1. Anthropological explorations of manhood have found that both men and women share a view of the precariousness of manhood compared to womanhood (e.g., Gilmore, 1990). Vandello, Bosson, Cohen, Burnaford, and Weaver (2008) completed a series of studies verifying this view and its effect on college-aged participants. In this research, we performed a systematic replication of two of their studies in which we enhanced the external validity of their findings and made some methodological improvements. Testing Contemporary Adult Impressions about Earning and Losing Manhood Jason A. Williamson and Mark D. Cloud Department of Psychology Lock Haven University Abstract Background Results ~ Proverb Test DIFFERENCES IN REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY… MEN WOMEN Lower CONSEQUENCES OF COPULATION Higher LowerMATE SELECTIVITYHigher Lower REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS (66% Human ancestors are women) Higher RISK TOLERANCE (On job deaths, 93% men) Lower Higher SOCIAL DOMINANCE HIERARCHIES (Cultural cues of prestige, social value) Lower Higher INTERGROUP COMPETITION (Seek cues for coalition building) Lower Earned, Public, Tenuous MANHOOD WOMANHOOD STATUS Biological maturation, Secure Utilizing Amazon Mechanical Turk and TurkPrime, materials were displayed using SurveyMonkey. N = 150; 56% male; 72% white; M = 34.2 years Subjects paid $1.00 to complete two phases. PHASE 1 – PROVERB TEST Mix 24 typical proverbs with six experimental proverbs. For each subject, each of the six experimental proverbs is randomly presented in either the man or woman form. Rate agreement and understanding of each proverb. Method Hypothesis 1 Supported The key proverbs endorsement scores were evaluated using a 2 (participant sex) x 2 (version: manhood vs. womanhood) analysis of covariance with the ratings of understandability as a significant covariate, F(1, 274) = 50.04, p <.001. As expected, the results revealed a greater agreement for manhood phrased proverbs over womanhood proverbs, F(1, 157) = 8.33, p <.004, Ms = 4.48 vs. 3.82 and SEs = 0.20 vs. 0.20, respectively. Conclusions Key Conclusions Replicated the results of two studies from Vandello et al. (2008) confirming the precariousness of manhood. Added external validity to the original findings by using subjects of all ages and backgrounds in the United States. Tested the proverb type variable within-subjects compared to the original between- subjects design to better prevent demand characteristics from influencing the measures. Limitations and future research Results need to be replicated using a more cross-cultural sample. Need new tests of precariousness of manhood orthogonal to social role expectations. …I guarantee you, there’s no problem. I guarantee you. ––Donald Trump Precarious manhood is the understanding that manhood is a tenuous, unstable social achievement— not a developmental certainty—shared by both men and women (Vandello et al., 2008). In contrast, womanhood is often conferred through biological markers like menarche and remains secure. Evolutionary (Winegard et al., 2014) and biosocial role theories (Eagly & Wood, 2002) have both been proposed to account for this pattern. Both theoretical positions can account for our first hypothesis that men and women will agree more with proverbs related to the precariousness of manhood (vs. womanhood). In contrast, the positions make opposite predictions when this relation is tested unconnected to stereotyped language associated with men (e.g., agency) and in reference to the ability to bear children. Our second hypothesis is that both men and women will more often identify infertility in a man as reflecting a loss of manhood. Methods Results ~ Psychological Portrait Test PHASE 2 – PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT TEST First present four sample “psychological portraits”. Present description of an adult facing sterility. Randomly assigned to man or woman version. Pick best match of five “portraits” Hypothesis 2 Supported Our analyses confirmed our prediction that participants would more often match the sketch of a child with an infertile man, X 2 (1, N = 71) = 17.45, p <.001, and the sketch of an unattractive adult with an infertile woman, X 2 (1, N = 69) = 7.26, p =.007. Key Reference Vandello, J. a, Bosson, J. K., Cohen, D., Burnaford, R. M., & Weaver, J. R. (2008). Precarious manhood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(6), 1325–1339. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0012453 Sample description: Jan has struggled with feelings of deep same about her body and her sexuality. Acknowledgements We would to thank the Center for Open Science (https://cos.io) for their financial support.https://cos.io) Boy portrait from man version Portrait options: Woman version Experimental proverbs, n = 6 Validity checks, n = 3 Typical proverb, n = 24 Test description: Danielle is 29 years old. She and her husband have been trying to have children for years, but without any luck. Danielle recently learned she is not able to get pregnant.