Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Conor O'Dea

Second Advisor

Shelby Terwillegar

Abstract

Dominant, possessive “alpha male” characters are common across media and often embody traditional masculine norms, which include emotional stoicism, physical strength, and assertiveness. Portrayals such as these reinforce hegemonic masculinity and masculine honor ideology, which position dominance as essential to men’s social and romantic success, and submission as the expectation for women. Previous research has not explored how both dominant and submissive traits are evaluated across genders, and how endorsement of masculine honor ideology vary these perceptions. We examined how men and women perceive dominant and submissive traits in male and female characters across perceived romantic attraction, social attraction, leadership competency, and their desire to portray the given character. We also investigated how endorsement of masculine honor ideology impacted these perceptions. We found that overall participants were more romantically and socially attracted to submissive traits in both men and women. However, those higher in honor ideology found the dominant male character more attractive across all four outcomes, while their perceptions of the submissive man were unaffected. Higher honor ideology was associated with more positive evaluations of the female characters overall, though submissive women were generally favored. Across the sample, dominant traits were consistently associated with stronger leadership perceptions, regardless of the character’s gender. These findings highlight a discrepancy between preferences for warmth and cooperation and the continued influence of honor-based beliefs which reinforce traditional, patriarchal norms.

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS