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Two investigations of ?female modesty? in achievement situations
Sex Roles
Abstract
Two experiments examined motivations underlying the common finding that females present themselves more modestly than males in achievement situations. In Study 1, 388 first-year college students, primarily European-Americans, predicted their first semester grade point averages (GPAs) in one of 3 public and 2 private conditions, which varied the salience of modesty concerns and/or concerns about the others' feelings. In the public conditions combined, but not in the private conditions, women's predictions were lower than men's, although there were no gender differences in actual GPA. The public condition in which the others' feelings and modesty concerns were made salient accounted for this difference between men and women. In Study 2, 230 first-year college students predicted their first-semester GPAs in private, in public to a nonvulnerable other, or in public to a vulnerable other (someone who supposedly had earned a low GPA). Women's estimates were lower than men's in the latter condition only and lower than their estimates in the other conditions. These results suggest that relational motivations, rather than a simple lack of self-confidence or modesty alone, are a factor in gender differences in self-presentation of achievement.
... It has been observed, however, that professional consultants (whose advice is observed by the clients) strategically tend to have higher OC than private decision-makers (Van Zant, 2021). Some authors have thus suggested that gender difference in OC may be particularly strong when predictions are made publicly (e.g., Daubman et al., 1992;Heatherington et al., 1993;Ludwig et al., 2017). Both Daubman et al. (1992) and Heatherington et al. (1993) asked college students to predict their first semester GPAs in public and private conditions. ...
... Some authors have thus suggested that gender difference in OC may be particularly strong when predictions are made publicly (e.g., Daubman et al., 1992;Heatherington et al., 1993;Ludwig et al., 2017). Both Daubman et al. (1992) and Heatherington et al. (1993) asked college students to predict their first semester GPAs in public and private conditions. They reported that, although the actual GPAs of males and females did not differ significantly, under the public forecast condition (compared to the private forecast condition) females tended to predict lower GPAs. ...
... In other words, what individuals truly believe about themselves could differ from what they want to show to others. These concerns are very likely dependent on gender (e.g., Brown et al., 1998;Daubman et al., 1992;Exley & Kessler, 2019;Heatherington et al., 1993). Voluminous research on conformity shows that individuals try to adjust their behavior to meet others' expectations and socially acceptable standards (e.g., Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004), suffering punishment if they fail to do so; in our context, both overly modest males (Moss-Racusin et al., 2010) and overly self-determined females (Rudman & Glick, 2001) are likely to experience such a backlash. ...
In this project, we manipulate the public observability of forecasts and outcomes of a physical task. We explore how these manipulations affect overconfidence (OC). Participants in the experiment are asked to hold a weight after predicting how long they think they could do it for. Comparing the prediction and outcome times (in seconds) yields a measure of OC. We independently vary two dimensions of public observability (of the outcome and of the prediction). Additionally, we manipulate incentives to come up with an accurate prediction. This design allows us to shed light on the mechanism behind male and female OC. Following the existing literature, we formulate several hypotheses regarding the differences in predictions and outcomes for males and females in the presence of the public observability of predictions and outcomes. Our experimental data do not provide support to most of the hypotheses: in particular, there is no evidence of a gender gap in overconfidence. The most robust finding that emerges from our results is that incentives on making correct predictions increase participants’ forecasts on their own performance (by about 24%) and their actual performance as well, but to a lower extent (by about 8%); in addition, incentives to predict correctly in fact increase error for females (by about 33%).
... Dies wurde auf die Wertschätzung der Person innerhalb der eigenen Gruppe zurückgeführt (Köller et al. 2006). Die Befragung des Hochschulinformationssystems bestätigt den Befund, dass intrinsische Motive mit Erfolgserwartungen verknüpft sind und entsprechend die Studiengangswahl beeinflussen (Heine et al. 2005). Die Autoren unterscheiden zwischen intrinsischen, extrinsischen und sozialen Motiven. ...
... Insbesondere intrinsische Motive, die dominant sind, zeigen sich im Wunsch nach Entfaltung, bestimmten Zielen und Erwartungen. 50 % der Männer und Frauen lassen sich im Entscheidungsprozess für ein Studium von motivationalen Aspekten leiten (Heine et al. 2005). ...
... Nach Guggenberger werden diese Entscheidungen nicht bewusst getroffen, sondern von Vorstellungen und Erfolgserwartungen bestimmt. Auch Skorepa und Greimel-Fuhrmann (2009) (Heine et al. 2005;Hachmeister et al. 2007). Eine Zusammenstellung der Operationalisierung findet sich in Tabelle 1 6 . ...
Obwohl ein Anstieg des Frauenanteils in den Informatikstudiengängen zu verzeichnen ist, gilt die IT-Branche nach wie vor als Männerdomäne. Der weibliche Anteil in deutschen IT-Abteilungen beträgt knapp 10 Prozent (Weitzel et al. 2017). Ein Grund für die mangelnde Präsenz der Frauen im IT-Bereich könnte die geringere Erfolgserwartung der Studentinnen im Studium sein. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, ob vorangegangene Schulleistungen sowie intrinsische Motivation für die Studiengangswahl, nämlich Begabung und Interesse für das Fach, die subjektive Einschätzung des Studienerfolgs von Informatikstudierenden beeinflussen. Obwohl Studentinnen sich im Vergleich zu ihren Kommilitonen in ihren durchschnittlichen Mathematikleistungen nicht signifikant unterscheiden und sie im Durchschnitt die bessere Abiturabschlussnote erzielen, unterschätzen sie sich in ihrem persönlichen Studienerfolg signifikant, insbesondere in stark techniklastigen Informatikstudiengängen. Ebenso können Studentinnen von einer hohen intrinsischen Motivation, hinsichtlich ihrer Erfolgseinschätzungen im Studium nicht profitieren. Die durchgeführte Analyse bezieht sich auf das Datenmaterial aus dem ESF-Forschungsprojekt „Alumnae Tracking“.
... Previous studies on female business owners' entrepreneurial competencies have focused on specific aspects, such as financial and interpersonal skills (e.g., Brush, 1992;Mitchelmore & Rowley, 2013). Women often rate themselves lower in financial skills compared to men (Brush, 1992;Heatherington et al., 1993), while social and relational abilities like empathy, social sensitivity, and communication appear more pronounced among women (Birley et al., 1987;Manzanera-Román & Brändle, 2016). Men, by contrast, according to Ferreiro (2013), tend to excel in perceiving business opportunities and developing networks, which are closely associated with entrepreneurial activities. ...
... While this difference was not statistically significant it highlighted gender gaps in entrepreneurship, driven by differences in self-assessment (Koellinger et al., 2011). It also echoes early sociological studies (Goffman, 1959) and contemporary laboratory experiments, which underscore that relative to boys and men, girls and women often underestimate their abilities and undervalue their performances (Heatherington et al., 1993). This consistency adds robustness to the existing body of work by demonstrating the reliability and replicability of certain gender dynamics in entrepreneurship. ...
This study addresses a research gap in understanding the gender dimensions of perceived entrepreneurial competencies among undergraduate and MBA entrepreneurship students. It aims to unravel the underlying abilities shaping these competencies and explore potential gender variations in perceptions, ultimately contributing to the enhancement of entrepreneurship courses. The research uses quantitative and qualitative methods to gather data from students who participated in entrepreneurship courses over four years. A competency survey, rooted in Morris et al.'s framework, captures self-assessments of entrepreneurial competencies. The study complements these quantitative findings with a systematic analysis of students' self-reflections, providing a comprehensive understanding of perceived competencies and potential gender differences. The research identifies specific entrepreneurial competencies-opportunity recognition and conveying a compelling vision-and their underlying abilities perceived as crucial by male and female students. It explores the extent to which gender influences these perceptions. The dual-method approach enriches insights, offering a nuanced understanding of how competencies are perceived and varying influences based on gender. This research uniquely explores the intricate dynamics of perceived entrepreneurial compe-tencies, taking gender variations into account. It contributes to entrepreneurship course design and assessment, fostering students' belief in entrepreneurial abilities and significantly contributing to self-concept development.
