Collaborative Research in Decision, Risk, and Management Science: Understanding Gender Inequality: The Relative Influence of Institutional Power and Gender Consciousness

博弈论学家和一些女权主义学者会预测，拥有不对称制度权力（比如退出机会）的个人应该比没有这种权力的人要求更多的资源——无论个人的性别如何。相比之下，其他女权主义学者强调社会化和其他机制可以产生性别角色内化的方式，从而使权力平等的男性和女性的行为不同。基于后一项研究，我们可以预测性别与制度权力之间的相互作用。为了整理这些不同的论点，本研究对两个人囚徒困境（PD）博弈进行了实验研究，其中不对称退出机会与主体性别交叉。在某些情况下，只有男性有退出的机会，而在另一些情况下，只有女性有退出的机会。（书中还探讨了同性的情况。）然而，一个人身体的性别并不一定与他或她精神的“性别”相匹配。因此，为了了解女性（和男性）之间的个体差异，本研究探讨了行为与性别角色内化（即一个人心理的“性”）和“性别意识”（即关于适当性别角色的信念）之间的相关性。长期研究项目的结果可能会对如何减少性别不平等这一更广泛的政策问题产生重要影响。性别不平等能否通过改变制度权力的平衡（在这种情况下是获得退出选项）得到纠正？或者，在期望平等的结果之前，社会化过程是否也需要改变？

Game theorists and some feminist scholars would predict that individuals with asymmetric access to institutional power (such as an exit opportunity) should claim more resources than those without such access--regardless of the sex of the individual. Other feminist scholars, in contrast, emphasize the ways in which socialization and other mechanisms can produce gender-role internalization such that men and women of equal power behave differently. Based on this latter research, we would predict interactions between sex and institutional power. To sort out these different arguments, this research pilot tests an experimental study of two-person prisoners' dilemma (PD) games in which an asymmetric exit opportunity is crossed with sex-of-subject. In some conditions, only men will have the exit opportunity while in others only women will have the exit opportunity. (Same-sex conditions are also explored.) The sex of an individual's body, however, does not necessarily match the "sex" of his or her psyche. Thus, in order to understand individual differences among women (and among men) the research explores correlation between behavior and measures of gender-role internalization (i.e., the "sex" of one's psyche) and "gender" consciousness," (i.e., beliefs about proper gender roles). The results of the longer term research program may have important implications for the broader policy question of how to lessen gender inequality. Can gender inequality be corrected by changing the balance of institutional power (in this case access to an exit option)? Or, are changes in the socialization process also necessary before equal outcomes can be expected?