The Journal of Social Psychology, 2003, I43(\), 111-126

Applying a Social Identity Paradigm

to Examine the Relationship Between
Men's Self-Esteem and Their Attitudes
Toward Men and Women
JOHN MALTBY
Department of Psychology
University of Leicester, England

LIZA DAY
Department of Psychology
Sheffield Hallam University, England

ABSTRACT. The authors used a psychometrically robust measure of attitudes toward men
in applying a social identity framework to obtain a better understanding of the previous
finding of a significant positive relationship, among men, between self-esteem and attitudes
toward men. Two studies of that issue are reported. Northern Irish university students (N =
106 men) participated in the 1st study, and 56 English university students participated in a
replication. In both studies, participants completed measures of attitudes toward men and
women before and after an experimental intervention that was designed to produce a threat
to self-esteem regarding their identity as men. The findings suggested that, following such
a threat, men with a high positive regard toward men will have enhanced self-regard toward
men and will tend to view women more negatively. The present findings also suggested that
the application of social identity theory and the method used in the present research in inves-
tigating that theory are very relevant to the understanding of the relationship between men's
self-esteem and their attitudes toward men and women.
Key words: attitudes toward men, gender role, self-esteem, social identity

WITHIN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX AND GENDER ROLES, investigators

have used various versions of the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (Parry, 1983;
Spence & Helnnreich, 1972; Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1973) to operational-
ize theoretical perspectives of attitudes about women. Those investigations have
included studies of cross-cultural attitudes toward women (Furnham & Karani,
1985; Gibbons, Hamby, & Dennis, 1997; Kremer & Curry, 1987; Walker, 1992;
Wilson & Mbudzi, 1989), sex role conflict (Chusmir & Koberg, 1986), sex role

111
112 The Journal of Social Psychology

behaviors (McDermind, Huston, & McHale, 1990; McHale, Bartko, Crouter, &
Perryjenkins, 1990), sexual aggressioti (Archer & Rhodes, 1989; Harmoti,
Owetis, & Dewey, 1995; Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1994), health (Betinett & Rigby,
1991), mental health (Parry, 1983; Pryor, 1994), personality (Gervai, Tumer, &
Hinde, 1995), changes across time (Twenge, 1997), and positive self-regard and
self-esteem (Smith, 1999).
To complement those areas of research, Iazzo (1983) ititroduced the Attitudes
Toward Men Scale. The rationale for the development of the scale was that despite
much theorizing regarding the roles of attitudes toward men, only a few studies had
used a psychometrically sound instrument that could address the lack of relevant
data concerning attitudes toward men. Despite the sentiments of Iazzo, the scale
has been little used in research. In one study, the effects of aggressive and sexual
film exposure on attitudes toward the sexes were examined (Kelley, 1985), and in
another, adolescents' attitudes toward women (Fumham & Gunter, 1988). In a third
study, the scale was cited in a review of a number of masculinity measures (Thomp-
son, Pleck, & Ferrera, 1992). Within the last 10 years, however, there has been a
notable amount of research on the role of masculinity (Connell, 1995; Gough, 1998;
Gough & Edwards, 1998; Kilmartin, 1994; Kimmel, 1987). As Iazzo (1983)
observed, however, that research tends to consist of speculative assumptions regard-
ing men and women's attitudes toward men, is based on cultural interpretations, or
is focused on men's perceptions of masculinity. There is no study within this
research area in which investigators have used a sound psychometric measure of
attitudes toward men in order to consider masculinity. Because there has been an
impetus over the last 10 years to speculate on men's roles in society, it seems pru-
dent to obtain some empirical information on attitudes toward men in order to pro-
vide a stronger theoretical basis regarding correlates of attitudes toward men.
To address the dearth of research studies in which a psychometrically devel-
oped measure of the Attitudes Toward Men Scale (Iazzo, 1983) has been used,
we (Maltby & Day, 2001) compared scores on the Attitudes Toward Men Scale
against measures of the Big Five personality factors; conservatism; male bash-
ing; attitudes toward women; sex role; locus of control; and a number of health
measures, including depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. The results of a regres-
sion analysis in which a number of correlates of attitudes toward men were used
suggested that, among women, femininity and self-esteem are important in pre-
dicting attitudes toward men. Among men, masculinity, self-esteem, and age were
found to be most important in predicting attitudes toward men.
Among women in that analysis (Maltby & Day, 2001), lower self-esteem and
a higher level of femininity accounted for unique variance in positive attitudes
toward men. Among men, higher self-esteem, higher masculinity, and higher age

