Inferences Regarding the Personality Traits and Sexual Orientation of Physically Androgynous People

Abstract

Three studies investigated inferences about physically androgynous (PA) people. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants rated the personality, gender-role behavior, occupation, and sexual orientation of male, female, and PA targets in a within-subjects design. Targets were presented in color photos in Experiment 1 and in verbal descriptions in Experiment 2. Experiment 3 used verbal descriptions in a between-subjects design. In all three studies, participants inferred that the traits and behaviors in the PA targets were less gender-typed than those in the male and female targets. Participants also inferred that the PA targets were more likely to be homosexual and less likely to be heterosexual than the male and female targets. These results indicate that people draw conclusions about psychological characteristics from a person's physical appearance, but challenge Brewer's (1988) and Fiske and Neuberg's (1990) descriptions of how gender affects this process. Assumptions about PA people may also reinforce butch/fem stereotypes of lesbians and gay men.