Showing papers by "Howard Giles published in 1977"

Development of Sex-Trait Stereotypes Among Young Children in the United States, England, and Ireland.

Abstract: The Sex Stereotype Measure II (SSM II), a 32-item revision of the Williams, Bennett, and Best Sex Stereotype Measure, was developed to assess children's knowledge of conventional, sex-trait stereotypes defined by American university students. The procedure employed brief stories and human figure silhouettes which were individually administered to 5- and 8-year-old children in the United States, England, and Ireland and group administered to 11-year-olds in the United States. In the United States, knowledge of sex-trait stereotypes was found to develop in a linear fashion between the ages of 5 and 11, with more male traits than female traits being known at each age level. Cross-nationally, there was a high degree of similarity in the nature of the sex stereotypes being learned by the children in the 3 countries, although the rate of learning appeared slower among the Irish children. In all countries there was a clear progression in sex-stereotype learning from age 5 to age 8. English boys had greater knowledge of stereotypes than English girls, but this was not true in Ireland and the United States. Generally, knowledge of male stereotype traits appeared to develop earlier while knowledge of the female traits increased more rapidly between ages 5 and 8. The similarity in sex-stereotype learning in the 3 countries is discussed, and studies in progress in other countries of greater cultural diversity are noted.

Dimensions of welsh identity

Abstract: A multidimensional scaling procedure was used to explore the role of cultural background, language and geographical region in the process of Welsh identity. Welsh bilinguals and Welshmen who could speak only English made similarity judgments among stimulus people represented by all possible combinations of these three factors and the anchor stimulus MYSELF. The results showed that language spoken was the most important dimension of ethnic identity for both groups, with cultural background and geographical region playing subordinate roles. These findings were discussed in relation to similar research conducted in Canada.

Sex‐trait stereotypes in England, Ireland and the United States

Abstract: The item pool of the Adjective Check List (ACL) was used in an assessment of male and female sex-trait stereotypes in England, Ireland and the United States. Subjects were 50 men and 50 women university students in each of the three countries. The general finding was a high degree of cross-national similarity in the traits ascribed to men and to women, although the male and female stereotypes were not as highly differentiated in Ireland as in the two other countries. An ACL need analysis of the male and female stereotypes common to all three countries revealed that the male stereotype was markedly higher on needs for autonomy, exhibition, aggression and dominance; and moderately higher on achievement and endurance. The female stereotype was markedly higher on needs for deference, abasement, succourance, and nurturance; and moderately higher on affiliation, intraception, and heterosexuality. Projected studies of sex-trait stereotypes in countries of greater historical and linguistic diversity were discussed.

Anticipated social cost and interpersonal accomodation

Abstract: The paper is concerned with demonstrating the value of social cost—a concept derived from a social psychological theory of prejudice—in analyzing the cognitive processes underlying the encoding of convergent speech acts. A study showed that when speakers anticipate meeting socially significant others immediately, the effect on their perceptual processes is to perceive greater similarity to, and less undesirable traits in, such others. It was argued that this reduction of a perceived linguistic distance between a speaker and the interlocutor, termed perceptual convergence, should facilitate the adoption of convergent speech in the former. Areas for further research were discussed.