Address correspondence to John Maltby, Department of Psychology, School of Psycholo-

gy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LEI 7RH, United Kingdom;
jml48@le.ac.uk (e-mail).
 Maltby & Day 113

accounted for unique variance in more positive attitudes toward men. The find-
ing that those variables accounted for most of the variance in scores on attitudes
toward men might be of primary interest and benefit to researchers. Specifically,
one interesting finding among men was the relationship between self-esteem and
attitudes toward men. That finding suggested an avenue of investigation in which
knowledge within the psychological literature regarding self-esteem is used as a
factor in the dynamics that determine the well-being of relationships between two
groups (Abrams & Hogg, 1988; Tajfel, 1982). Using the suggestion that self-
esteem is important in maintaining men's attitudes toward men, one can derive a
possible explanation from social identity theory and the self-esteem hypothesis
(Abrams & Hogg, 1988; Tajfel & Turner, 1986).
Researchers have tested social identity theory by arguing that respondents
use intergroup discrimination to achieve positive self-esteem. Traditionally,
investigators have operationalized that type of discrimination experimentally by
identifying situations in which in-groups and out-groups might occur.
Researchers have found that when a threat to self-esteem is presented to mem-
bers of an in-group, respondents have tended to react more favorably to in-group
members and less favorably to out-group members (Bettencourt, Charlton,
Eubanks, Kemahan, & Fuller, 1999; Hunter, Platow, Bell, Kypri, & Lewis, 1997;
Platow et al., 1997). Although differences in findings within that research area
are stimulating debate among researchers, if social identity theory is used in
explaining our findings (Maltby & Day, 2001), then the two following hypothe-
ses can be posited regarding how men's attitudes toward men and women might
change when their self-esteem is threatened.
Hypothesis 1: Men for whom self-esteem is important in maintaining a high
positive regard toward men (the in-group) tend to report significantly higher lev-
els of favorable attitudes toward men when their social identity (i.e., their mas-
culinity) is threatened.
Hypothesis 2: Men for whom self-esteem is important in maintaining a high
positive regard of men tend to report significantly less favorable attitudes toward
women (the out-group) when their social identity is threatened.
Therefore, our aim in the present study was to examine the relationship
between men's self-esteem and their attitudes toward men and women within a
social identity theory paradigm.

STUDY 1

Method
Participants
Participants were 106 first-year male undergraduate university students from
Northern Ireland; 74 were 18 years old, and 32 were 19 years old.
114 The Journal of Social Psychology

Procedure

Potential participants were asked to volunteer to take part in a discussion

regarding masculine roles. They were also told that they would be recorded while
they conversed with two women (confederates of the experimenters) about the
role of men in today's society. Possible volunteers were also informed that the
discussion would include debate on a number of contentious subjects, including
(a) marriage and parenthood, (b) sexuality, (c) work, and (d) physical and per-
sonality attributes.
On entering the study, volunteers were asked to fill in a booklet containing
a number of questionnaires. Those questions consisted of half the items includ-
ed in the following three test instruments:

