Content area
Abstract
Gender is an important factor in choice and judgment processes. Research has shown how gender norms and the maintenance of gender identity are key concerns to decision-makers and that femininity and masculinity are linked to the two dimensions that are fundamental to the organization of social meaning. The present research is interested in examining the extent to which very subtle gender perceptions pervade and shape judgments. Specifically, it examines whether numbers, highly abstract concepts, are associatively linked with gender.
This dissertation proposes that all numbers are associated with a particular gender, based on their categorization as an "even" or "odd" number. The first essay marshals support across six experiments (Experiments 1–6) for the claim that odd numbers tend to be associated with masculinity, while even numbers tend to be associated with femininity. It shows, moreover, that the evenness/oddness of numbers can automatically influence perceptions of a target's gender and also influence evaluative judgments of objects that are already associated with a particular gender (Experiment 6). Further, four more experiments (Experiments 7–10) found that the even-feminine/odd-masculine associations can influence a variety of product-related judgments based on a price ending in an even or odd digit. Combined, these two sets of experiments indicate that that gender associations for even and odd numbers exist and can impact meaningful evaluations of objects, even when people are unaware of this numeric influence.
The second essay investigates the underlying reason why the even-feminine/odd-masculine associative tendency exists by examining potential metaphoric similarities between the two types of gender and numbers. Three competing accounts (one perceptual-based, one conceptual-based, and one metacognitive-based) are detailed and experimentally tested (Experiments 10–13). Only the metacognitive similarity account was (partially) supported. The metacognitive account proposes that gender perceptions are influenced by how easily information is processed [with greater (lesser) ease increasing perceptions of femininity (masculinity)]. Building off documented findings that even numbers are processed more fluently than odd; Experiment 13 found that odd numbers that were manipulated to be more fluent were indeed perceived to be more feminine than their less fluent odd counterparts. (Future research needs to examine if decreasing the fluency of even numbers would lead to greater perceptions of their masculinity).
Essay 3 provides a general discussion that highlights the contributions and limitations of the present research, as well as future directions of potential inquiry.