... The evidence regarding gender differences in STTUC is consistent with the idea that in general women experience STTUC more than men do (Exline, Zell, & Lobel, 2013;Pheko, 2012;Rodriguez Mosquera et al., 2010; for an exception, see Koch & Metcalfe, 2011). The evidence also suggests that women behave in modestly appeasing ways more than men do when they outperform others (Heatherington et al., 1993;Daubman, Heatherington, & Ahn, 1992). For example, women were more likely than men to report having used strategies such as modesty, concealing their success, and avoiding further competition in a situation when they outperformed someone (Exline, Zell, & Lobel, 2013). ...
... Camouflaging or concealing one's superiority can take various forms. In the presence of someone who is apparently doing poorly, better performing 15 participants have been found to be slower to reveal how well they performed (Brigham, 1996), estimate their performance to be lower (Heatherington et al., 1993), and predict they will perform worse in the future (Daubman et al., 1992;Heatherington et al., 1998). Gifted students, when asked how they would handle a conversation about test scores with poorer performing classmates, often said they would change the subject or misrepresent their own performance as having been worse than it was (Cross, Coleman, & Terhaar-Yonkers, 1991;Coleman, 1985). ...
Outperforming others can be an enjoyable experience, satisfying goals for achievement and competitive success. However, high-performing people may also have other goals, such as to avoid causing those whom they have outperformed to feel discouraged or maliciously envious. This chapter summarizes Exline and Lobel’s conceptual framework about the concerns outperformers sometimes have about being a target of threatening upward comparisons. The authors review the research on individual and group differences in propensity to be concerned when one seems to be posing an upward comparison threat to others. The authors survey strategies that high performers use to try to avoid or minimize negative reactions in those whom they have outperformed. Finally, the chapter explores what the available research suggests regarding the effectiveness and costs of these strategies.
... Frauen unterschätzen sich -dieser Befund, der schon in verschiedenen Studien im schulischen und universitären Bereich sowie auch im beruflichen Setting festgestellt wurde (Beyer, 1990(Beyer, , 1998(Beyer, , 1999Deaux, 1979;Ehrlinger & Dunning, 2003;Hannover & Bettge, 1993;Heatherington et (Abele, in diesem Heft, 2000;Abele et al., 1999;Sieverding, 1990) annehmen würde, dass die Instrumentalität gerade für die Selbsteinschätzung von Frauen eine entscheidende Rolle spielen würde. ...
... Obwohl also innerhalb der Gruppe der Frauen keine psychologische Variable identifiziert werden konnte, die erklären könnte, warum die einen sich als erfolgreicher und die anderen sich als weniger erfolgreich einschätzten, ist der Unterschied zwischen den Geschlechtern auffallend groß. Die Diskrepanzen zwischen den mittleren Selbstbeurteilungen von Männern und Frauen waren in dieser Studie besonders hoch und lagen deutlich über den Diskrepanzen, die beispielsweise aus Studien berichtet wurden, in denen Studierende ihre Studienleistung vorhersagen sollten (Heatherington et al., 1993;Beyer, 1999). ...
Achievement-related self-evaluations were assessed in a simulated job interview situation. Each of the 74 men and women who participated in the laboratory study was asked to complete a written test, a verbal self-presentation of his or her professional qualifications, and a personal interview. The verbal self-presentation and the personal interview were videotaped. Female participants rated themselves as less successful in all phases of the interview situation. Compared to the actual performance in the achievement test and to external assessments of the performance in the personal interview, women showed a significant underevaluation. Males overevaluated themselves compared to the performance in the written test, but not compared to the external assessments of the personal interview. Instrumentality in self-concept was associated with the self-evaluations of success, but this was true only for the male participants.
... The general finding has been that when given a "vulnerable" partner-one who communicated his/her own low GPA-women tended to give lower estimates of their own GPA than when talking to a nonvulnerable other, and than men gave in either condition. When asked to give their estimate privately, women's estimates were significantly higher, and were statistically indistinguishable from men's (Heatherington et al, 1993;Daubman, Heatherington & Ahn, 1992). ...
... The results between genders were highly interesting, in that responses to envy did not seem to differ as they have in past studies. In most cases, women have made more attempts to mitigate or avoid envy than have men (e.g., Heatherington et al, 1993, Daubman, Heatherington & Ahn, 1992. In one case, when not given an objective measure of performance, men's envy-mitigating behavior varied more than women's (Brown, Uebelacker and Heatherington, 1998). ...
This study investigated the range of responses had by outperformers towards outperformed others, as well as the different combinations of techniques used towards those who were hostile, depressive, admiring, or neutral. Subjects (n = 48) were told that they had outperformed a confederate on a measure of social success. Data on envy response techniques were taken from subsequent instant messaging conversations between the subjects and confederate, and data on the subjects' impressions and beliefs were taken from questionnaires. Results showed that a wide array of envy responses was used, with denigrations of the validity of the measure and of the outperformer's own ability being the most common. Differences in response techniques between the conditions were not found. The paucity of other significant differences is largely attributed to the small sample size, and to the fact that those who suspected the deception responded significantly differently from those who did not.
... Even if outperformers feel happy or proud about their achievements, their pleasure may be tainted by sadness, guilt, empathy, or fear of retaliation or rejection. To reduce or avoid such problems, people may conceal or downplay their achievements (e.g., Cross, Coleman, & Terhaar-Yonkers, 1991;Heatherington, Burns, & Gustafson, 1998;Heatherington et al., 1993;Henagan & Bedeian, 2009;Tal-Or, 2008) or perform less than their best (e.g., White, Sanbonmatsu, Croyle, & Smittipatana, 2002). ...
... In both of our laboratory-based studies, we used same-sex pairings to simplify the complex gender dynamics that can arise in situations involving outperformance (e.g., Heatherington et al., 1993Heatherington et al., , 1998see Exline & Lobel, 1999, for a review). Although gender differences were not a main focus here, we did test for them in each of our studies. ...
When people believe that their higher performance poses a threat to another person, they may experience discomfort or concern that has been termed Sensitivity to being the Target of a Threatening Upward Comparison (STTUC). One way to reduce STTUC discomfort might be to avoid contact with the outperformed person, a possibility examined in three studies of undergraduates. In laboratory contexts, STTUC discomfort predicted reluctance to meet an outperformed peer (Study 1) and preference for a different partner in future competitions (Study 2). In Study 3, which focused on naturalistic outperformance situations, STTUC distress again predicted avoidance. Additionally, avoidance of contact predicted less satisfaction with outcomes, especially in relationships where people knew each other well.
... Conversely, a lack of confidence or low confidence can act as a barrier in the journey toward leadership for women. For instance, Lenney (1977), Lenney, Gold & Browning (1983), Daubman, Heatherington, & Ahn (1992), and Heatherington, et al. (1993), document that women have an "internalized lack of confidence" and that women display less confidence, or talk of their achievements more 'modestly' because they are sensitive to harsh judgments arising from immodest self-presentations and that immodesty is deemed 'unfeminine'. In contemporary literature, Halim and Razak (2014) identify a lack of confidence and underdeveloped skills in communicating effectively as hindrances for five Malaysian women entrepreneurs. ...
