Gender and generation effects on person perception

It has been assumed that the characteristics of respondents, such as their sex, background and socialization experiences, would affect the way in which respondents perceive other persons. Sex differences have been found in college students, but generational differences have not been explored. The present study employed one hundred fifty men and women, of non-college background and of a wide range of ages, and permitted free responses in respondents' descriptions. The effect of gender and generation on the categories participants used to describe a known man and woman was examined. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated significance on both variables. However, subsequent one-way analyses of variance revealed that only a few categories were used differentially by men and women, or by the older, middle and younger generations.