Conference quark::mennotes-v1

544.0. "How Minorities/Women Currently Influence Men: Opinions, is this you?" by ASHBY::FOSTER () Tue Jan 08 1991 09:19

          From the Jan 7, 1991 Boston Globe:

          Social psychologists now have hard evidence for what many working
          women already know:  If you want to wield influence in a man's
          world, you have to play dumb.

          A new study has found that men are much more likely to have their
          minds changed by women who speak in a tentative, self-deprecating
          manner than by women who sound like they know what they're
          talking about.

          The same study also found that while men are threatened by
          assertive women, other women prefer them.  Women, in fact, are
          more likely to be swayed by women who speak directly than by
          those who start their sentences by saying, "I really don't know
          much about this but..."

          "It's kind of sad, isn't it?"  says Linda L. Carli, assistant
          professor of psychology at the College of Holy Cross in
          Worcester, who conducted the study.  "In some contexts, women are
          damned if they do and damned if they don't.  If you're trying to
          reach an audience of both men and women, you're really in
          trouble."

          Another implication of the study is that it doesn't help a woman
          to have men perceive her as competent.  Both the men and women in
          the study perceived assertive women as being more competent than
          their tentative sisters, but the men were still more likely to
          change their opinions after talking to women they perceived as
          more hesitant -- and less competent.

          The research, which involved 229 psychology students, was
          published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

          "The men in my study described the women who were tentative as
          less competent and knowledgeable,"  Carli said.  "But they also
          described them as more trustworthy and they liked them more.  So
          for men it appears that it's more important that a woman be
          accessible and likable than competent in order to be influenced
          by them."

          Taking previous research into account, Carli speculates that men
          are less comfortable with assertive women simply because
          assertive women threaten their status in society.  White males
          still hold 97 percent of the senior management positions in the
          United States, and few social scientists would disagree that
          white men in general retain a higher status than women or
          minorities.

          "A woman who behaves in a high-status manner, i.e. a woman who is
          very direct and sure of herself, is threatening to a men,"  Carli
          said.  "Something like that must be going on if men are more
          influenced by tentative women."

          Like Florence Geis, a University of Delaware psychologist who has
          done similar research, Carli believes this kind of behavior is
          unconscious:  Most women aren't aware they are talking in a more
          tentative way to hold a man's attention, and most men aren't
          aware they prefer that approach.  Carli's study dovetails with
          Geis' research that found that deeply entrenched biases are often
          unconscious.

          "If you ask men in authority roles, they will tell you that they
          are not biased and their conscious belief in fairness is
          absolutely sincere,"  says Geis, a professor of psychology who
          has done pathbreaking work on gender bias.  "They're not just
          feeding you a line.  What they don't realize is that we were all
          raised in a society where these stereotypes were considered
          desirable, and unconsciously these stereotypes still guide our
          behavior."

          While research on how effectively minorities wield influence is
          sparse, both Carli and Geis believe the same patterns hold true
          for anyone in "low-status" positions, including blacks and ethnic
          minorities.  Like women, blacks who are more subtle in their
          approach man be more persuasive than their more assertive
          brethren,  Carli speculates.

          The work that Geis and Carli have done suggests that no matter
          how smart of well-prepared women and blacks are, they may not be
          able to overcome social stereotypes that have been in place for
          centuries.  Both researchers say true change will come only when
          those in power make a concerted effort to promote large numbers
          of women and blacks to high-status jobs, to the point where their
          very pervasiveness can break down stereotypes.

          In her study, Carli asked 229 psychology students to fill out a
          questionnaire about their opinions on several topics, such as
          whether the drinking age should be lowered to 18 or whether the
          federal government should provide free day care for working
          parents.  From those students who had opinions, she randomly
          selected 59 males and 59 females and paired them with each other
          for a series of discussion on these topics.

          Each discussion was videotaped, and based on he tapes each
          student was scored according to the degree to which he or she
          talked in a tentative or assertive manner.  To arrive at a score,
          the raters (who were unaware of the purpose of the study)
          recorded such things  as the frequency of disclaimers - (I really
          don't know much about this but..."; hedges "I kind of think that
          ..."); and tag questions, ("I think that is true, don't you?")