This study explores the individual and organisational factors that enable or hinder the progression of women organisational leaders in India. Despite global recognition of the benefits of gender diversity in leadership, Indian women continue to face significant challenges in their ascent to leadership positions. Through a narrative analysis of interviews with 15 women leaders and 3 male leaders across various industries, the study identifies key enabling factors such as parental and spousal support, self-belief, and supportive organisational environments. Conversely, hindering factors include gendered biases, discriminatory organisational cultures, and societal expectations that disproportionately burden women with domestic responsibilities. The findings highlight the importance of both individual resilience and supportive structures in facilitating women's leadership journeys. The study concludes with recommendations for policymakers and organizations to foster an environment that supports the growth of women leaders, emphasising the role of family, organisational culture, and societal change in this process.
... RUDMAN contrast, women have been socialized to be communally oriented rather than self-centered (Bakan, 1966;Eagly, 1987). Research on the feminine modesty effect has shown that women are particularly likely to be modest in public versus private situations, ostensibly in reaction to normative pressures (Daubman, Heatherington, & Ann, 1992;Gould & Slone, 1982;Heatherington et al., 1993). Recent efforts to acknowledge gender differences in self-presentational tactics have approached the problem intrapsychically (Kacmar & Carlson, 1994). ...
Three experiments tested and extended recent theory regarding motivational influences on impression formation (S. T. Fiske & S. L. Neuberg, 1990; J. L. Hilton & J. M. Darley, 1991) in the context of an impression management dilemma that women face: Self-promotion may be instrumental for managing a competent impression, yet women who self-promote may suffer social reprisals for violating gender prescriptions to be modest. Experiment 1 investigated the influence of perceivers’ goals on processes that inhibit stereotypical thinking, and reactions to counterstereotypical behavior. Experiments 2–3 extended these findings by including male targets. For female targets, self-promotion led to higher competence ratings but incurred social attraction and hireability costs unless perceivers were outcome-dependent males. For male targets, self-effacement decreased competence and hireability ratings, though its effects on social attraction were inconsistent.
... These findings are consistent with previous research on gender differences in social comparison (Kemmelmeier & Oyserman, 2001;Pan & Peña, 2020). Men have more independent self-construals than women, leading to an increased tendency for self-enhancement when evaluating performance and accomplishments (Beyer, 1990;Heatherington et al., 1993). Provided that downward comparison is a commonly used self-enhancement strategy for men (Kemmelmeier & Oyserman, 2001), it is not surprising that fitness apps motivate them to compare with those with lower physical activity levels and ultimately enhance their body satisfaction. ...
Body dissatisfaction is prevalent worldwide, fueling the highly lucrative diet and plastic surgery industry, with many adverse outcomes. Yet, limited attention has been dedicated to noninvasive interventions that effectively enhance body satisfaction. We argue that, by altering the target of the social comparison process, people can shift their focus from body appearance to physical activity level. The present study investigated whether social comparison in terms of physical activity level provided by fitness apps could affect users’ body satisfaction. A survey was conducted with 643 users of WeRun, the Chinese leading mobile fitness app. Subsequent analyses revealed that both upward and downward social comparison mediated the positive relationship between fitness app use and body satisfaction. Moreover, the users’ social network size and gender played a moderating role in the social comparison processes. Fitness app use was positively related to downward comparison for male users; social network size moderated the relationship between fitness app use and upward comparison for female users. The utility of fitness apps in mitigating body dissatisfaction is also discussed.
... Some self-lowering strategies seem designed to convince others that the outperformer is not actually superior. For example, high performers can hide their achievement from the eyes of those who are less successful (Arroyo & Zigler, 1995;Brigham, Kelso, Jackson, & Smith, 1997;Cross et al., 1991;Daubman, Heatherington, & Ahn, 1992;Exline et al., 2004;Heatherington, Daubman, Bates, Ahn, Brown, & Preston, 1993;Tal-Or, 2008); avoid that topic in conversation, change topic, or leave when the topic is discussed (Exline & Lobel, 2001;Exline et al., 2013;Henagan & Bedeian, 2009;Parrott & Rodriguez Mosquera, 2008); play dumb (Gove, Hughes, & Geerken, 1980); attribute their success to luck rather than taking credit for it (Berg, Stephan, & Dodson, 1981); or try to balance superior performance with critical and negative statements about themselves (Coleman & Cross, 1988;Cross et al., 1991;Zell & Exline, 2010, 2014. Another strategy consists in performing worse than one is able, which is an idea emphasized in literature on the fear of success (e.g., Horner, 1969Horner, , 1972Tresemer, 1977) and in recent social psychology studies (see, for example, White et al., 2002). ...
The aim of this paper is to give the reader an overview of several theoretical, empirical, and clinical features of survivor guilt, and to integrate recent contributions of psychodynamic theory and, in particular, of control-mastery theory into the understanding of the concept alongside the latest findings in social psychology about it. After introducing the concept of survivor guilt and its origins in clinical observations on the consequences of having survived severe traumas (e.g., internment in concentration camps), we will discuss the findings in social psychology on the concept of survivor guilt in everyday social interactions, which is based on a conception that does not connect it strictly to severe traumas. We will then focus our attention on clinical observations and empirical research studies about survivor guilt, discussing the hypotheses developed by several control-mastery theorists about its role in psychopathology. Finally, we will illustrate some manifestations of survivor guilt with a brief clinical vignette.
... In such contexts, individuals may be encouraged to display stereotypically masculine behaviors and attitudes, such as aggressiveness, independence, ambition, and competitiveness (Prentice & Carranza, 2002;Spence et al., 1979), that may be enacted in routine "mine's bigger than yours" contests . MCCs are experienced negatively by men as well as women Reid et al., 2018), but they might be particularly difficult to navigate for women, who are traditionally socialized to be modest about their achievements and to avoid being dominant or competitive (Heatherington et al., 1993;Williams & Tiedens, 2016). ...
Women are underrepresented in fields where success is believed to require brilliance, but the reasons for this pattern are poorly understood. We investigate perceptions of a “masculinity contest culture,” an organizational environment of ruthless competition, as a key mechanism whereby a perceived emphasis on brilliance discourages female participation. Across three pre-registered correlational and experimental studies involving lay participants online (N = 870) and academics from 30+ disciplines (N = 1,347), we find a positive association between the perception that a field or organization values brilliance and the perception that this field or organization is characterized by a masculinity contest culture. This association was particularly strong among women. In turn, perceiving a masculinity contest culture predicted lower interest and sense of belonging, and stronger impostor feelings. Experimentally reducing the perception of a masculinity contest culture eliminated gender gaps in interest and belonging in a brilliance-oriented organization, suggesting possible avenues for intervention.
... 4 Even the expressions of attitudes and beliefs that depart from gender-role expectations may come with a social image cost. Consistent with a penalty for gender incongruent behavior, Heatherington et al. (1993), and Ludwig et al. (2016) find that women are more modest than men when having to state their own abilities in public, but not in private. Research also demonstrates that a large gap in social confidence emerges during adolescence. ...
A recent literature emphasizes that gender differences in the labor market may in part be driven by a gender gap in willingness to compete. However, whereas experiments in this literature typically investigate willingness to compete in private environments, real world competitions often have a more public nature, which introduces potential social image concerns. If such image concerns are important, and men and women differ in the degree to which they want to be seen as competitive, making tournament entry decisions publicly observable may further exacerbate the gender gap. We test this prediction using a laboratory experiment (N=784) that varies the degree to which the decision to compete, and its outcome, is publicly observable. We find that public observability does not alter the magnitude of the gender gap in willingness to compete in an economically or statistically significant way.
