SALIENCE OF THE SEX CATEGORY SYSTEM IN PERSON PERCEPTION - CONTEXTUAL VARIATIONS

The salience of the sex category system was studied on a task which consisted of describing a person target to a partner who was to identify that target with as few cues as possible. The salience of the sex descriptor was greater (1) when the persons described were women, (2) when they were perceived in a feminine gendered social situation, and (3) when the description of the targets was given by female subjects. A comprehensive view of the results obtained suggests an interpretation in terms of context effects in which the dynamics of power relations are introduced by taking sex category memberships into account. With this theoretical framework, it is possible to better understand the different salience of the two sex categories and the functional dissymmetry in the cognitive use of these categories, dissymmetry which may be linked to the domination relationship between the sex groups. Sex category appears to be an identity marker for women only. © 1990 Plenum Publishing Corporation.