          The more such language is used, the more tentative and
          unassertive a person is considered, previous research has shows.

          After each discussion, both participants were separately asked
          his or her opinion on the topic discussed.  That opinion was
          compared with their opinions on the questionnaire to see how much
          each one had been swayed by the other.

          The researchers found not only that women tended to speak more
          tentatively when interacting with men than with women, but also
          that the use of tentative language enhanced their ability to
          influence a man.  But that tentativeness impeded a woman's
          ability to influence another woman.

          The male students' manner of speaking had no such effect.  They
          were equally influential with both men and women whether they
          spoke in an assertive or tentative manner.

          In the eyes of most people, simply "being male may make one a
          legitimate leader," Carli concludes in her report.  "As a result,
          men may be assumed to be competent and knowledgeable, regardless
          of their speech."

    Re .0
    
    Is this you consciously?
    
    Could this be you UN-consciously?
    
    Can you think of peers who could be reacting this way?
    
    Is this something to consider trying to change?

Personally, I find the "hesitant" approach grating, but overall, I think
that the study is right on target.  I have observed in my noting experience
that many more women than men are likely to include self-deprecating phrasing
in their texts, such as "For what it's worth", etc.  I've also observed
this in spoken conversation.

I've had several women tell me that they learned to "play dumb" at an early
age, as it was the only way to survive.  After a while, it becomes so
much of a habit that it affects their own self-esteem.

It's something I'd like to see change, but I don't think it's something
that can be just turned on or off.  Perhaps the more aware women and men are
of this behavior pattern, the less it will be thought necessary.  However,
social patterning is not something undone overnight.

				Steve

    In my experience, if someone comes at me in a very assertive way, my
    defenses are likely to go up, and I'm less likely to be convinced
    than if someone approaches me in a low-key manner. I'm also likely
    to listen better to the low-key manner, because it focuses more
    on the reasoning than the force of the personality.
    
    Also, being very assertive with those of superior rank in the
    organization can backfire politically, because they may feel that
    you are challenging their authority. Turf and territory and all that.
     
    I save the assertive for the real crises, and even then do it as
    carefully as possible. It is really tough to get people's
    attention at DEC sometimes, and it takes a little cage-rattling to do
    it.
    
    I don't see that I respond differently to men in this regard, than
    women, or minorities. Appropriate professional behavior is a rather
    universal standard that applies to all, IMHO.
    
    -roger
    

    
    It would be interesting to see some truly deep psychological research
    done, on this or *any* other topic.  Unfortunately, most testing
    reveals only the superficial aspects of human behavior.  
    
    I asked myself, after reading about liking/disliking assertive
    behavior, "What do I tend to *feel* when someone presents something
    assertively?"  Often I feel they are trying to convince me and/or
    themselves of their confidence/intelligence.  Like glamour, assertive
    behavior often tends to be a compensatory device for underlying low
    self-esteem.  
    
    Real life examples: Do I buy the car from the salesperson who drives
    me to it, or from one who humbly lets me make up my own mind?  Do I
    prefer to spend time with the person who is always trumpeting his/her
    talents, intelligence, opinions, or the one whose communication style
    reflects give and take?   Do children cleave to the authoritarian
    parent or the gentle one?
    
    And beyond the social level, we have the buddha and Jesus Christ, who
    did not shout their messages, yet whose followers still number in the
    millions.
    
    j

    
    Christ gave talks to thousands, lashed at people who misused 
    (in his opinion) the temple, and was a known agitator.
    
    Hardly a humble person..

    re .5, and some of Christ's followers have been shouting his supposed
    message at everybody ever since.
    
    Lorna
    

Hi Jon,

Are you talking about assertive people or about overly-aggressive
people? As a supervisor, I've seen assertiveness serve a very useful
purpose (making sure that a good idea is heard), and I've seen lack of
assertiveness present real problems.  Christ and Buddha showed a good
amount of assertiveness in getting their messages across, though I
don't think of them as being "overly aggressive." 

							--Gerry

    
    basenote
    
      I would like to see a study done on people who do sex/work
    related studies..Perhaps a proctoligist could head it up.????
    
    The nurse