Status in Same-Gender and Mixed-Gender Police Dyads: Effects on Personality Attributions

Abstract

Status characteristics theory is extended to make predictions about dispositional attributions. The present study tests whether external status characteristics affect the personality dispositions attributed to police team members. Predictions are tested with a sample of 154 police teams, which include all-male, male-female, and all-female teams. In the mixed-gender dyad, the external status characteristic, gender, is used to designate dyad members as high- and low-status; in same-gender dvads, work experience is the primary characteristic that is used. Results show that high-status dyad members are somewhat morse likely to be characterized with a dominating disposition: low-status dyad members are significantly more likely to be characterized with an expressive disposition, as expected. In addition, the relative status of each dyad as a whole within the larger organization affects the way dyad members characterize their own personality dispositions, as predicted. The low-status female officer in the mixed-gender dyad is perceived as morse verbally aggressive than her high-status male partner ; the implications of this unexpected finding are explored.