... For example, women partly derive their self-esteem from their ability to maintain relationships with others, while men tend to derive their selfesteem from the ability to maintain independence from others (Josephs, Markus, & Tafarodi, 1992). As compared with men, women are less likely to boast about their own abilities and achievement (Heatherington et al., 1993). Such "feminine modesty" effect (Cialdini & De Nicholas, 1989) can be understood from the perspective of self-construal . ...
... Gender stereotypes with deep cultural roots can be expected to have a major influence on how men and women perceive themselves and rate their own skills. We therefore assume that the confidence exhibited by the graduates in our study with regard to their professional skills in computer sciences differs systematically (Berdousis & Kordaki, 2015;Hannover 2007;Hannover & Bettge, 1993;Heatherington et al., 1993;Kessels, 2014;Skorepa & Fuhrmann, 2009;Zimmer, Burba & Rost, 2004). In contrast to male graduates, we expect female graduates to display significantly lower belief in their professional self-efficacy. ...
This article aims to investigate gender differences among German computer sciences graduates. Utilizing data from the unique Bamberg Alumnae Tracking Study, we analyze whether or not male and female graduates differ in their level of academic achievement in computer sciences. We also examine the graduates' self-perceptions of their professional skills as well as their individual career ambitions and career opportunities. The results of our empirical study show that the academic achievements of female graduates within our sample group are as good as those of male graduates. However, female graduates exhibit lower self-belief in their professional skills, partly because lower-achieving male graduates still display very high professional self-efficacy beliefs, irrespective of their previous academic achievements at university. Additionally, we find differences in men's and women's career ambitions and career opportunities in computer sciences. The career ambitions and career opportunities of male graduates depend less on their academic achievements at university, whereas female graduates have to be very ambitious to be able to hold a leadership position in the same field. Overall, we interpret these findings as indicative of the presence of gender stereotypes within computer sciences.
... Unlike men, women are less likely to self-promote their work, which could possibly correlate with the likelihood of creating personal Google Scholar profiles (Miller et al., 1992). As self-promotion is generally seen as more accepted from male figures, numerous research on the modesty effect has demonstrated that women are more likely to be modest in public versus private circumstances, ostensibly due to societal pressures and expectations (Daubman et al., 1992;Gould and Slone, 1982;Heatherington et al., 1993). Moreover, according to Rudman (1998), "Traditionally, men have been socialized to speak well of themselves in order to compete intrasexually for both economic resources and romantic attention from women" (p. ...
Many countries around the globe have seen increases in the enrollment of female and visible minorities in postsecondary education. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate whether recent demographic changes at the postsecondary institution have translated to employment opportunities in scientific fields for women and previously underrepresented groups. Instead of relying on algorithm indices, surveys, or anonymous census data, this study is the first research to utilize an innovative approach to report the demographic representation of top-ranking scientists from around the world. The recently developed Google Scholar profile platform, university ranking system, and the search engine are the main methods that allowed this study to identify and categorize the top scientists from countries in which English is one of the official languages, or where English is used as the language of instruction in higher education. Overall, findings reveal that at top-ranking universities in which the majority of the population is Caucasian, women and minorities are severely underrepresented in all areas of science, capturing 7.3% and 6.4% of the total citations, respectively. Each country’s highest concentration of scientists in each field, based on citation and percentage of researchers, is highlighted. There are recommendations offered to help make scientific advancement more favorable to underrepresented groups, and also to encourage institutions of higher education to adapt and build new capacities.
... Selfpromotion generally enhances the extent to which a person is perceived as competent (Jones & Pittman, 1982) and increases a person's attractiveness as a job candidate (Stevens & Kristof, 1995). Yet, in public but not private self-presentations, women are particularly modest about their successes (Daubman, Heatherington, & Ahn, 1992;Heatherington et al., 1993). This modesty is understandable, given that self-promotion, which produces positive outcomes for men, is relatively unsuccessful for women (Giacolone & Riordan, 1990;Wosinska, Dabul, Whetstone-Dion, & Cialdini, 1996). ...
A role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders proposes that perceived incongruity between the female gender role and leadership roles leads to 2 forms of prejudice: (a) perceiving women less favorably than men as potential occupants of leadership roles and (b) evaluating behavior that fulfills the prescriptions of a leader role less favorably when it is enacted by a woman. One consequence is that attitudes are less positive toward female than male leaders and potential leaders. Other consequences are that it is more difficult for women to become leaders and to achieve success in leadership roles. Evidence from varied research paradigms substantiates that these consequences occur, especially in situations that heighten perceptions of incongruity between the female gender role and leadership roles.
... Several studies show that expressing anger tends to increase the perceived status of a man but decrease that of a woman (Judge, Livingston, & Hurst, 2012;Brescoll & Uhlmann, 2008;Brescoll & Uhlmann, 2005;Rudman & Fairchild, 2004). Self-promotion, too, may be accepted in men but seen as inappropriate in women (Phelan, Moss-Racusin, & Rudman, 2008;Rudman, 1998;Rudman & Glick, 1999Heatherington et al.., 1993;Daubman, Heatherington, & Ahn, 1992;Gould & Slone, 1982). ...
... Earlier research has shown that gender stereotypes may limit women's self-evaluation, for instance, their confidence in succeeding at male-typed tasks and occupations (e.g., [36,37]). This may damage their performance or their career aspirations (e.g., [38,39]). ...
Leadership positions are still stereotyped as masculine, especially in male-dominated fields (e.g., engineering). So how do gender stereotypes affect the evaluation of leaders and team cohesiveness in the process of team development? In our study participants worked in 45 small teams (4–5 members). Each team was headed by either a female or male leader, so that 45 leaders (33% women) supervised 258 team members (39% women). Over a period of nine months, the teams developed specific engineering projects as part of their professional undergraduate training. We examined leaders’ self-evaluation, their evaluation by team members, and team cohesiveness at two points of time (month three and month nine, the final month of the collaboration). While we did not find any gender differences in leaders’ self-evaluation at the beginning, female leaders evaluated themselves more favorably than men at the end of the projects. Moreover, female leaders were evaluated more favorably than male leaders at the beginning of the project, but the evaluation by team members did not differ at the end of the projects. Finally, we found a tendency for female leaders to build more cohesive teams than male leaders.
... One option is to avoid talking about one's strengths or successes, thus keeping the status difference disguised (Cross, Coleman, & Terhaar-Yonkers, 1991). Another common response is to divert attention from the status difference by modestly downplaying one's success or making self-deprecating comments (Heatherington et al., 1993). Even though modesty is usually a more likable strategy than bragging (Godfrey, Jones, & Lord, 1986), selfdeprecating strategies can be costly, and people who self-deprecate may start to believe the negative things that they say about themselves (Tice, 1991). ...
... Apart from general inaccuracies in self-evaluation, research has clearly shown that one of the key factors that affect the accuracy of individuals' self-perceptions is gender. Early sociological studies (Goffman, 1959, cited in Brown et al., 1998 as well as more recent laboratory experiments have shown that girls and women, relative to boys and men, tend to underestimate their abilities and under evaluate their performances (Heatherington et al., 1993). For instance significant gender differences have been found in the accuracy with which the sexes estimate their IQs (Reilly and Mulhern, 1995) or evaluate their performance on tests of sports trivia and knowledge of politics (Beyer, 1990;Beyer and Bowden, 1997). ...
... Socialization and gender stereotyping has made it more acceptable for men to self-promote and self-advocate whereas women are penalized for it (Buss, 1990;Rudman, 1998). External demands for female modesty in achievement situations, such as the academic community, and the penalization of counter-stereotypical gender behavior negatively affect women's opportunities to progress (Heatherington, Daubman, Bates, Ahn, Brown, & Preston, 1993). ...
