Influenceability
What about the popular belief that women are more susceptible to influence? Is there a gender difference in suggestibility such that females are more easily influenced, conform more readily, and are more easily persuaded to change their beliefs than are male? When Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) reviewed the literature, they found that whereas there were no gender differences in situations in which there was no face-to-face contact with the persuader, in personal encounters women were a little more likely to conform than were men. Others examined differences in influenceability and find small to moderate gender differences in studies of persuasion and conformity, with women conforming slightly more than men (Becker,1986; Eagly, 1978;Eagly&Carli, 1981;Hyde & Frost, 1993) How can we understand these differences?