Status processes in human-computer interactions: Does gender matter?

This paper examines the conditions that cause status processes to emerge in groups of humans and computers. It presents the results from an experiment where participants worked on a gender-neutral task with a computerized partner described as being a man or woman. These participants evaluated the performance of their partner on a collective task and estimated the cost to purchase this machine. The gender descriptors of these machines did not affect the performance ratings by participants. These participants did estimate that male computers would cost significantly more money than female machines. The findings show how status characteristics shape user perceptions of their computers, which lack the human features that define these characteristics.