1. The Attitudes Toward Men Scale (Iazzo, 1983). This scale was developed
among a sample of 104 American women. It contains 32 items and includes the
four following subscales: (a) Marriage and Parenthood, (b) Sexuality, (c) Work,
and (d) Physical and Personality Attributes. The overall scale and subscales
demonstrate good internal consistency (a > .7) and show good construct validi-
ty. Battered wives, rape victims, feminists, and lesbians displayed significantly
more negative attitudes toward men than a control sample did (Iazzo, 1983). Iazzo
also reported a very low relationship between personality factors, as measured by
Cattell's (1978) 16 personality factors and by the subscales of the Attitudes
Toward Men Scale. The results of a recent study suggested that even though near-
ly 20 years have elapsed since the scale's development, the items of the scale can
still be considered relevant to attitudes of present-day men and women and are
psychometrically reliable and valid (Maltby & Day, 2001). Each item was scored
on a 4-point response format, as suggested by Iazzo (1983), ranging from agree
strongly (4), agree mildly (3), disagree mildly (2), to disagree strongly (1). High-
er scores on that scale indicate a more positive attitude toward men.
2. The British version of the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (Parry, 1983).
This scale includes 22 items, and responses are scored on a 5-point response for-
mat ranging from strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), not certain (3), agree (4),
to strongly agree (5). Higher scores on that scale indicate a more favorable atti-
tude toward women.
3. The 12-item General Self-Esteem subscale of the Self-Description Ques-
tionnaire III (SDQIII; Marsh, 1990), modified from the original Rosenberg Self-
Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). Both the manual for the Self-Description Ques-
tionnaire III (Marsh, 1990) and two reports on the reliability and validity of the
scale (Hunter & Stringer, 1993; Maltby, 1995) suggested that we could use the
scale among the present sample with confidence. Higher scores on responses to
that subscale indicate a higher level of self-esteem. In line with the suggestion of
Abrams and Hogg (1988), participants were asked to fill in self-esteem items
regarding how they felt at that moment.
 Maltby&Day 115

For our purpose in the study, equivalent tneasures of attitudes toward men,
attitudes toward women, and self-esteem were needed before and after an exper-
imental intervention. To that end, we split each of the aforementioned question-
naires into two subscales (the division was made on the basis of the odd and even
item numbers assigned to the scale in the manual, or article, in which the scale
was originally published). To counteract any possible order effect resulting from
administration of the scales in a certain order, we alternated the order in which
the subscales were presented for each respondent. During administration, the
experimenters also ensured that equivalent numbers of combinations of each sub-
scale from one construct with each of the two subscales from the remaining two
measures were used across the sample population. For example, the odd-num-
bered Self-Esteem subscale items were used as frequently with both the Attitudes
Toward Men and the Attitudes Toward Women Scales as were the even-numbered
Self-Esteem subscale items.
Following the completion of the three measures, each participant was asked
to participate in the discussion. In all, 3 people took part in the discussion, the
participant and two women who were confederates of the experimenter. All per-
sons in the room were introduced to the discussion and were informed, again, that
the discussion would include a number of the aforementioned contentious areas.
To clarify that point, and to make sure each respondent was fully aware of what
was required of him, we provided the following instructions in writing:

Discuss men's role in each of the following:

Marriage and Parenthood,
Sexuality,
Work, and
Physical and Personality Attributes.

Participants were told that if they wished to leave the discussion at any time, they
could. In addition to those instructions, the two confederates had been told that
during each of the discussion sections, they were each to make a derogatory com-
ment about men within each of the four contexts. The confederates were told to
generalize those comments by saying that the derogatory statement included "all
men."
After the discussion, we asked the respondents to fill in another set of ques-
tionnaires, which included the alternate subscale that had not been previously
used, in order to measure their postdiscussion self-esteem, attitudes toward men,
and attitudes toward women.
During the series of studies, no respondent left the discussion prematurely.
Subsequently, respondents were debriefed as to the nature of the study. Respon-
dents were asked whether they had any questions and whether they wanted to dis-
cuss the study further. In addition, all respondents filled in a form anonymously,
to be returned in their own time. The form included the following six questions;
we scored responses scored by using a yes-no format.
116 The Journal of Social Psychology

1. Did you find taking part in the experiment upsetting to you in any way?
2. Did you find taking part in the experiment a productive experience?
3. Do you feel you have learnt something new as a result of taking part in the
experiment?
4. Do you feel in anyway less confident about yourself as a result of taking
part in the experiment?
5. Do you feel your attitudes have changed regarding men as a result of tak-
ing part in the experiment?
6. Do you feel your attitudes have changed regarding women as a result of
taking part in the experiment?
All forms were returned; no participants reported that they had found the expe-
rience upsetting or that they felt a permanent change in self-esteem or in attitudes
toward men and women. All respondents reported that they had learned something
new or had found that taking part in the study was a productive experience.

