| dc.description.abstract | The present study was aimed at investigating the
relationship between sex-role orientation, as defined by the
BSRI, and heart-rate response to stress. After being
administered both the BSRI and JAS, 35 female undergraduate
volunteers were randomly assigned to one of two orders of
presentation, of moderately stressful verbal and spatial
tasks. Heart-rate was measured throughout the experimental
situation, and subjects rated each task for perceived
pleasantness. A significant (p=.032) interaction was found
between masculinity and femininity, with the androgynous and
undifferentiated groups showing lower heart-rate increases to
both tasks. Neither the BSRI nor the JAS Type A scales were
found to be significantly related with subjects' performance
on either task, although a trend did emerge with higher
masculinity scores being linked with somewhat better
performance. Furthermore, masculinity was significantly
associated with reports of greater perceived pleasantness for
both tasks. While the Type A variable was positively
correlated with masculinity, and negatively correlated with
femininity, it did not account for any of the above
relationships. | |
