Appearance vs. Interests: An Experimental Test of the Gender Prototypicality Theory of Popularity

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Social Relationships

Abstract

Gender prototypicality theory argues that peer popularity will be ascribed to adolescents who conform to gender norms (Mayeux & Kleiser, 2020). Attributes associated with popularity are consistent with gender norms, especially in regard to physical appearance (Rose et al., 2011), and extracurricular interests (Eder & Parker, 1987; Jewell & Brown, 2014). However, research has been correlational. Further, it is unclear whether gender conformity in appearance and in interests contribute equally to the prediction of popularity. In this experiment, we tested whether participants primed with popularity would give higher ratings of popularity and related attributes to gender-typical targets compared to a control group that did not receive the prime. Further, we tested the relative contributions of gender typicality in appearance and interests to participants’ ratings of popularity and related attributes.
218 undergraduates completed an online survey in which they were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, a high school popularity prime or a neutral control condition. Participants then viewed 16 simulated Facebook profiles containing a photograph of an adolescent and four “liked” pages reflecting their interests. There were eight profiles each of girls and boys, with two profiles reflecting each of the possible combinations of typicality and atypicality in appearance and interests. Participants rated each adolescent on popularity and 12 related attributes (see Table 1) on a 7-point Likert scale. As a check on our stimuli, ratings of masculinity and femininity were analyzed to ensure that the simulated profiles differed in gender typicality; there were significant main effects of gender typicality of appearance and gender typicality of interests for both femininity and masculinity.
Primary analyses were twelve 2 (condition) X 2 (typicality in appearance) X 2 (typicality in interests) repeated measures ANOVAs with the two forms of gender typicality as within-subjects variables, and the mean ratings of the popularity-related attributes as the dependent variables. Table 1 presents all means and standard deviations. The main effect of typicality in appearance was significant for all attributes. The main effect of typicality in interests was significant for all attributes except for disliked and leader. Table 2 presents these main effects. In all cases, higher ratings were given to gender-typical adolescents.
There were significant interactions of typicality in appearance X typicality in interests for all attributes, except for bully and mean. In general, the highest-rated profiles were those high in typicality in both appearance and interests, followed by profiles high in typicality in appearance but low in typicality in interests. Surprisingly, profiles with both atypical appearance and atypical interests were rated higher than profiles with typical interests and atypical appearance. Taken together, these findings suggest a strong role of typicality in appearance. Finally, there were significant condition X typicality in appearance interactions for popular, disliked, and influence, but follow-up one-way ANOVAs did not yield significant effects of condition, though the means were in the expected direction. Overall, these findings suggest that gender-typical adolescents are more likely to be seen as popular, particularly when they are gender-typical in appearance.

Authors

• Maggie Kleiser, University of Oklahoma
  Presenting Author

• Lara Mayeux, University of Oklahoma
  Non-Presenting Author