| Abstract | Much research finds benefits associated with being perceived as being high in social status, particularly for men. Because of this, people often intentionally present themselves in ways that will lead others to perceive them as being high in status. The present research examined whether displays of entitlement--where one behaves in a way that indicates that they have a right to special treatment--impacts others' perceptions of women's status. Study 1 demonstrated that entitled behavior did not impact others' perceptions of women's access to various types of capital (social, financial) and--contrary to expectations--led people to perceive these targets as being lower in social status than non-entitled targets. Study 2 extended these results by manipulating the physical attractiveness of the entitled/non-entitled female targets and examined whether the pattern observed in Study 1 held when controlling for entitled targets' reduced likeability. Study 2 replicated the findings that entitlement did not have any impact on women's perceived access to capital, even when controlling for entitled women's lower likeability. However, attractive entitled women were perceived as higher in social status than unattractive un-entitled women. Together, these results suggest that attractiveness and entitled behavior--when they occur together--may impact others' perceptions of a female target's social status but not access to capital. |
