Behavioral Styles and the Influence of Women in Mixed-Sex Groups

Social stereotypes of women as less instrumentally competent than men may lead to the expectation that women are unlikely to excel in task-performing groups. Because other group members do not perceive them as especially competent, their ideas are not judged credible and little attention is paid to their contributions. Two experiments examined ways in which women can surmount these barriers to influence in male-dominated task-performing groups: an initial demonstration of their specific skill at the task, a behavioral style that conveys a cooperative motivation, and a style that attracts others' attention to their high-quality solutions.