Results

Manipulation Checks

To check whether our use of two different measures to measure attitudes

toward men, attitudes toward women, and self-esteem before and after the exper-
imental intervention had an effect on the findings, we computed and compared
the dependent groups' ?-test scores (see Table 1). For questionnaire administra-
tion before the experimental intervention, no significant difference in responses
was found between scales consisting of odd-numbered items and those made up
of even-numbered items. Similarly, for the administration of the different sub-
scales after the experimental intervention, no significant difference was found
between responses to odd-numbered subscale items and responses to even-num-
bered subscale items.
In Table 2, we present Cronbach's alpha coefficients (Cronbach, 1951),
which were computed for all the measures used. The alpha coefficients enabled
us to check whether we could confidently use half the scales as single measures.
For all scales (on both occasions of administration), the internal reliability statis-
tic was above .8, suggesting that single measures demonstrated some internal reli-
ability between the items each time they were used.
Last, we compared scores for self-esteem before and after the experimental
intervention to see if the discussion acted as a threat to the social identity of the
men. An independent-groups t test revealed a significant difference between
scores on the measure of self-esteem for the two administrations, r(105) = 6.32,
/>< .01; scores on self-esteem were significantly higher before (A/ = 21.21, 5D =
8.10) than after (M = 19.10, SD - 8.10) the experimental intervention. That find-
ing suggests that the discussion had a significant effect on participants' self-
esteem.
 Maltby & Day 117

TABLE 1
Dependent Group's Test Statistics: Mean Scores and t Tests

Odd items Even items

Scale M SD M SD /(105)

Preexperimental intervention
Attitude toward men 54.37 8.30 55.57 8.30 -0.75
Attitude toward women 38.80 12.80 39.51 13.40 -0.28
Self-esteem 22.20 7.90 22.21 8.60 -0.01

Postexperimental intervention
Attitude toward men 58.07 10.70 59.25 11.50 -0.54
Attitude toward women 30.96 10.20 30.38 10.90 0.29
Self-esteem 19.17 8.00 18.96 8.50 0.25

Note. Attitudes of 106 male Northern Irish students toward men and women and self-esteem were
compared both before and after the experimental intervention.

TABLE 2
Cronbach's (1951) Alpha Coefficients for Pre- and
Postexperimental Measures

Measure a

Preexperimental intervention
Attitude toward men (odd items) .88
Attitude toward women (odd items) .87
Self-esteem (odd items) .91
Attitude toward men (even items) .84
Attitude toward wometi (even items) .81
Self-esteem (even items) .91

Postexperimental intervention
Attitude toward men (odd items) .89
Attitude toward women (odd items) .82
Self-esteem (odd items) .92
Attitude toward men (even items) .83
Attitude toward women (even items) .85
Self-esteem (even items) .90

Note. Participants were 106 male Northern Irish students.

118 The Journal of Social Psychology

Main Results of the Study

Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were computed between

the measures of attitudes toward men, attitudes toward women, and self-esteem
administered before the study. A significant negative association was found
between attitudes toward men and attitudes toward women (r = -.23, p < .05). A
significant positive association was found between attitudes toward men and self-
esteem (r = .37, p < .01). No significant association was found between attitudes
toward women and self-esteem (r = .18, p > .05). The findings that attitudes
toward men were significantly negatively correlated with attitudes toward women
and significantly positively related to self-esteem are consistent with the report-
ed relationships found in our previous study (Maltby & Day, 2001).
To address the main hypothesesthat for men with high positive attitudes
toward men, self-esteem is integral to the maintenance of these attitudeswe
split participants into two groups through a median split {^Mdn - 47.00) for over-
all scores on the subscale of the Attitudes Toward Women Scale before the exper-
imental intervention. Two groups were then created, those men with high posi-
tive attitudes toward men (n = 49, mean score on the Attitudes Toward Women
Scale = 61.31, SD = 2.22) and another group comprising participants with a lower
positive attitude toward men (n = 58, mean score on Attitudes Toward Women
Scale - 49.60, SD = 1.1). Consequently, analysis was performed for those two
groups separately.
In Table 3 are means scores and dependent ?-test statistics compared for both

