Evaluations of College Professors: Effects of Professors' Sex-Type, and Sex, and Students' Sex

Over 700 college students evaluated one of eight written profiles of a college professor. The descriptions varied by professors' sex and by professor sex-type (neutral/control, affective, instrumental, androgynous). Profiles were handed out in class to male and female students by regular instructors (experimenters). Professors described as high in affective qualities (the affective and androgynous professors) received the highest ratings on questions related to interactions with students outside of class. Professors' sex-type interacted significantly with students' sex and instructors' sex on these questions as well. The effects of both instrumental and affective qualities of the instructor appear to overshadow the effects of a professor's sex in students' evaluations, at least under certain conditions.