We study cross‐cultural differences in self‐promotion by comparing the self‐citation behaviour of scholarly authors originating from individualist and collectivist cultures, using original data on 1,346 journal articles published between 2009 and 2014 in the fields of Management and Business. Our main finding is that articles by authors from individualist cultures are about twice as likely to contain many self‐citations. Our results confirm the presence of a gender gap in self‐citations, but we show that this effect is smaller than the cultural effect and that the effect appears to be stable across cultures. These findings show that the structure of rewards and costs associated with particular self‐promotion tactics differ from culture to culture. Implications of cultural variations in self‐promotion are discussed.
Practitioner points
We develop theory and provide empirical evidence about cultural and gender differences in self‐promoting behaviour.
As the workforce diversifies, a broader awareness of these differences might affect the actions of both employees and HR departments.
... (2006), yaptıkları çalışmada alçak gönüllülük puanlarını hem erkekler için hem de kadınlar için benzer bulmuştur [12]. Ayrıca cinsiyet değişkenini ele alan araştırmalara bakıldığında kadınlar, erkeklere göre daha gösterişsiz davranmaktadır [13,14]. ...
... Perhaps women self-promote successfully but modestly underestimate how well they do so (Heatherington et al., 1993). To rule out this possibility, Moss-Racusin and Rudman (2010, Study 2) asked female participants to write an essay either promoting themselves for graduate work or (to remove fear of backlash) promoting a peer. ...
Backlash refers to social and economic penalties for counterstereotypical behavior (Rudman, 1998). By penalizing vanguards (atypical role models), backlash reinforces cultural stereotypes as normative rules. We present the Backlash and Stereotype Maintenance Model (BSMM), supported by studies of gender and racial vanguards (Phelan and Rudman, 2010a, Phelan and Rudman, 2010b and Rudman and Fairchild, 2004). The BSSM illuminates when and why backlash occurs, as well as its effects on potential targets. We provide evidence for the Status Incongruity Hypothesis, which posits that targets who violate status expectations are especially likely to suffer backlash because system-justification motives play a key role in backlash (Moss-Racusin et al., 2010 and Rudman et al., 2012). The Backlash Avoidance Model describes how fear of backlash not only limits people's aspirations but also undermines their performance in atypical domains (Moss-Racusin, 2011 and Moss-Racusin and Rudman, 2010). Finally, we discuss how advances in backlash theory might guide future research.
... One girl, who was at Level 6, insisted that she was at Level 2. Another girl, described by peers in a group interview as excelling, admitted after considerable prompting that she was "quite" good. These observations accord with experimental research showing that concerns about femininity and relationships led women (but not men) to self-denigrate more in public than in private, and more in interaction with a less than a more successful other (Heatherington et al., 1993). Even at this quite young age, girls in Renold's study expressed concerns that peers might like them less if they were in the top rather than in middle ability groups. ...
Girls and women now outperform boys and men on many indices of academic achievement. Gender differences in motivation may underlie these trends. In this chapter, I review and integrate research on gender differences in self-evaluation, self-regulation, and achievement goals. I argue for the existence of gendered tendencies "to prove" versus "to try and to improve," whereby males tend to orient to demonstrating and defending their abilities, and females to working hard and addressing deficiencies. I discuss how these motivations develop within social and educational contexts of learning, and intersect with gendered patterns of socialization, values, and behaviors in other arenas, especially relational ones. Recurring themes include the costs and benefits of differential emphases on competition and self-promotion versus affiliation and consideration of others in the family, peer group, and classroom. I conclude with some recommendations for creating classroom environments that might promote optimal motivation among all students, regardless of gender.
The authors first describe individual differences in the structure of the self. In the independent self-construal, representations of others are separate from the self. In the interdependent self-construal, others are considered part of the self (H. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991). In general, men in the United States are thought to construct and maintain an independent self-construal, whereas women are thought to construct and maintain an interdependent self-construal. The authors review the psychological literature to demonstrate that many gender differences in cognition, motivation, emotion, and social behavior may be explained in terms of men’s and women’s different self-construals. Recognition of the interdependent self-construal as a possible alternative conception of the self may stimulate new investigations into the ways the self influences a person’s thinking, feeling, and behaving.
The extent to which we see ourselves as similar or different from others in our lives plays a key role in getting along and participating in social life. This volume identifies research relevant to such communal functions of social comparisons and summarizes and organizes this research within a single, coherent conceptual framework. The volume provides an important addition to current thinking about social comparison, which has often neglected communal and affiliative functions. Whereas human desire to compare with others has traditionally been viewed as motivated by self-centered needs such as self-evaluation, self-enhancement, and self-improvement, this book presents an eclectic cross-section of research that illuminates connective, cooperative, and participatory functions of social comparisons. In this vein, the book aims both to expose research on currently neglected functions of social comparisons and to motivate a broader theoretical integration of social comparison processes.
The extent to which we see ourselves as similar or different from others in our lives plays a key role in getting along and participating in social life. This volume identifies research relevant to such communal functions of social comparisons and summarizes and organizes this research within a single, coherent conceptual framework. The volume provides an important addition to current thinking about social comparison, which has often neglected communal and affiliative functions. Whereas human desire to compare with others has traditionally been viewed as motivated by self-centered needs such as self-evaluation, self-enhancement, and self-improvement, this book presents an eclectic cross-section of research that illuminates connective, cooperative, and participatory functions of social comparisons. In this vein, the book aims both to expose research on currently neglected functions of social comparisons and to motivate a broader theoretical integration of social comparison processes.
The extent to which we see ourselves as similar or different from others in our lives plays a key role in getting along and participating in social life. This volume identifies research relevant to such communal functions of social comparisons and summarizes and organizes this research within a single, coherent conceptual framework. The volume provides an important addition to current thinking about social comparison, which has often neglected communal and affiliative functions. Whereas human desire to compare with others has traditionally been viewed as motivated by self-centered needs such as self-evaluation, self-enhancement, and self-improvement, this book presents an eclectic cross-section of research that illuminates connective, cooperative, and participatory functions of social comparisons. In this vein, the book aims both to expose research on currently neglected functions of social comparisons and to motivate a broader theoretical integration of social comparison processes.
This volume traces the life journeys of a cohort of influential and transformative women in psychology, now in or nearing retirement, who have changed the discipline and the broader world of academia in significant ways. The 26 reflective essays record how these scholars thrived in an academic landscape that was often, at best, unwelcoming, and, at worst, hostile, toward them. They explicitly and implicitly acknowledge that their paths were inextricably linked with the evolution of women's roles in society; they highlight and celebrate their achievements as much as they acknowledge and recognize the obstacles, barriers, and hurdles they overcame. They tell their stories with candor and humor, resulting in a compilation of inspiring essays. The end result of these individual narratives is a volume that provides a unique resource for current and future academics to help them navigate through the crossroads, curves, and challenges of their own careers in academia.
Purpose
Organizations worldwide use virtual teams to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and capitalize on distributed members' unique expertise to accomplish essential tasks. A critical reason that inhibits virtual team members from leveraging each other’s knowledge is a lack of psychological safety. Specifically, individuals are unwilling to speak out for fear of negative repercussions, such as embarrassment to one’s image and rejection from others in their teams. The purpose of this study is to advance the importance of distinct awareness (task knowledge and presence) enabled by information technologies in developing the psychological safety of men and women in virtual teams.
Design/methodology/approach
This study tested the hypotheses using a survey study of 94 participants from 19 graduate student virtual teams.
Findings
This study found that task knowledge awareness predicted psychological safety for men, whereas it was presence awareness for women. By demonstrating the role of awareness in promoting psychological safety for men and women in virtual teams, this study also sheds light on reducing online gender inequitable issues.
