Sex-specific Stress and Behavioural Responses to Human Experimenters in Rats

The sex of the experimenter may cause stress in animal models and be a major confounding factor in preclinical research. We studied the effects of the sex of the experimenter on female and male rat anxiety behaviours using thigmotaxis in the open field test, anxiety-induced changes in brain and back temperature using infra-red thermography, and alterations in plasma concentrations of stress hormones, corticosterone and oxytocin. Female rats displayed consistently exacerbated anxiety-related behaviours along with increased infrared cutaneous temperature during repeated exposure to male experimenters. Experimental stress further intensified thermal responses to a male experimenter, especially in female rats. These behavioural responses to a male experimenter in females were associated with higher circulating corticosterone and lower oxytocin levels. Similar responses were induced by a T-shirt worn by a human male. These findings suggest that emotional and physiological responses of female rats to a male experimenter are influenced by visual and olfactory cues. These results emphasize the need to standardize and report experimenter sex throughout a study to avoid ambiguity in interpretation of the results.

Effects of a Smile on Mood and Helping Behavior

In this study 480 native Dutch passers-by (240 men and 240 women) were approached with a request to participate in an investigation. The request was made by either a female or male experimenter wearing either a smile or a neutral expression. Results showed that a smiling experimenter elicited a smile from participants more often than when a neutral expression was displayed. Furthermore, there was a distinct correlation between a participant's smiling and his/her willingness to help, and a smile from a male experimenter was more likely to elicit helpfulness than from a female experimenter. Participants who agreed to help also answered a few written questions. These results showed that participants who received a smile from an experimenter were in a more positive mood than those who were approached by an experimenter wearing a neutral expression. It was also found that women smiled more often than men.

EFFECT OF EXPERIMENTER ATTIRE AND SEX ON PARTICIPANT PRODUCTIVITY

The experimental environment is complex and many subtle variables can influence the research findings. We investigated whether the sex of experimenter, the formality of experimenter attire, and the sex of participant affected respondents' productivity when asked to describe a business executive. The results revealed a significant interaction between experimenter sex and attire. Participants generated more terms and took longer to describe the business executive when the female experimenter was dressed casually and when the male experimenter was dressed professionally.

Empowering Token Women Leaders

We hypothesized that, in a masculine task, only token women leaders who were empowered through position (by being appointed leader) and expertise (trained with task-relevant information) and legitimated by a male experimenter as credible would be more effective in influencing the performance of their all-male groups than appointed-only and appointed-trained leaders. Thirty women undergraduates each led a small group of male students on a moon survival task. The hypothesis was supported. Videotapes of group interactions revealed that appointed-trained leaders interrupted group members and used tentative tag questions in failed attempts to share their task-relevant knowledge. In addition, group members reported the most dissatisfaction with appointed-trained leaders who, without legitimacy, violated diffused gender roles by presuming to be expert on a masculine task. The importance of the organizational empowerment of token women is underscored.

The Effects of Self-Presentation on Perceived Exertion

This study was designed to examine the audience-pleasing and self-constructional aspects of self-presentation on perceived exertion. Subjects performed two 18-min sessions on a cycle ergometer at light, moderate, and heavy workloads, during which perceived exertion and heart rate were collected. Each subject participated in a male and female experimenter condition. Males reported significantly lower perceived exertion in the female experimenter condition at the heavy load, compared to the same load in the male experimenter condition. There were no other significant differences for males or females at any of the workloads in either condition. Responses on the Self-Monitoring Inventory were used to assign subjects to either a high or low self-construction group. Results indicated that high self-constructors recorded significantly lower perceived exertion, compared to low self-constructors, at the low and moderate workloads.

Evaluating Competence of Women and Men: Effects of Experimenter Gender and Group Gender Composition

College students (78 females, 79 males) were placed in all-female, all-male, or mixed-gender groups. In the presence of a male or female experimenter, subjects evaluated an article written by a female or male job applicant. Subjects in mixed-gender groups generally evaluated the female applicant more favorably in the presence of the female experimenter than the male experimenter. Subjects in mixed-gender groups also rated the female applicant more favorably than the male applicant in the presence of the female experimenter. Male subjects generally were more influenced than were females by the experimenter's gender, tending to give higher ratings to the applicant of the same gender as the experimenter.

Self-Enhancement, Self-Protection as a Function of Esteem-Related Feedback and Success Contingency

This experiment was conducted to assess the impact of esteem-related feedback and success-contingency on the self-protective/self-enhancing aspects of self-handicapping behavior. Following feedback about either contingent or noncontingent success on an intellectual task provided by a male experimenter, 67 male subjects randomly received either ego-enhancing or ego-diminishing feedback on an unrelated task (social skills) provided by a female experimenter. It was hypothesized that the effect of esteem-related feedback on an unrelated task (social skills) provided by the female experimenter would generalize to other ego functions and activate self-protective/self-enhancing processes. It was predicted that those individuals whose self-esteem had been lowered, whether in the conditions of contingent or noncontingent success would self-protect more in that they would be more inclined (1) to attribute their success externally, (2) to self-handicap by choosing the performance-inhibiting drug more often, (3) to show a lower expectancy of future success on retest, and (4) to self-protect by refusing more often to volunteer in a proposed high-risk experiment than those subjects whose self-esteem had been raised via ego-enhancing feedback on the unrelated task. Analysis showed that esteem-related affect did not generalize from the intellectual domain to the social-skills area or from the male to the female experimenter. The findings are discussed in terms of the compartmentalization of affect such that risk-taking reflected self-protection on tasks associated with the female experimenter while the remaining variables associated with the male experimenter showed no such effects.

Differences in Characteristics Preferred by College Students for Academic Advisors, Vocational Counselors, and Psychotherapists: A Preliminary Report

144 college students rated an academic advisor, a vocational counselor, or a psychotherapist on 10 characteristics and subsequently rated each of the three types of counseling situations on how “personal” they perceived each to be. Sex of experimenter and sex of subject were varied systematically. Female subjects when tested by a male experimenter preferred a psychotherapist be more religious than an academic advisor or vocational counselor. Subjects viewed psychotherapy as a more personal situation than academic advising or vocational counseling.

Sex of Experimenter and Effects of Pretest Interactions on Approaching a Snake by Fearful Female Subjects

96 female students in introductory psychology were selected by a screening procedure to ensure moderate to strong fearfulness of snakes. Each subject was assigned to one of eight groups according to a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design (attractive male or female experimenter; a modeling or no-modeling condition, and a pretest condition in which subjects either remained alone in a room or conversed with the experimenter for 7 min.). The only significant finding was that subjects showed significantly greater approach with modeling than without and with a male experimenter.

Impact of Sex of Experimenter on the Draw-a-Person Test

A significant relationship was obtained between first figure drawn on the Draw-A-Person Test and sex of experimenter of 140 male and 143 female students in introductory psychology. Of the men who made drawings of the opposite sex, most drawings were elicited by a female experimenter. A like finding held for women; most drawings of the opposite sex were elicited by a male experimenter. The impact of the sex of examiner on an individual at the time of response to the Draw-A-Person Test in a diagnostic setting should be assessed.