29 female and 23 male college students participated in the study. All participants completed both questionnaires. They consisted of undergraduate psychology students who agreed to participate for course credit. Two questionnaires were administered to all students. Both questionnaires contained a list of 58 adjectives in random order. The first questionnaire, along with the 58 adjectives list, contained three semantic categories and a 5-point scale for each. The categories consisted of bad/good, passive/active, and weak/strong. The second questionnaire administered also listed the 58 adjectives, in the same order, and subjects were asked to rate each word according to its gender connotation. At the end of this sheet, subjects were directed to indicate their own gender. The first questionnaire containing the multiple rating scales was administered to the participants. They were instructed to rate each word in all three categories, circling only one number per category on each 5-point scale. After this questionnaire was completed, the second questionnaire of gender connotation was given to the students. Participants were then asked to rate each of the words based on its gender attribution by marking an "F" for female or "M" for male on the line provided next to the word. Following completion of the questionnaires, participants were debriefed.
To examine participants' ratings of descriptive words, the mean estimate across categories was computed separately by sex. A clear majority of the adjectives used in the study were perceived as gender specific according to both male and female participants. The following are examples of both gender specific and gender non-specific adjectives; "Military" was rated as a male attribute and scored low on the bad/good gauge. "Important" was rated as uncertain with respect to gender. "Beautiful" was strongly correlated with femininity. "Able" was rated differently by each gender in that male participants felt it was much less of a female characteristic than female participants suggested.