Perceived gender and political persuasion: a social media field experiment during the 2020 US Democratic presidential primary election
Abstract Women have less influence than men in a variety of settings. Does this result from stereotypes that depict women as less capable, or biased interpretations of gender differences in behavior? We present a field experiment that—unbeknownst to the participants—randomized the gender of avatars...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39359-0 |
| _version_ | 1827634508622462976 |
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| author | Aidan Combs Graham Tierney Fatima Alqabandi Devin Cornell Gabriel Varela Andrés Castro Araújo Lisa P. Argyle Christopher A. Bail Alexander Volfovsky |
| author_facet | Aidan Combs Graham Tierney Fatima Alqabandi Devin Cornell Gabriel Varela Andrés Castro Araújo Lisa P. Argyle Christopher A. Bail Alexander Volfovsky |
| author_sort | Aidan Combs |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Women have less influence than men in a variety of settings. Does this result from stereotypes that depict women as less capable, or biased interpretations of gender differences in behavior? We present a field experiment that—unbeknownst to the participants—randomized the gender of avatars assigned to Democrats using a social media platform we created to facilitate discussion about the 2020 Primary Election. We find that misrepresenting a man as a woman undermines his influence, but misrepresenting a woman as a man does not increase hers. We demonstrate that men’s higher resistance to being influenced—and gendered word use patterns—both contribute to this outcome. These findings challenge prevailing wisdom that women simply need to behave more like men to overcome gender discrimination and suggest that narrowing the gap will require simultaneous attention to the behavior of people who identify as women and as men. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:14:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1d990c97a166400f9b6cb292147c0e84 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:14:20Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-1d990c97a166400f9b6cb292147c0e842023-11-26T13:08:56ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-08-0113111410.1038/s41598-023-39359-0Perceived gender and political persuasion: a social media field experiment during the 2020 US Democratic presidential primary electionAidan Combs0Graham Tierney1Fatima Alqabandi2Devin Cornell3Gabriel Varela4Andrés Castro Araújo5Lisa P. Argyle6Christopher A. Bail7Alexander Volfovsky8Department of Sociology, Duke UniversityDepartment of Statistics, Duke UniversityDepartment of Sociology, Duke UniversityDepartment of Sociology, Duke UniversityDepartment of Sociology, Duke UniversityDepartment of Sociology, Duke UniversityDepartment of Political Science, Brigham Young UniversityDepartment of Sociology, Duke UniversityDepartment of Statistics, Duke UniversityAbstract Women have less influence than men in a variety of settings. Does this result from stereotypes that depict women as less capable, or biased interpretations of gender differences in behavior? We present a field experiment that—unbeknownst to the participants—randomized the gender of avatars assigned to Democrats using a social media platform we created to facilitate discussion about the 2020 Primary Election. We find that misrepresenting a man as a woman undermines his influence, but misrepresenting a woman as a man does not increase hers. We demonstrate that men’s higher resistance to being influenced—and gendered word use patterns—both contribute to this outcome. These findings challenge prevailing wisdom that women simply need to behave more like men to overcome gender discrimination and suggest that narrowing the gap will require simultaneous attention to the behavior of people who identify as women and as men.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39359-0 |
| spellingShingle | Aidan Combs Graham Tierney Fatima Alqabandi Devin Cornell Gabriel Varela Andrés Castro Araújo Lisa P. Argyle Christopher A. Bail Alexander Volfovsky Perceived gender and political persuasion: a social media field experiment during the 2020 US Democratic presidential primary election Scientific Reports |
| title | Perceived gender and political persuasion: a social media field experiment during the 2020 US Democratic presidential primary election |
| title_full | Perceived gender and political persuasion: a social media field experiment during the 2020 US Democratic presidential primary election |
| title_fullStr | Perceived gender and political persuasion: a social media field experiment during the 2020 US Democratic presidential primary election |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perceived gender and political persuasion: a social media field experiment during the 2020 US Democratic presidential primary election |
| title_short | Perceived gender and political persuasion: a social media field experiment during the 2020 US Democratic presidential primary election |
| title_sort | perceived gender and political persuasion a social media field experiment during the 2020 us democratic presidential primary election |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39359-0 |
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