Interpersonal perception skills and the effects of gender and gender roles

One of the most important aspects of organizational life is interpersonal perception - the process by which one is able to accurately perceive other peoples’ behaviors. In a social interaction context such as job interaction, one acquires cumulative contextual knowledge about a target by tracking the person’s behavior as it unfolds over the course of the interaction (Ginsburg & Smith, 1993). This study explores the connection between interpersonal perception skills, gender and gender roles. The study hypothesizes that females will be more accurate than males on the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT) and that individuals who are high solely on either femininity or masculinity scales regardless of biological sex will be less accurate on the IPT than those who are androgynous. A total of 115 communication students took part in the study. Participants were asked to watch a film (IPT) testing ability to decode nonverbal cues during their nonverbal communication course. Gender orientation identity was assessed using the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). With regard to the hypothesis testing, the present study used Spearman Correlation, Independent samples T test, ANOVA and stepwise regression. The present study’s results did not find that men and women differ significantly in terms of empathic accuracy. However, women appear to have greater accuracy at detecting whether or not someone is telling the truth and men appear to have greater accuracy at determining whether or not someone has won a game (competition) or who is the higher status person in an interaction. In reviewing the results, one may tend to agree with Graham & Ickes (1997) that “the empathic advantage that is commonly denoted as ‘women’s intuition’ owes at least as much to a difference in motivation as to a difference in ability” (p. 140) or with Hancock and Ickes (1996) - “If men appear at times to be socially insensitive, it may have more to do with the image they wish to convey than with the ability they possess” (p. 197). Future studies may include the differences based on sexual orientation, educational background and personality factors.