TABLE 3
Mean Scores and Dependent t Test Statistics for 106 Northern Irish Participants

Before After
Scale M SD M SD

Low positive attitude {n = 58, df = 57)

Attitude toward men 49.60 7.70 50.48 1.10 -1.22
Attitude toward women 42.76 10.90 30.24 9.10 13.26**
Self-esteem 20.31 8.90 18.26 8.00 5.06**

High positive attitude (n = 49, df = 48)

Attitude toward men 61.31 2.20 68.33 5.30 -10.65**
Attitude toward women 34.88 14.10 31.18 12.00 5.64**
Self-esteem 22.27 7.30 20.02 8.20 3.96**

Noie. Statistics for both subscales on measures of attitudes toward men and women and self-esteem
were compared, by group, before and after the experimental intervention.
**p<.001.
 Maltby & Day 119

subscales for the measures of attitudes toward men, attitudes toward women, and
self-esteem, by group (men with higher attitudes toward men vs. men with lower
attitudes toward men), before and after the experimental intervention. For both
groups, separately, there was a significant decrease in self-esteem, suggesting that
the experimental intervention had a similar effect on each of those groups.
In terms of the first hypothesis (i.e., men for whom self-esteem is important
to maintaining a high positive regard toward men will tend to report favorable
attitudes toward men), the present findings suggested that scores on the attitudes
toward men measure were significantly higher after the experimental interven-
tion for the men with a higher positive attitude toward men.
In terms of the second hypothesis (i.e., men for whom self-esteem is impor-
tant to in maintaining a high positive regard toward men will tend to report less
favorable attitudes toward women), men in both high and low attitude toward
men groups had a significantly lower positive attitude toward women after the
intervention.

STUDY 2

Replication Study

Our aim in Study 2 was to replicate the findings of the first study in anoth-
er sample population.

Method

Participants

The sample consisted of 56 male English university students aged from 23

to 37 years (M - 28.29 years, SD = 4.20 years).

Procedure

The procedure and the questionnaires administered for Study 2 were the
same as the procedure and questionnaires administered in Study 1.
As in Study 1, no respondent left the discussion sessions prematurely. Par-
ticipants were debriefed as to the nature of the study. Respondents were asked
whether they had any questions and whether they wanted to discuss the study fur-
ther. Participants filled in the six-item form, anonymously, to be returned in their
own time. All forms were returned; no participants reported that they had found
the experience upsetting or that they felt a change in self-esteem, attitudes toward
men, or attitudes toward women. All respondents either reported that they had
learned something new or found that taking part in the study was a productive
experience.
120 The Journal of Social Psychology

Results

Manipulation Checks

As in Study 1, a number of manipulation checks were made (see Table 4).

For administration both before and after the experimental intervention, no sig-
nificant difference was found between the subscales in which odd-numbered
items were used and those in which even-numbered items were used. As can be
seen in Table 5, on both occasions of administration, Cronbach's alpha (Cron-
bach, 1951) was above .75 for all scales. Generally, those reported reliability sta-
tistics were lower than those reported in Study 1, but given that internal reliabil-
ity is thought to increase with the size of the sample, that finding still suggests
that a measure demonstrated adequate reliability each time it was used (Kline,
1986),
For the comparison of scores for self-esteem before and after the experi-
mental intervention, which we performed to see if the discussion acted as a threat
to social identity, a dependent-groups / test revealed a significant difference
between scores on the measure of self-esteem for the two administrations, t(55) =
4,32, p < .01; scores on self-esteem were significantly higher before (M = 20.92,
SD - 7.80) than after (M - 18.63, SD - 8.60) the experimental intervention.
Again, that finding suggests that the discussion had a significant effect on par-
ticipants' self-esteem.