Practical implications
First, organizational managers need to incorporate gender when deciding the awareness type to promote psychological safety in virtual teams. For men, it is task knowledge awareness, whereas for women, it is presence awareness. Second, as there is a wide range of information technologies (ITs) available, managers need to identify if the provided ITs enable virtual team members to develop the specific type of knowledge awareness critical for psychological safety development. Third, managers can incorporate rewards and apply interventions at regular temporal periods to encourage team members to increase their online presence as well as question and share task-related content.
Originality/value
It is imperative to identify ways to encourage men and women working in virtual teams to speak up so that the expertise held by the members can be better leveraged. This study represents an important step in this direction.
This study utilizes the crowdfunding setting, and examines gender differences with regard to the perceived meaning of donations. The crowdfunding mechanism creates a singular reciprocal interaction where motivations can be examined and compared. We show that women's perceived meaning is more sensitive to the existence of gift rewards than that of men. When the gift incentive is nonexistent, women attribute a greater sense of meaning to their contribution, whereas this effect is largely absent or even reversed in men. Our findings have far-reaching implications in all aspects of donor retention strategies. Specifically, our findings indicate that women are more aligned with the Kantian doctrine of rejecting self-interest considerations of altruistic behavior than men.
zet Anahtar Kelimeler Hayat boyu öğrenmenin anahtarı olan özerk öğrenme yetisinin kazanılmasında öz düzenlemeli öğrenme stratejilerinin bilinmesi ve kullanılması önemli rol oynar. Bu çalışma üniversite öğrencilerinin kullandıkları öz düzenlemeli öğrenme stratejilerinin cinsiyet, Lisans Yerleştirme Puan türü ve İngilizceyi zorunlu veya isteğe bağlı olarak öğrenme durumlarına göre farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığını araştırmak amacıyla yapılmıştır. Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesinde öğrenim gören 154 kız, 161 erkek toplam 315 öğrencinin katılımcı olarak yer aldığı bu çalışma 2016-2017 Eğitim-Öğretim Yılında gerçekleştirilmiştir. Betimsel tarama modeli kullanılan çalışmada veriler Öz Düzenlemeli Öğrenim Stratejileri Ölçeği ile toplanmış ve elde edilen verilerin istatistiksel çözümlenmesinde bağımsız örneklem t testi ve tek yönlü varyans analizi kullanılmıştır. Araştırma bulgularına göre, katılımcıların kullandıkları öz düzenlemeli öğrenme stratejilerinin cinsiyet, Lisans Yerleştirme Puan Türü ve İngilizceyi zorunlu veya isteğe bağlı olarak öğrenme durumlarına göre bazı alt boyutlarda farklılaştığı, toplam puan açısından incelendiğinde ise kız öğrencilerin bu stratejileri erkek öğrencilerden daha fazla kullandıkları tespit edilmiştir. Öz düzenlemeli öğrenme stratejilerinin yabancı dil eğitim programlarında yer alması ve konunun çeşitli açılardan farklı yöntemlerle araştırılması önerilmiştir. Öz düzenlemeli öğrenme stratejileri Yabancı dil Üniversite öğrencileri Abstract Keywords In gaining autonomous learning skill, a key to lifelong learning, it is very important to know and use self-regulated learning strategies. This study was carried out to investigate whether the self-regulated learning strategies used by university students vary according to gender, the type of Undergraduate Placement Exam Scores and the requirement of the course-being compulsory or optional. A total of 315 students, 154 female and 161 male, in various departments at Necmettin Erbakan University, participated in this study in the Academic Year, 2016-2017. The data were collected through the Self-Regulated Learning Strategies Self-regulated learning strategies Foreign language University students 1 Yrd. Doç. Dr, Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi,
In the United States, self-promotion during a job interview is not just common, it is expected (Paulhus, Westlake, Calvez, & Harms, 2013). Job applicants are encouraged to inform potential employers about the qualifications, strengths, and professional accomplishments that make them the best fit for the job, which requires applicants to engage in self-promotion during the job interview. Literature has begun to suggest that sociocultural factors such as gender or culture may influence an individual’s propensity to engage in modesty as opposed to self-promotion in career-related contexts like the job interview. However, few studies have explored how these sociocultural factors interact to influence career-related self-presentation. The present qualitative study explored the experiences of a sample of undergraduate Latina college students during job interview self-presentation. The findings suggest that participants demonstrate a propensity to engage in modest self-presentation during job interviews and that sociocultural factors (culture, gender, family) and specific experiences (career development and learning experiences, experiences of discrimination, experiences of positive and negative affect) may influence their self-presentation tendencies and experiences. It is the researcher’s hope that the findings of this study will highlight the need for further research exploring how race, ethnicity, and culture intersect with other sociocultural factors to impact career-related self-presentation. Advisor: Neeta Kantamneni
Three studies examine the relationship between women’s expression of interest in computer science and identity expression threat, the concern about conveying an identity inconsistent with one's gender role. Undergraduates perceive academic majors to signal who they are to peers (Study 1). Women imagining majoring in computer science report greater identity expression threat from their peers outside computer science than from those inside the field (Study 2). Women report greater identity expression threat in computer science (but not biology or English) than do men. Identity expression threat mediates gender differences in reported likelihood of downplaying interest in computer science (Study 3). Women considering computer science perceive they will be doubly isolated, both from those within and outside the field.
İnsani bir değer olan alçakgönüllülük öğretmenlik mesleği için de önemli bir kişilik özelliğidir. Bu araştırma da coğrafya öğretmen adaylarının alçakgönüllülük düzeylerini etkilediği düşünülen bazı değişkenlerin belirlenmesi amacıyla yapılmıştır. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu 2017-2018 eğitim öğretim bahar döneminde Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi coğrafya bölümünde öğrenim gören 153 kadın, 206 erkek olmak üzere toplam 359 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmanın verileri Elliott (2010) tarafından geliştirilen, geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması Akın ve diğ. (2012) tarafından yapılan “Alçakgönüllülük Ölçeği” ile araştırmacı tarafından hazırlanan kişisel bilgi formu kullanılarak toplanmıştır.Verilerin analizinde uygun test yöntemlerini belirlemek amacı ile verilerin normal dağılıp dağılmadığına bakılmıştır. Normal dağılım gösteren veriler için parametrik testler, normal dağılım göstermeyen veriler için non-parametrik testler kullanılmıştır. Bağımsız değişkenlerin ikili karşılaştırmaları t-test veya Mann Whitney U testi, çoklu karşılaştırmalar tek yönlü varyans analizi (ANOVA) veya Kruscall Wallis testleri ile analiz edilmiştir. İstatistiksel anlamlılık derecesi p<0.05 olarak değerlendirilmiştir. Araştırma grubundan elde edilen verilere göre bağımsız değişkenlere bağlı olarak alçakgönüllülük alt boyutlarında puan ortalamaları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı farklılıklar olduğu belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca çalışmada gelecekte yapılabilecek benzer çalışmalar için bazı öneriler sunulmuştur.
Studies have shown that women’s professional networks are often less powerful and effective than men’s in terms of exchanged benefits, yet the motivations that underlie the networking behaviours remain less well understood. Based on an interview study of 37 high-profile female leaders working in large German corporations, we found that not only the extrinsic barrier of structural exclusion from powerful networks, but also the intrinsic barrier of women’s hesitations to instrumentalize social ties are key to answering our research question: Why do women build less effective networks than men? Our analysis points to the existence of structural exclusion resulting from work-family conflict and homophily. With regard to personal hesitation, we identified two elements that were associated with under-benefiting from networking: moral considerations in social interactions and gendered modesty. Our study makes two important contributions. First, by highlighting personal hesitation as an intrinsic barrier, it extends the understanding of women’s motivations for networking based on social exchange theory (SET). Second, based on structural barriers and personal hesitation, it develops a grounded theory model of networking that offers a holistic understanding of reasons that, from the perspective of the focal women, contribute to gender inequality in the workplace.
