The "Pat" effect: perceiving (and misperceiving) physically androgynous people

Abstract

<p>This investigation consists of three studies exploring the effects of physical androgyny on information processing and person perception. Study 1 examines the distracting influence of physical androgyny in a dual-task paradigm. Will individuals shift attention away from an ongoing task in an effort to categorize the gender of a physically androgynous person? Study 2 measures the type of inferences perceivers make about the personality, role behaviors, occupations, and sexual orientation of physically androgynous people. Study 3 explores the cognitive and affective consequences of gender miscategorization. How does mistaking a man for a woman (or vice versa) influence a perceiver's memory for that person and does gender miscategorization elicit an emotional response from the perceiver?;Results did not support the hypotheses that physical androgyny will draw attention away from other tasks. Although cognitive consequences of gender miscategorization were somewhat evident in the data, affective consequences were not. Physical androgyny does influence perceivers' assumptions regarding an individual's personality and behavior. Perceivers tend to infer psychological androgyny from physical androgyny, both in terms of personalty traits and gender-typed behaviors. Individuals also assume physically androgynous persons are more likely to be homosexual and less likely to be heterosexual than people whose gender is not ambiguous.</p>