A study was conducted to determine how males and females were perceived when using identical dominant behaviors. The subjects, 360 college students, viewed one of six stimulus drawings of groups of four seated people and indicated their attributions of dominant behavior on 22 bipolar perceptual scales. Analyses were conducted to create and compare profiles of perceptions attributed to the dominant-acting person in each condition stimulus. In all, five conclusions were drawn from the data: (1) dominant behavior was perceived as a "masculine" trait, and having leadership designation increased such a perception; (2) leadership designation was crucial to those who sought to be seen as influential in groups; (3) the sex of the dominant-acting person was important, although leadership designation had an overriding influence; (4) leadership designation was important for males and females for different reasons--males needed such designation to be seen as intelligent in comparison with other males and as possessing a variety of leadership attributes, while females needed leadership designation to lessen the possibility of their behavior being seen as other than feminine or as extradominant; and (5) perceptions of males and females in situations with role ambiguity emphasized the need for leadership designation. As role ambiguity increased, perceptions of males and females tended more toward the stereotypic, especially for females. (RL)