Research on the consequences of diversity in teams continues to produce inconsistent results. We review the recent developments in diversity research and identify two shortcomings. First, an understanding of the microdynamics affecting processes and outcomes in diverse teams is lacking. Second, diversity research has tended to treat different social categories as equivalent and thus not considered how members’ experiences may be affected by their social category membership. We address these shortcomings by reviewing research on stereotypes, which indicates that stereotypes initiate reinforcing microdynamics among (a) attributions of a target team member’s warmth and competence, (b) perceiving members’ behavior towards the target team member, and (c) the target team member’s behavior. Our review suggests that perceivers’ impression formation motivation is the key determinant of the extent to which perceivers continue to treat a target based on categorization. Based on our review, we provide an integrative perspective and corresponding model that outlines these microdynamics of diversity and stereotyping in teams and indicates how stereotyping can benefit as well as harm team functioning. We discuss how this integrative perspective on the microdynamics of diversity and stereotyping in teams relates to the social categorization and the information/decision-making perspective, set a research agenda, and discuss the managerial implications.
This article examines whether the existence of a secondary higher education admission system honouring more qualitative and extra-curricular merits has reduced the social class gap in access to highly sought-after university programmes in Denmark. I use administrative data to examine differences in the social gradient in the primary admission system, admitting students on the basis of their high school grade point average, and in the secondary admission system, admitting university students based on more qualitative assessments. I find that the secondary higher education admission system does not favour first-generation students; further, the system serves as an access route for low-achieving children from the privileged professional classes. Drawing mainly on theories in the social closure tradition, I argue that children with highly educated parents will be favoured when qualitative merits are honoured, and that professional-class families will be especially vigilant in pursuing educational pathways that will secure the reproduction of their class.
This chapter presents a conceptual framework suggesting antidotes to envy. In addition to outlining why envy is a problem to be coped with in the first place, it considers how envy might be reshaped into constructive achievement strivings and pro-social behaviors. For example, envy has a signal value that may produce useful information for the envying person, despite the unpleasant consequences that it also creates. The chapter draws on recent theory and research on the self as well as research from positive psychology, close relationships, and the psychology of religion and spirituality, to suggest ways that envy can ultimately result in positive rather than painful outcomes for the envying person.
The extent to which we see ourselves as similar or different from others in our lives plays a key role in getting along and participating in social life. This volume identifies research relevant to such communal functions of social comparisons and summarizes and organizes this research within a single, coherent conceptual framework. The volume provides an important addition to current thinking about social comparison, which has often neglected communal and affiliative functions. Whereas human desire to compare with others has traditionally been viewed as motivated by self-centered needs such as self-evaluation, self-enhancement, and self-improvement, this book presents an eclectic cross-section of research that illuminates connective, cooperative, and participatory functions of social comparisons. In this vein, the book aims both to expose research on currently neglected functions of social comparisons and to motivate a broader theoretical integration of social comparison processes.
The social constructionist perspective has become a useful framework for understanding women's psychological experiences. However, tools for examining how women construct meanings of their experiences as female in relevant social situations remain limited. Over two studies, our article describes the development and psychometric properties of the Subjective Femininity Stress Scale (SFSS), which assesses women's stress associated with their subjective experiences of being female. Participants (N - 468) described their personal experiences of what it means to be a woman by completing the sentence ``As a woman...'' 10 times; participants then rated how often each of the femininity experiences was stressful for them. Participants' qualitative responses were coded based on 20 dimensions of femininity experiences, and their relationships with SFSS scores were examined. Study 1 provided evidence for test-retest reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity of the SFSS. Study 2 demonstrated concurrent and incremental validity of the SFSS. Several dimensions of femininity experiences were significantly correlated with women's stress appraisal. The open-ended nature of the SFSS is easy to administer in clinical and organizational settings. The dual qualitative/quantitative aspects of the SFSS enable clients to create personally relevant meanings for their femininity experiences while also providing a stress index for exploring links with health outcomes.
Maladaptive cognitive responses to stressful life events represent well-replicated risk factors for depression. Research indicates that stressful life events that are dependent on the individual to occur or are interpersonal may generate more maladaptive cognitive responses than those that are independent and/or non-interpersonal. The current study examined the roles of sex and life event domains in eliciting depressogenic cognitive responses. Participants were 212 (71% female) undergraduate students who completed seven weekly questionnaires on participant-identified most negative and most positive life events over the previous 7 days. Additionally, participants reported levels of brooding and cognitive style in response to the most negative event and levels of positive rumination and dampening in response to the most positive event. Data were analyzed using mixed ANOVAs. Results indicated that females engaged in greater brooding regardless of event dependency. In addition, dependent and interpersonal life events generated greater brooding while dependent and non-interpersonal negative events generated greater negative cognitive style. An interaction between sex and domain was observed for dampening positive life events, such that males did not differ between interpersonal and non-interpersonal life events while females were more likely to dampen following interpersonal life events than non-interpersonal events.
It is not an uncommon trend in the present times that the number of women entrepreneurs continues to increase steadily. It is also found that women enter entrepreneurship majorly due to necessity than opportunity orientation. If that is the case does entrepreneurial impression management differ for both the gender? How does the necessity based entrepreneur face the increased competitive approaches of opportunity based entrepreneurs? This study attempts to find out the difference between impression management techniques and different social competencies employed by women and male entrepreneurs. Data was collected by means of questionnaire to new ventures and a total of hundred and seventeen observations were collected, from fifty seven females and sixty male entrepreneurs. It was observed that impression management techniques employed by women are different from that of males. In contrast to the sex role typing of females it was seen that women use assertion oriented techniques than compared to males. The results provide evidence that the potential for developing social competence and impression management techniques and promoting the abilities needed for a free and self-determined career has not been exhausted by any means.
Women's "failure to negotiate" is framed within the larger context of women's difficulties in advocating for themselves. These difficulties are examined in light of both the costs associated with female self-promotion and the often invisible link for women between being liked and being influential. Suggestions are made for minimizing the passive injustices that are often a consequence of women's self-advocacy dilemma.
Introduction Integrating the insights gleaned from scientific research into the framework of the law requires courts to appreciate the empirical complexities of the former and the analytical details of the latter. This is no simple feat. It requires juxtaposing the lessons and limitations of science with the demands of the law. This feat has proved particularly nettlesome—or, at least, controversial—in regard to the degree to which scientific research on implicit bias, or stereotypes, helps discrimination claims under Title VII. 1 This subject presents a wide cross section of the challenges endemic to the connection between law and science, including ambiguity regarding the meaning of the law, inherent limitations in studying the subject of implicit bias, enigmatic interpretations of research data, and imperfect correspondence between the reach of science and the precepts of the law. A fair evaluation of the relevance of research on implicit bias demands a clear exposition of the law, close examination of (singling out the Implicit Association Test for particular approbation, the authors contend that "unconscious processes" should not be relied upon as either legislative authority or litigation evidence in antidiscrimination cases until more valid research is done), with Linda Hamilton Krieger & Susan T. Fiske, Behavioral Realism in Employment Discrimination Law: Implicit Bias and Disparate Treatment, 94 Cal. L. Rev. 997, 1035 (2006) (extolling the value of psychological research, and in particular researchers' discoveries regarding implicit biases, for solving the problem of defining and identifying discriminatory motivation in Title VII disparate treatment cases).