TABLE 4
Dependent Group's Test Statistics: Mean Scores and t Tests

Odd items Even items

Scale M SD M SD t(55)

Preexperimental intervention
Attitude toward men 54.54 7.80 56,93 5.80 -1.25
Attitude toward women 34.46 9.80 39,84 13.40 -1.60
Self-esteem 20.76 6.70 21.03 9.10 -0.24

Postexperimental intervention
Attitude toward men 58.42 1 1.50 60.15 10.30 -0.57
Attitude toward women 27.92 8.30 30.32 10,40 -0.91
Self-esteem 17.95 7.60 19.10 4.70 -0.93

Note. Mean scores of the measures of odd and even items of attitudes toward men and women and
self-esteem were compared both before and after the experimental intervention. Fifty-six male Eng-
lish students participated.
 Mallby&Day 121

TABLE 5
Cronbach's (1951) Alpha Coefficients for All Pre- and
Postexperimental Measures for 56 English Students

Measure a

Preexperimental intervention
Attitude toward men (odd items) .81
Attitude toward women (odd items) .77
Self-esteem (odd items) .90
Attitude toward men (even items) .82
Attitude toward women (even Items) .78
Self-esteem (even items) .89

Postexperimental intervention
Attitude toward men (odd items) .85
Attitude toward women (odd items) .79
Self-esteem (odd items) .88
Attitude toward men (even items) .83
Attitude toward women (even Items) .82
Self-esteem (even items) .90

Main Results of the Study

Pearsoti product-moment correlation coefficients were computed between the

measures of attitudes toward men, attitudes toward women, and self-esteem
administered before the experimental intervention. A significant negative associ-
ation was found between attitudes toward men and attitudes toward women (r =
-.37, p < .05). A significant positive association was found between attitudes
toward men and self-esteem (r = .33, p < .01). No significant association was found
between attitudes toward women and self-esteem (r = -.05, p > .05). The findings
that attitudes toward men were significantly negatively related to attitudes toward
women and significantly positively related to self-esteem were consistent with the
findings of Study 1 and those of our previous study (Maltby & Day, 2001).
As in Study 1, participants were split into two groups through a median split
(Mdn - 58.00) for overall scores on the subscale of the Attitudes Toward Women
Scale before the experimental intervention. Two groups were then created that
included those men with high positive attitudes toward men (n = 26, mean score
on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale - 60.73, SD = 3.80) and one group com-
prising participants with a lower positive attitude toward men {n = 25, mean score
on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale - 50.68, SD = 6.30). Consequently an
analysis was performed for those two groups separately.
122 The Journal of Social Psychology

TABLE 6
Mean Scores and Dependent / Test Statistics for 56 English Participants

Before After
Scale M SD M SD

Low positive attitude (n = 25, df = 24}

Attitude toward men 50.68 6.30 50.56 7.70 0.10
Attitude toward women 41.48 11.10 29.32 9.30 8.24**
Self-esteem 19.16 8.60 17.24 8.20 2.38*

High positive attitude (n = 26, df = 25)

Attitude toward men 60.73 3.90 61.11 6.40 -7.16**
Attitude toward women 32.88 11.60 28.88 9.60 4.14**
Self-esteem 22.62 5.00 19.96 8.40 3.77**

Note. Measures of attitudes toward men and women and self-esteem were compared, by group, both
before and after the experimental intervention.
*p<.05. **/7<.OOI.

In Table 6 are comparisons of means scores and dependent-group (i.e., men

with higher attitudes toward men vs. men with lower attitudes toward men) Ntest
statistics for both subscales for the measures of attitudes toward men, attitudes
toward women, and self-esteem, both before and after the experimental inter-
vention. The results were similar to those reported in Study 1. There was a sig-
nificant decrease in self-esteem in both groups, suggesting that the experimental
intervention had a similar effect on both groups.
In terms of the first hypothesis, the present findings suggested that after the
experimental intervention, scores on the attitudes toward men measure were sig-
nificantly higher among men with a more positive attitude toward men than
among men who had a less positive attitude. In terms of the second hypothesis,
men in both the high- and the low-attitudes-toward-men groups had a signifi-
cantly lower positive attitude toward women after the intervention.

