The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

314 Chapter 9

Outside of these vignette studies, the

double standard was evaluated among sev-

enth through twelfth graders by linking a

student’s popularity to number of sexual

partners (Kreager & Staff, 2009). Popularity

was measured by having each student nomi-

nate their five best female friends and five

best male friends. Number of nominations

received was the measure of popularity. As

shown in Figure 9.6, females’ popularity was

unaffected by whether they had 0 to 8 sexual

partners, but was dramatically reduced if

they had more than 8 partners. By contrast,

the more sexual partners a male had, the

more popular he was. In fact, males with no

sexual partners were viewed as less popular

than females with no sexual partners.

Taken collectively, the double standard

seems to be alive and well, but it operates in

the more extreme cases. The double standard

is also the product of a confirmation bias—

that is, people tend to notice information

that confirms the double standard but fail to

notice information that disconfirms the dou-

ble standard (Marks & Fraley, 2006). When

respondents were provided with a vignette

with equal positive and negative statements

about a person’s sexuality, they were more

likely to recall the negative statements when

the target was female and more likely to re-

call the positive statements when the target

was male. See if a double standard exists in

your school with Do Gender 9.3.

Men not only have more permissive atti-

tudes toward sex, but men also find it more ac-

ceptable to try to attract someone else’s mate,

a phenomenon referred to as “mate poach-

ing.” In a study of nearly 17,000 people across

53 countries, more men than women admit-

ted to engaging in mate poaching and to suc-

cumbing to mate poaching—meaning that

they became involved with other women

when they were in a committed relationship

(Schmitt et al., 2004). Consistent with social

clear on this issue. A study of college students

and Internet participants were asked to evalu-

ate a female and a male target who had a vary-

ing number of sexual partners. Both female and

male participants evaluated targets with more

sexual partners more negatively—regardless of

whether the target was female or male (Marks &

Fraley, 2005). Subsequent research showed that

the double standard is a stereotype and that

stereotypes are more likely to be applied when

attention is limited. College students were

asked to evaluate a female or a male target who

had 1, 7, or 19 sexual partners (Marks, 2008).

Half of the students were asked to read the

vignette and answer the questions while re-

hearsing an eight-digit number throughout the

experiment, and the other half were not. The

double standard appeared only when people

were distracted by the rehearsal task. This con-

dition is shown in Figure 9.5. Male and female

targets with 1 and 7 partners were evaluated

similarly but female targets with 17 partners

were viewed more negatively and male targets

with 17 partners were viewed more positively.

FIGURE 9.5 When attention was divided, par-

ticipants evaluated male and female targets with 1

and 7 partners similarly. Evaluations of male tar-

gets with 19 partners increased, and evaluations

of female targets with 19 partners decreased.

Source: Adapted from Marks (2008).

Evaluation

3.9

3.5

3.3

3.1

2.9

2.7

2.5

Number of Sexual Partners

1719

3.7

Female Target

Male Target

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