Controlling Status Effects of Gender

This project tests two mechanisms for controlling and reversing unwanted status effects of the characteristic gender. Previous interventions have been developed regarding a number of status characteristics and have been tested and implemented to varying degrees. Theoretically based interventions, such as those I am testing here, hold great promise in alleviating status-based disadvantages faced unequally by different groups within society.

An experiment is described using the standard experimental setting for expectation states and status characteristics theory testing.

Results indicate that the theory’s predictions about reversing gender’s status effects are correct. The theory explains 87% of the variation in the observed data.

This work extends prior analytic work in developing and assessing theoretically guided interventions to overcome status disadvantages.