Effects of Female Gender Role and Gender Norm Conformity on Aggression in Men: Does Positive Masculinity Reduce the Risk?

Past research linking gender conformity and physical aggression has largely focused on men as both perpetrators and victims. Furthermore, extant literature emphasizes the role of individual differences in theorizing and assigning meaning to aggressive interactions. The current study aims to build on the sparse literature on victimization of nonconforming women while rooting this vein of inquiry more firmly in dynamic sociocognitive models of interactive behavior. In the current study, 60 collegiate men participated in a sham aggression paradigm against a female confederate whose appearance was manipulated to exhibit either "masculine" or "feminine" characteristics. Aggression was measured in terms of frequency, intensity, and duration of electric shocks ostensibly administered by the participant to his fictional opponent. Results indicated that low masculine conforming men evinced higher levels of aggression against the feminine opponent than they did toward a masculine opponent. Findings are discussed in terms of the unique influence of the female gender role as it relates to variability in men's conformity to masculinity and risk of aggressive responding. The purported protective effects of positive masculinity are also discussed.