When women are more deserving than men: Equity, attribution, and perceived sex differences.

Abstract

61 male and 60 female undergraduates read descriptions of either a male or a female stimulus person performing well in an emergency situation that had previously been shown to be more masculine than feminine. Ss then allocated rewards and evaluated performance, effort, and ability of the stimulus person. On the basis of equity theory, it was assumed that being a woman in a masculine situation would be perceived as a nonvoluntary constraint, and that the female would be rated as more deserving of reward than the male for an equivalent performance. It was further predicted from both an equity theory and an attribution theory standpoint that performance would be correspondingly inflated to balance the increased deservingness of reward and that effort, an unstable internal attribute, would be used in preference to ability, a stable internal attribute, in explaining the performance. Both predictions were confirmed, and results are discussed in relation to recent sex difference research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)