The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Communication 255

Social Role Theory

Social role theory suggests that our expecta-

tions about female and male behavior stem

from our stereotypes about the different so-

cial roles women and men hold in society.

Women are more likely than men to hold

domestic roles, for example. Even within the

work setting, men and women are likely to

hold different roles; for example, men are

more likely to be the leaders and the super-

visors, whereas women are more likely to be

the subordinates. Gender role is an impor-

tant social role that men and women hold,

leading men to behave in agentic or instru-

mental ways and women to behave in com-

munal or relationship-maintaining ways.

To the extent that other roles become more

salient than gender roles, people’s behavior

will be more influenced by other roles than

gender roles.

Interaction Styles. Parsons and Bales

(1955) applied social role theory to sex differ-

ences in interaction style. They first observed

that small group interactions were charac-

terized by two forms of group behavior: task

behavior and social behavior. They argued

that both kinds of behavior were important

to the viability of the group, but that the two

were incompatible. In other words, different

people were needed to serve the two distinct

functions. This idea was confirmed by Bales

and Slater (1955), who observed that the best

liked person in the group was not the person

considered to have the best ideas. The per-

son with the best ideas gave suggestions and

opinions: task-oriented behavior. The person

who was best liked made statements indicat-

ing group solidarity, made statements that re-

lieved group tension, and asked for opinions

and suggestions: socioemotional behavior.

Parsons and Bales (1955) suggested

that families were small groups, and that

husbands and wives held different roles

within the family. The father is responsible

for task behavior, such as providing for the

family, whereas the mother is responsible

for socioemotional behavior, such as raising

children. Parsons and Bales linked women’s

and men’s traditional family roles to group

interactions. They suggested that all groups

had two functions: to accomplish the goals of

the group and to preserve the group as a unit.

They suggested that the first function fit with

men’s instrumental roles and the second fit

with women’s socioemotional roles.

Other people have argued more di-

rectly that men and women display different

interaction styles because of the way they are

socialized in our society (Wood & Rhodes,

1992). Females are socialized to be commu-

nal, whereas males are socialized to be agen-

tic. A communal person is likely to engage in

positive social behavior during group inter-

actions, whereas an agentic person is likely to

engage in instrumental social behavior dur-

ing group interactions.

The study previously described by Carli

(1989) supports a social role rather than a

status interpretation of interaction styles.

Carli found that men displayed the most task

behavior and women displayed the most so-

cial behavior when men and women were

compared in same-sex dyads rather than in

mixed-sex dyads. If sex differences in in-

teraction style were due to status, we would

find larger differences in interaction styles in

mixed-sex or unequal status dyads as opposed

to same-sex dyads.

Language. The differences in the language

that men and women use may be considered

to reflect different emphases on relation-

ships. Women are said to talk in ways that

maintain relationships; they encourage oth-

ers to communicate by asking questions and

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