User:Alec sunderland/sandbox

Alice Eagly has contributed several notable studies to the body of research on sex differences. For example, her work in the area of mate-preferences showed that men and women who held more traditional gender ideologies preferred more gender stereotypical qualities in a partner. Women with more traditional attitudes looked for older mates while more traditional men sought younger mates compared to males and females who reported less traditional gender ideologies. In an additional study, Eagly found that participant's mate-preferences could be shifted by asking them to see themselves in different marital roles. When instructed to envision oneself in the provider role, participants placed a greater emphasis on a mate's homemaker skills and the preferred age for the mate decreased. She also found, however, that changing one's expected marital role could not completely eliminate gender differences in preference for earning potential; women consistently looked for a greater earning potential in a mate compared to men.

Alice Eagly supports the social role theory which attributes current sex differences to the labor division between men and women. This theory emphasizes the social component of sex differences. It operates around the idea of correspondence inference, which is when one's behaviors are thought to directly reflect their personality. She suggests that men and women were constrained to certain roles in the work force and then assumed to embody the only psychological characteristics of those roles without exception.