Sex and age differences in choice behaviour: the object-person dimension

There is a popular belief that females are more socially oriented than males, while males are more nonsocially or object oriented than females. A 2 X 2 factorial design was employed to examine this, with independent variables of sex and age (young and older adults). The subjects were presented with six pairs of pictures, each consisting of an object and a person. Each presentation lasted 30 s; the time spent looking at each stimulus was taken as a measure of interest. The hypothesis that in this choice situation males and females would differ in their preference for object and person stimuli was confirmed. However, the sex difference was confined to young adults; older subjects of both sexes showed more (and equal) interest in the social stimuli than in the object stimuli. Masculinity and femininity scores on the Bem Sex Role Inventory showed some relationship with object-person preferences but failed to throw much light on the absence of a sex difference in older adults.