The study aimed to test whether a person's reaction to an unexpected request depends on the gender of the person making the request. A male and female experimenter each approached 10 people and asked to borrow their cell phone. Contrary to the hypothesis that females would receive more favorable responses, the results showed that people seemed more willing to help the male experimenter than the female experimenter. The small sample size may have impacted the results, and further studies with more experimenters and a larger sample were suggested to get more conclusive results.

1. Gender Based Social ReactionsBethany BjorklundGender Roles in Society-OnlineErica Dixon

2. I was interested in this topic because I have always felt that people are treated differently based on there gender and so I wanted to do a study where people didn’t know that they were being observed and their reactions recorded in order to make an accurate assessment of whether this was true or not.

3. BackgroundA starting point for my research was Michael Kimmel’s quote that said, “We do gender in every interaction, in every situation.”One study showed that people were more willing to help someone of the opposite sex.It also showed that they were more likely to refuse to help someone of the same sex.

4. Another study was trying to determine if empathy towards others was influenced by gender.They found that empathy was more based on situations than gender.In situations that were social or involved threats, women showed more empathyIn situations where there was accidental property damage or loss, men showed more empathy.

5. HypothesisA person’s reaction, in an unexpected situation, will depend on the sex of the person that they are interacting with. I think that a female will receive more favorable responses than a male will.

6. MethodsMy experiment involved two experimenters, one male and one female.They were to each approach 10 people, 5 males and 5 females.They were to request to borrow a cell phone so they could make a call.After each encounter, they were to record the results of the interaction on a questionnaire.

7. The questionnaire asked whether the person was male or female, what their response was, approximate age of the person, and if there was anything else noteworthy, e.g. what type of body language they used, did they seem nervous.The subjects were randomly selected people from downtown Olympia.

8. ResultsIn all, interactions were made with 20 people, 10 males and 10 females.The females ranged in age from 18 – 60, with a mean age of 38.1The males ranged in age from 25 – 60, with a mean age of 36.7For the female experimenter, only 2 people allowed her to use a phone, both of which were also female.

9. For the male experimenter, 4 people allowed him to use a phone, evenly distributed, 2 males and 2 females.Some body language was reported including suspicious looks, patting the pockets as though looking for a phone and a few glares.One of the female subjects was flirtatious with the male experimenter and requested his number.One of the female subjects expressed concern for the female experimenter, offering help if it was needed.

10. ConclusionThis experiment refuted my hypothesis, it turned out that in this experiment, the exact opposite was the casePeople seemed to be more willing to help the male than the female.This was not what I was expecting, but perhaps with a bigger sample size and more experimenters the results may be different.

11. ReferencesBasow, S., & Crawley, D. 1982. HELPING BEHAVIOR: EFFECTS OF SEX AND SEX-TYPING. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 10(1), 68. Retrieved from Academic Search July 27, 2010Kimmel, Michael. 2010. The Gendered Society, Fourth Edition. New York, New York. Oxford.Staats, S., Long, L., Manulik, K., & Kelley, P. 2006. SITUATED EMPATHY: VARIATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH TARGET GENDER ACROSS SITUATIONS. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 34(4), 431-441. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database July 27, 2010