The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Communication 241

Thus women are not more easily influ-

enced than men due to some fundamental fe-

male trait, but due to the fact that people feel

more comfortable in interactions with women

and thus display more agreeable behavior.

Women are more easily influenced than men

because of the way people behave toward

women and men. People use ineffective influ-

ence strategies with men (e.g., disagreement)

but express agreement with women, and

agreement leads to influence. Figure 7.6 illus-

trates the process by which women come to be

more easily influenced than men.

Who Emerges as the Leader?

Male and female students view leadership

roles in organizations as equally desirable,

but women perceive that they are less likely

to attain these positions compared to men

(Killeen, Lopez-Zafra, & Eagly, 2006). A

meta-analysis of group interaction studies

evaluated who emerged as the leader in the

group (Eagly & Karau, 1991). Leadership

was measured by both objective indicators of

group participation as well as respondents’ re-

ports of who appeared to be the group leader.

Across laboratory and field studies and across

both measures of leadership, men were more

likely than women to emerge as leaders. Men

contributed more to the group and were more

likely to be perceived and chosen as leaders.

The nature of the leadership role influenced

who emerged as a leader. Men were especially

likely to emerge as leaders when task leader-

ship was needed (d=+.41). When the nature

of the task was not specified, men also were

more likely to emerge as leaders, but the ef-

fect was smaller (d=+.29). When social lead-

ership was necessary, there was a small effect

for women to be more likely to emerge as

leaders (d=-.18).

The meta-analytic review also showed

that the length of the interaction influenced

who emerged as a leader (Eagly & Karau,

1991). Males were more likely to emerge as

leaders when the group interaction lasted

less than 20 minutes (d=+.58), but there was

no sex difference if the group lasted longer

than one session (d=+.09). One reason that

men are presumed to be leaders is that being

male is associated with dominance, a trait

also characteristic of a leader. In an older

study, in which the personality trait of domi-

nance was measured, males were chosen to

be the leader over females, regardless of who

was the dominant personality (Nyquist &

Spence, 1986). However, when the study was

replicated several years later and people were

given an opportunity to interact with one

another so that the personality trait of domi-

nance could be revealed, the high-dominant

person was chosen to be leader regardless

of sex (Davis & Gilbert, 1989). Again, these

studies show we are more likely to rely on

FIGURE 7.6 Model of influence process.

Being

Female Influence

Others Express

Agreement

Being

Male Influence

Others express

Disagreement

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