Gender stereotypes and predictions of performance: Women in air combat

Community college students (n = 419) participated in a study investigating the effect of role and gender of stimulus person in judging traits and performance outcomes. Scenario descriptions used diagnostic role information to depict a military officer's assigned duties as either gender role atypical (first ever woman USAF ir Combat Fighter Pilot), or gender role typical (woman non-pilot officer supporting her pilot). A 2 (role:atypical/typical) x 2 (gender of officer) x 2 (gender of participant) x 3 (use of gender) between subjects design was used. Gender of the military officer did not affect judgments of traits describing Pilot and Combat Skills bur did affect judgments of traits describing Combat Toughness, with men being rated higher than women. Gender of the military officer did not affect judgments on measures where pilot performance was rated as the outcome but did affect judgments on officer selection. Men combat pilots were rated as more likely to be selected than women officers across conditions. The findings are discussed within the framework of role theory and recent research on mental representations of exemplars and abstractions.