Discussion

The present findings provide support for the suggestion that one can apply
social identity theory in order to understand the relationship between self-esteem
and attitudes toward men and women in both Northern Irish and English men.
Concerning the two hypotheses that were tested in the present study (see
introductory comments), the present findings suggested there are two effects of
threats to men's social identity as men. First, men who had high positive attitudes
 Maltby & Day 123

toward men before such threat reported significantly higher positive attitudes
toward men following that threat. Second, for all men, an attack on their social
identity resulted in a significant change in attitudes toward women, namely, less
positive attitudes toward them. Those findings supported both hypotheses. In
addition to those predictions, however, the present findings suggested that all men
(regardless of whether they score high or low in their prethreat attitudes toward
men) will adopt more derogatory attitudes toward women following such a threat.
In turn, the findings suggest two conclusions. First, for men with high posi-
tive attitudes toward men, adopting positive attitudes toward their own gender is
a way of coping with a threat to their social identity. Second, for all men, adopt-
ing more derogatory attitudes toward women is another way of coping with a
threat to their social identity. In the present studies, we did not administer a fur-
ther measure of self-esteem to examine whether adopting those attitudes
enhanced self-esteem. However, that possibility might be considered in further
research on the relationship between self-esteem and attitudes toward men and
women.
The present findings were largely consistent with what would be predicted
by social identity theory. That is, when social identity is threatened, in-group
members will attempt to maintain self-esteem by reporting favorable attitudes
toward other members of the in-group and derogatory attitudes toward the out-
group. That finding was particularly salient among men who reported high posi-
tive attitudes toward men. As such, the present findings provided support for the
speculations in our previous study (Maltby & Day, 2001) by suggesting that there
is a dynamic relationship between men's self-esteem and their attitude toward
men, and extends our previous findings by suggesting that men's attitudes toward
women might be intrinsically related to self-esteem. In addition, the present find-
ings provide a basis for understanding the psychological processes that might
underlie men's positive attitudes toward men and negative attitudes toward
women. Instead, researchers might sometimes view the maintenance of self-
esteem as a feature of men's attitudes toward men and women. Two perspectives
can be drawn from the present studies. First, those men who have positive atti-
tudes toward their own male identity might do so in order to enhance their own
self-esteem and, as such, to view themselves as part of a male in-group. Similar-
ly, all the men in the present study, regardless of their level of attitude toward
men, tended to adopt derogatory attitudes toward women as a strategy for deal-
ing with an attack on their self-esteem. As such, treating women as an out-group
can place the adoption of those attitudes within a context of men who are seek-
ing to protect their own self-esteem.
Future research is needed to refine and replicate the present findings, partic-
ularly in light of the small numbers of men who participated in each of the stud-
ies. Furthermore, researchers should perhaps use the method derived from social
identity theory in sample populations other than male university students and
might use a similar method to explore how women respond when their social
124 The Journal of Social Psychology

identity as women is threatened. Moreover, the present findings presented a very

simplistic view of the relationship between self-esteem and attitudes toward men
and women. However, Iazzo's (1983) measure is multidimensional; it measures
a number of variables concerned with attitudes within men, marriage and par-
enthood, sexuality, work, and physical and personality attributes. In the present
study, we used overall scores on the Attitude Toward Men Scale; a threat to social
identity was used across all the variables of attitudes toward men. However, the
multidimensional scale provides opportunities for investigators to decompose the
relationship between self-esteem and the attitude toward men and women in order
to examine whether changes in attitudes toward men and women, in that context,
are maintained across all the factors of attitudes toward men, or if there are dif-
ferences that depend on which factor is threatened (e.g., men's self-esteem
changes following derogatory comments about their sexuality might differ from
their reaction to derogatory comments regarding their parenting skills).
Notwithstanding those speculations, the present findings suggest that the
application of social identity theory and the methods used in research investigat-
ing that theory are very relevant to understanding the dynamic relationship
between men's self-esteem and their attitudes toward men and women.

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Received October 24, 2000

Accepted October 3, 2001