When Social Role Salience Leads to Social Role Rejection: Modest Self-Presentation among Women and Men in Two Cultures

Abstract

Resistance to the traditional gender role expectation for modest self-presentation among women was examined in a pair of studies. In the first-which included U. S. and Polish college students of both sexes-making traditional gender role expectations explicitly salient led to a significant reversal of traditional modest responding only among American women. A second study supported a role rejection account of this finding by demonstrating that (a) U.S. women reacted much more negatively to the traditional gender role expectations for modesty than did comparable men, and (b) those women who reacted most negatively also evidenced the greatest role-inconsistent intentions. The possibility is discussed that seemingly ambivalent role behavior may not be a result of role conflict but instead to the presence or absence of salient role-related stimuli.

Everyday Conceptions of Modesty: A Prototype Analysis

“…Hence, modesty is not-as popularly construed-either intrinsically public (Cialdini et al 1998) or intrinsically private , but a mixture of the two (Exline, Campbell et al, 2004).…”

“…Third, with a few exceptions (Cialdini et al, 1998;Tice, Butler, Muraven, & Stillwell, 1995), a good deal of research on modesty has attempted to characterize it, either distinctively or comparatively, as an East-Asian phenomenon (Bond, Leung, & Wan, 1982;Crittenden, 1991;Gu, 1990;Heine, Lehman, Markus, & Kitayama, 1999). However, modesty has played an important historical role, and is highly valued, in Western culture too (Eagly & Acksen, 1971;Exline, Campbell et al, 2004;Jones & Wortman, 1973;Schlenker, 1980).…”

The Source Effect: Person Descriptions by Self versus Others Have Differential Effects on Impression Formation

“…Alternatively, the positive self-presenter may not have been perceived as very socially skilled and likable, because he or she violated the modesty norm. Interpersonal norms concerning how people should present themselves posit that people should not be too boastful about themselves (e.g., Cialdini, Wosinska, Dabul, Whetstone-Dion, & Heszen, 1998;Leary, 1995). Because these two mechanisms would both affect the same variable in this study, namely the sociability ratings, they cannot be teased apart in these data.…”

“…Apparently boasting is seen as inappropriate behavior (cf. Cialdini et al, 1998;Leary, 1995) that harms the extent to which perceivers regard the braggart as sociable or likable.…”

Attribution and Motivation: Gender, ethnicity, and religion differences among Indonesian university students

“…Being female in a patriarchal and conservatively religious society might make Indonesian women want to be in control of their own lives. Women from cultures which have seen social movements toward gender equality might be more likely to reject traditional females roles, and respond in non-traditional ways (Cialdini et al, 1998). Female participants in this study were university students in the era of internet and globalisation, and had the advantage of studying a higher degree and being exposed to many and new progressive ideas.…”