The poetics of mind: Gender and metaphor

The literature on gender stereotyping focuses primarily on gendered characteristics of "typical" males and females, a method this study argues actually generates gender stereotypes. This dissertation employs a stricter test to examine the pervasiveness of gender in our society by focusing on the extent to which gender characteristics are used to describe real persons.;This dissertation presents two competing conceptualizations: (1) social cognition intergroup contact literature argues that increased familiarity results in a decrease of categorical (stereotypic) evaluations which would argue for no gender stereotyping of the descriptions of real persons or, (2) the "socialization into gender" is so salient that even descriptions of real persons will result in gender stereotyping.;To analyze the extent to which gender stereotypes describe real persons, I use an open-ended questionnaire where students are asked to write a one-page description of someone they know well using as many metaphors and similes as possible. Metaphors as a method highlights how our language is metaphorically structured (i.e., its cognitive function) and illustrates the connection of the gendered aspects of metaphors.;Overall, Hypothesis 1 finds that individuals do not use similar metaphors to describe males and females and this finding stems primarily from four metaphors.;Hypothesis 2 finds that overall, individual attributars do not use similar metaphors to describe both males and females and this finding derives primarily from the study of the use of three metaphors.;The third hypothesis examines the content of the metaphorical descriptions. If increased familiarity results in a decrease of categorical (stereotypic) evaluations, Hypothesis 3 predicts that females and males will not describe other females and males known well using gender stereotypic traits, physical characteristics or role descriptions. While overall this hypothesis was disconfirmed, most of the significantly different characteristics are not from gender stereotype literature. Rather, they are closely aligned with Rosenberg's (1977) work on traits and traitlike feelings in a college student sample. Characteristics that are gendered primarily feature the role that physical appearance plays in the pervasiveness of gender in our society.