Stereotypic aspect in masculinity-femininity measurement

To explore stereotypic thinking in relation to sex differences in personality, the 14 scales of Edwards Personality Inventory IA were administered to 398 college student judges with instructions to predict the answer most men (women) would give. Responses to stereotype instructions were compared with self-descriptive responses of Edwards' normative college sample. Stereotyped instructions both exaggerated existing sex differences (8 scales) and created differences which males and females did not normally acknowledge (5 scales). Sex of judges made no difference. The measurement of masculinity-femininity (MF) might be improved by exploring the multidimensional nature of both "true," primarily obvious, and stereotype MF, and by using the latter tendency to correct obvious MF scales where stereotypy is a confounding influence.