Effect of gender dominance expectancies for knowledge on self-touching during conversations

We investigated how expectancies about gender dominance for knowledge influence the frequency of self-touching enacted by conversing members of mixed-sex dyads. The study was a 2 (male vs. female dyad member) × 2 (normatively male vs. female knowledge dominance) design. Two alternative hypotheses about the effects of normative expectancies for gender-knowledge dominance on self-touching were evaluated. Normative expectation of knowledge deficiency could provoke greater performance concerns and self-touching than a normative expectation of knowledge dominance, or a normative expectation of knowledge dominance could provoke greater performance concerns and self-touching than a normative expectation of knowledge deficiency. Results supported the latter alternative.