Exploring gender stereotypes about interpersonal behavior and personality factors using digital matched-guise techniques

The current study explores gender stereotypes among Swedish university students (n=101) studying a course in psychology, using a matched-guise experimental design. The gender identity of a speaker in a dialogue, manifested by voice, was digitally manipulated to sound male or female. Responses to the recordings indicated that an actor with a male voice was rated significantly less conscientious, agreeable, extraverted, and open to experience than the same actor with a female voice. On social behavior, there was a tendency for the actor with a male voice to be rated as more hostile than the same actor with a female voice. The study suggests that stereotype effects rather than real behavioral differences may have an impact on perceived gender differences.RAV