849]. The data reveal that while the participants in our study subscribe less to sexist attitudes than the general population, the men continue to hold more hostile and benevolent sexist attitudes than do the women in our study. Surprisingly, however, we find that both female and male professors are less favorable toward affirmative action aimed at increasing women’s presence in the public sphere than the general population. As expected, women and men are equally instrumental, although women continue to show a greater number of expressive traits than men. Conversely, men score higher on instrumentality/expressiveness, which correlates positively with instrumentality and negatively with expressiveness. We also find some significant differences in levels of instrumentality and expressiveness when comparing the male and female professors and taking field of study into account. Lastly, we find negative correlations between expressiveness and Hostile Sexism (HS) and between masculinity and HS among women, and between expressiveness and Benevolent Sexism (BS) among men. To conclude, we offer some insight into the potential implications of these results.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Anastasia I. and Miller M.D. (1998). Sex and gender: A study of University Professors. Sex Roles 38(7/8): 675–683
Aube J., Norcliffe H. and Koestner R. (1995). Psysical characteristics and the multifactorial approach to gender characteristics. Social Behavior and Personality 23: 69–82
Bem S.L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 42: 155–162
Blau F.D., Ferber M.A. and Winkler A.E. (1998). The Economics of Women, Men and Work 3 ed. Prentice-Hall, Saddle River, NJ
Cantalapiedra M. and Panizo E. (2002). Evolución reciente y perspectivas de fecundidad en España. Revista Pediátrica de Atención Primaria 4(13): 31–56
Comisión Europea: 1999, El empleo en Europa, 1998. Dirección General de Empleo, Relaciones Industriales y Asuntos Sociales
Constantinople A. (1973). Masculinity–feminity: An exception to a famous dictum?. Psychological Bulletin 80: 389–407
Eagly A. (1995). The science and politics of comparing women and men. American Psychologist 50(3): 145–158
EUROSTAT: 2002, Inquiry on National Collection of Services Produces Prices. OECD
Expósito F., Moya M. and Glick P. (1998). Sexismo ambivalente: Medición y correlatos. Revista de Psicología Social 13(2): 159–169
Glick P.Y and Fiske S.T. (1996). The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70: 491–512
Glick P., Fiske S.T., Mladinic A., Saiz J.L., Abrams D., Masser B., Adetoun B., Osagie J.E., Akande A., Alao A., Brunner A., Willemsen T.M., Chipeta K., Dardnne B., Dijksterhuis A., Wigboldus D., Eckes T., Six-Materna Y., Expósito F., Moya M., Foddy M., Kim H.J., Lameiras M., Sotelo M.J., Mucchi-Faina A., Romani M., Sakalli N., Udegbe B., Yamamoto M., Ui M. and Ferreira M.C. (2000). Beyond prejudice as simple antipathy: hostile and benevolent sexism across cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79: 763–775
(2002). Instituto Nacional de Estadística. INE, Madrid
(2004). Instituto Nacional de Estadística. INE, Madrid
(2004). Indicadores laborales básicos de la situación de la mujer en España y sus regiones. Instituto de la Mujer, Madrid
Koestner R. and Aube J. (1995). A multifactorial approach to the study of gender characteristics. Journal of Personality 63: 681–709
M. Lameiras, Y. Rodríguez (2003). Evaluación del sexismo ambivalente en estudiantes gallegos/as. Revista de Acción Psicológica 2(2): 131–136
Lameiras M., Rodríguez Castro Y. and González Lorenzo M. (2004). Evolution of hostil sexism and benevolent sexism in a Spanish sample. Social Indicators Research 66: 197–211
Lenney E. (1991). The measurement of masculinity, femenity and androgyny. In: Robinson, J.P., Shaver, P.R. and Wrightsman, L.S. (eds) Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes, pp 140. Academic Press, San Diego, CA
Lennon M.C. and Rosenfield S. (1994). Relative fairness and the division of housework. The importance of options. American Journal of Sociology 100: 506–531
Moya, M. and y Expósito, F.: 2000, Antecedentes y Consecuencias del Neosexismo en Varones y Mujeres de la misma Organización Laboral. En D. Caballero, M.T. Méndez, y J. Pastor (eds.), La Mirada Psicosociológica. Grupos, Procesos, y Lenguajes (Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva), pp. 619–625
(2001). Psicothema 13(4): 643–649
Marsh H.W. and Byrne B.M. (1991). Differentiated additive androgyny model: Relations between masculinity, feminity and multiple dimensions of self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 61: 811–828
Parsons T. and Bales R.F. (1955). Family, Socialization and Interaction Process. Free Press, New York
Spence J.T. and Buckner C. (2000). Instrumental and expressive traits, trait stereotypes and sexist attitudes. What do they signify?. Psychology of Women Quarterly 24: 44–62
Spence J.T. (1993). Gender-related traits and gender ideology: Evidence for a multifactorial theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 64(4): 624–635
Spence J.T. and Helmreich R.L. (1978). Masculinity and Feminity: Their Psychological Dimensions, Correlates and Antecedents. University of Texas Press, Austin
Spence J.T., Helmreich R.L. and Stapp J. (1974). The Personal Attributes Questionnaire: A measure of sex-role stereotypes and masculinity–feminity. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology 4: 43–44
Terman L.M. and Miles C.C. (1936). Sex and Personality. McGraw Hill, New York
Tougas F., Brown R., Beaton A.M. and Joly S. (1995). Neosexism: Plus ça change, plus c’est pareil. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 21(8): 842–849
Twenge J.M. (1997). Changes in masculine and feminine traits over time: A meta-analysis. Sex Roles 36(5/6): 305–325
(2004). Unión General de Trabajadores. UGT, Madrid
Vergara A.I. and y Páez D. (1993). Revisión teórico-metodológica de los instrumentos para la medición de la identidad de género. Revista de Psicología Social 8(2): 132–152
Williams J.E., Satterwhite R.C. and Best D.L. (1999). Pancultural gender stereotypes revisited: The five factor model. Sex Roles 40(7/8): 513–525
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fernández, M.L., Castro, Y.R., Otero, M.C. et al. ‘Expressive-Instrumental Traits and Sexist Attitudes among Spanish University Professors’. Soc Indic Res 80, 583–599 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-006-0008-9
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-006-0008-9