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. 2025 Jun 25;20(6):e0323938.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0323938. eCollection 2025.

Multi-region investigation of 'man' as default in attitudes

Curtis Edward Phills  1   2 Jeremy K Miller  3 Erin M Buchanan  4 Amanda Williams  5 Chanel Meyers  2 Elizabeth R Brown  1 Janis Zickfeld  6 Selina Volsa  7 Stefan Stieger  7 Elisabeth Oberzaucher  8 Vinka Mlakic  7 Martin Vasilev  9 İlker Dalgar  10 Sami Çoksan  11   12 Sinem Söylemez  13 Çağlar Solak  13 Asil Ali Özdoğru  14   15 Belemir Çoktok  15 Chun-Chia Kung  16 Panita Suavansri  17 Harry Manley  17   18 Sara Álvarez-Solas  19 Danilo Zambrano Ricaurte  20 Ivan Ropovik  21   22   23 Gabriel Baník  24 Peter Babinčák  23   24 Matúš Adamkovič  25   26 Pavol Kačmár  27 Monika Hricová  27 Jozef Bavoľár  27 Lisa Li  28 Fei Gao  28 Zhong Chen  28 Vanja Ković  29 Vasilije Gvozdenović  29 Patrícia Arriaga  30 Katarzyna Filip  31 Krystian Barzykowski  31 Sylwia Adamus  31 Gerit Pfuhl  32   33 Sarah E Martiny  32 Kristoffer Klevjer  32 Frederike S Woelfert  34 Christian K Tamnes  34 Jonas R Kunst  34 Max Korbmacher  35 Margaret Messiah Singh  36 Sraddha Pradhan  36 Noorshama Parveen  36 Arti Parganiha  36 Babita Pande  36 Pratibha Kujur  36 Priyanka Chandel  36 Niv Reggev  37 Aviv Mokady  37 Marietta Papadatou-Pastou  38 Roxane Schnepper  39 Jan Philipp Röer  39 Tilli Ripp  39 Ekaterina Pronizius  40 Claus Lamm  40 Martin Voracek  41 Jerome Olsen  41 Janina Enachescu  41 Carlota Batres  42 Daniel Storage  43 Carmel A Levitan  44 Manyu Li  45 Leigh Ann Vaughn  46 William J Chopik  47 Kathleen Schmidt  48 Peter R Mallik  49 Savannah Lewis  50 Brynna Leach  48 Brianna Jurosic  48 David Moreau  51 Izuchukwu Lawrence Gabriel Ndukaihe  52 Nwadiogo Chisom Arinze  52 Steve M J Janssen  53 Alicia Foo  53 Chrystalle B Y Tan  54 Glenn P Williams  55 Danny Riis  56 Bethany M Lane  56 Dermot Lynott  57 Thomas Rhys Evans  58 Miroslav Sirota  59 Dawn L Holford  59 Kaitlyn M Werner  60 Kelly Wang  60 Marina Milyavskaya  60 Ian D Stephen  61   62 Robert M Ross  63 Andrew Roberts  61 Omid Ghasemi  64 Niklas K Steffens  65 Kim Peters  65 Barnaby Dixson  66 Marco Antonio Correa Varella  67 Jaroslava V Valentova  67 Anthonieta Looman Mafra  68 Rafael Ming Chi Santos Hsu  67 Yago Luksevicius de Moraes  67 Luana Oliveira da Silva  67 Caio Santos Alves da Silva  67 Mai Helmy  69 Mariah Balderrama  3 Ali H Al-Hoorie  70 Tyler McGee  42 Zahir Vally  71 Attila Szuts  72 Patrick Forscher  73   74 Pablo Bernabeu  75   76 Balazs Aczel  72 Anna Szabelska  77 Sau-Chin Chen  78 Christopher R Chartier  48 Zoltan Kekecs  72
Affiliations

