Ambivalent sexism and the attribution of emotions to men and women

This research examined the effects of ambivalent sexist attitudes on the attribution of emotions to men and women in terms of the emotion valence and perceived humanness. In line with ambivalent sexism theory, Study 1 showed that hostile sexist men attributed less positive emotions to women, and benevolent sexist men attributed more positive emotions. Similarly, men's hostile attitudes toward men predicted the attribution of more negative and less positive emotions to men, with the reverse pattern for benevolent attitudes. Also as hypothesized, Study 2 showed that hostile sexism uniquely predicted less favourable attributions to career women, whereas benevolent sexism predicted more favourable attributions to housewives. Finally, although there was no evidence for infrahumanization on the part of hostile sexists, findings from Study 2 revealed the infrahumanization of housewives. The implications for ambivalent sexism theory and for gender infrahumanization are discussed.