Multi-region investigation of 'man' as default in attitudes

Curtis Edward Phills et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Previous research has studied the extent to which men are the default members of social groups in terms of memory, categorization, and stereotyping, but not attitudes which is critical because of attitudes' relationship to behavior. Results from our survey (N > 5000) collected via a globally distributed laboratory network in over 40 regions demonstrated that attitudes toward Black people and politicians had a stronger relationship with attitudes toward the men rather than the women of the group. However, attitudes toward White people had a stronger relationship with attitudes toward White women than White men, whereas attitudes toward East Asian people, police officers, and criminals did not have a stronger relationship with attitudes toward either the men or women of each respective group. Regional agreement with traditional gender roles was explored as a potential moderator. These findings have implications for understanding the unique forms of prejudice women face around the world.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Plot of correlation differences by group.
Positive scores indicate attitudes toward the group had a stronger correlation with attitudes toward the men rather than the women of the group. 99.5% confidence intervals calculated using the method outlined by Zou [35].
Fig 2
Fig 2. Plot of correlational differences for politicians.
Side by side comparison of how relative attitudes toward politicians correlates with attitudes toward politicians who are women versus men. The sample is the first 2,300 participants to complete the study.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Plot of correlational differences for police officers.
Side by side comparison of how attitudes toward police officers correlated with attitudes toward policewomen and policemen. The sample is the first 2,300 participants to complete the study.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Plot of correlational differences for criminals.
Side by side comparison of how attitudes toward criminals correlated with attitudes toward women and men who are criminals. The sample is the first 2,300 participants to complete the study.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Plot of regional attitude differences.
Regional differences in whether group attitudes are more strongly related to attitudes toward the men or women of the group for (A) attitudes toward politicians, (B) attitudes toward police, and (C) attitudes toward criminals. The maps used in this manuscript were created with the maps package in R, which uses the Natural Earth dataset in the public domain.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Plot of correlational differences for Black people.
Side by side comparison of how attitudes toward Black people correlated with attitudes toward Black men and women. The sample is the first 2,300 people (median age = 20, age range 18 to 67) to complete the study that did not identify as Black.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Plot of correlational differences for East Asian people.
Side by side comparison of how attitudes toward East Asian people correlated with attitudes toward East Asian men and women. The sample is the first 2,300 people (median age = 20, age range 18 to 67) to complete the study that did not identify as East Asian.
Fig 8
Fig 8. Plot of correlational differences for East Asian people for non-East Asian participants.
Side by side comparison of how attitudes toward east Asian people correlated with attitudes toward East Asian men and women. The sample is the 1305 participants (median age = 19, age range 18 to 36) who completed the study in the U.S. and did not identify as East Asian.
Fig 9
Fig 9. Plot of correlational differences for White people.
Side by side comparison of how attitudes toward White people correlated with attitudes toward White men and women. The sample is the 2,260 participants (median age = 20, age range 18 to 67) who completed the study and did not identify as White.
Fig 10
Fig 10. Plot of regional differences in attitudes.
Regional differences in whether group attitudes are more strongly related to attitudes toward the men or women of the group for (A) attitudes toward Black people, (B) attitudes toward East Asian people, and (C) attitudes toward White people. The maps used in this manuscript were created with the maps package in R, which uses the Natural Earth dataset in the public domain.
Fig 11
Fig 11. Plot of correlational differences for Black people in women.
Side by side comparison of how attitudes toward Black people correlates with attitudes toward Black men and women. The sample is the 180 participants (median age = 20, age range 18 to 37) who completed the study and identified as Black women.
Fig 12
Fig 12. Plot of correlational differences for White people in women.
Side by side comparison of how attitudes toward White people correlates with attitudes toward White men and women. The sample is the 2,152 participants (median age = 20, age range 18 to 64) who completed the study and identified as White women.
Fig 13
Fig 13. Plot of correlational differences for East Asian people in women.
Side by side comparison of how attitudes toward East Asian people correlates with attitudes toward East Asian men and women. The sample is the 485 participants (median age = 20, age range 18 to 42) who completed the study and identified as East Asian women.

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