There is substantial evidence that males are more variable than females in general intelligence. In recent years, researchers have presented this as a reason that, although there is little, if any, mean sex difference in general intelligence, males tend to be overrepresented at both ends of its overall distribution. Part of the explanation could be the presence of genes on the X chromosome related both to syndromal disorders involving mental retardation and to population variation in general intelligence occurring normally. Genes on the X chromosome appear overrepresented among genes with known involvement in mental retardation, which is consistent with a model we developed of the population distribution of general intelligence as a mixture of two normal distributions. Using this model, we explored the expected ratios of males to females at various points in the distribution and estimated the proportion of variance in general intelligence potentially due to genes on the X chromosome. These estimates provide clues to the extent to which biologically based sex differences could be manifested in the environment as sex differences in displayed intellectual abilities. We discuss these observations in the context of sex differences in specific cognitive abilities and evolutionary theories of sexual selection.
© 2009 Association for Psychological Science.
The global self-esteem of adolescents was examined in relation to two aspects of their daily lives: (a) the perceived quality of their relationships with parents and peers; and (b) their self-evaluation in the areas of school, popularity, and athletics. The quality of relationships with parents made significant contributions to the explained variance in self-esteem of both boys and girls. The quality of peer relationships made a significant additional contribution for girls but not boys. The importance of parent and peer relationships to self-esteem did not vary as a function of age for either sex. Self-evaluation of popularity was related to girls' global self-esteem, while evaluation of school performance was more important for boys.
High and low status personnel in a Naval ROTC program were instructed to exchange written communications about themselves. Half of these pairs communicated under instructions stressing the importance of mutual attraction; half were under instructions emphasizing accuracy. From the communication messages it was possible to draw the following conclusions: (a) Conformity—low status subjects conformed more than highs as an increasing function of the relevance of the issue to the basis of the hierarchy, (b) Self-presentation—high status subjects became more modest when under pressure to make themselves attractive; low status subjects showed the same tendency on important items but became more self-enhancing on unimportant ones, (c) Other enhancement—low status subjects were more positive in their public appraisals of the high status subjects than vice versa
Tested hypotheses derived from 3 explanations of the consistent differences in the ways men and women allocate rewards between themselves and others. 71 male and 71 female introductory psychology students who had scored either high or low on an Interpersonal Orientation (IO) Scale allocated monetary rewards between themselves and a same-sex partner with inferior performance. Allocations were either public or private, and future interaction with the partner either was or was not expected. Contrary to the IO explanation, women allocated rewards more equally than men did despite the fact that men and women were equivalent in their degree of interpersonal orientation. High-IO individuals allocated rewards more equally than did low-IO individuals but only in private. Contrary to the self-presentational explanation, both women and men allocated rewards more equally when allocations were public than when they were private and when future interaction was expected than when it was not. Contrary to the cognitive explanation, few gender differences in performance expectations, evaluations, or attributions were observed, and these factors were unrelated to reward allocations. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The outcomes of 148 studies of whether men and women differ in how easily they are influenced are examined meta-analytically. The analysis indicates that (a) women are more persuasible and more conforming than men in group pressure situations that involve surveillance by the influencing agent. In situations not involving surveillance, women are also more conforming, but this effect is vulnerable to the "file-drawer" problem discussed by R. Rosenthal (1979). Effect-size estimates show that the sex difference in influenceability is generally small. The present article also describes a study with 83 male and 118 female undergraduates that supported the hypothesis that sex of researchers is a determinant of the sex difference. 79% of the authors of influenceability studies were male, and men obtained larger sex differences in the direction of greater persuasibility and conformity among women. In studies authored by women, there was no sex difference. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Previous reviewers have suggested that women display lower self-confidence than men across almost all achievement situations. The empirical validity of this suggestion is assessed. The literature indicates that although low self-confidence is indeed a frequent and potentially debilitating problem among women, they are not lower in self-confidence than men in all achievement situations. Instead, it is argued that the nature of this sex difference depends upon such situation variables as the specific ability area, the availability of performance feedback, and the emphasis placed upon social comparison or evaluation. It is concluded that future research must more precisely identify the variables that influence women's self-confidence. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
75 male and 71 female undergraduates met in groups containing 2 males and 2 females and received each other's opinions, which were represented as deviating from the opinions that Ss had given earlier. Ss then gave their opinions with the other group members either having or not having surveillance over these opinions. Only with surveillance was males' conformity significantly less than females' conformity. Males' conformity with surveillance was also significantly less than males' or females' conformity without surveillance. Interpretation focuses on (a) the compatibility of nonconformity with the emphasis of the male gender role on independence from other people and (b) the greater likelihood that males' (vs females') nonconformity will result in successful influence over other group members. No support was obtained for a hypothesized tendency for women to be especially conforming because of their concern about harmony in interpersonal relationships. (62 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In a study with 96 4th graders, some support was obtained for a naive analysis of causal attributions for success and failure which assumes that Ss interpret feedback in an essentially logical fashion. Success more than failure was attributed to effort. Attributions to luck and ability were largely a function of consistency of feedback. Biased use of available information, indicating either defensiveness or self-derogation, was also found and varied with attainment value and sex. Boys defensively attributed failure to luck; girls' ability attributions were self-derogatory. These sex differences helped account for boys' higher expectancies when feedback was limited or contradictory. Individual differences in attributions were related to individual differences in minimal standards of success, affective responses to feedback, and feelings about a forthcoming test. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
145 preschoolers and a fictitious partner worked on identical tasks. Ss were told their performance was superior, equal, or inferior to that of their partner. The group was then rewarded with colorful picture seals which the S divided between himself and his partner. Ss' reports of each member's performance were also obtained. Boys with superior performance took more reward than boys in equal performance conditions. Among girls, this effect was absent. Among Ss with inferior performance, neither boys nor girls took less than 1/2 the reward but both minimized the magnitude of their partner's performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
31 male and 30 female undergraduates worked with a fictitious partner on a task for which their dyad received monetary reward. Ss were told their performance was either superior or inferior to that of their partner and were then allowed to allocate the reward earned by their group. Males took more than 1/2 the reward when their performance was superior and less than 1/2 when their performance was inferior. Females took approximately 1/2 the reward when their performance was superior and much less than 1/2 when their performance was inferior. Females with superior performance also tended to minimize the difference between their own performance and that of their partner. These findings were contrasted with results from a study of children of preschool age. The reward allocation responses of Ss with superior performance were similar at both age levels, but those of Ss with inferior performance were not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Research has shown that gender differences in self-perceptions exist. However, interpretational ambiguities make it impossible to determine whether these gender differences are due to the operation of biases. The present research investigated whether gender differences in biased self-perceptions exist by assessing the accuracy of posttask self-evaluations of performance. In accordance with self-consistency theory, it was hypothesized that Ss' expectancies affect their posttask self-evaluations. For example, men who generally have high expectancies on masculine-gender-typed tasks were hypothesized to evidence overly positive self-evaluations. Women, who generally hold low expectancies on masculine tasks, were hypothesized to hold overly negative self-evaluations. Results confirmed that self-consistency tendencies can partially explain self-perception biases. The implications of these findings for women's achievement behavior and self-confidence are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted an experiment with 60 Austrian and 60 American male and female university students to investigate whether the mode of allocation of group rewards depends on nationality, sex, and performance of persons. Results show no ethnically caused difference in the reward allocation. Nearly all Ss who performed worse than their partners divided the reward according to the equity norm, while Ss who performed better than their partners tended to the equality norm. Male Americans who had performed worse than their partners claimed a larger share than their female counterparts. Furthermore, some indications were found that task-oriented Ss tended to allocate the reward in accordance with individual performances, whereas interaction-oriented Ss tended to divide rewards into equal shares. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Assessed the effects of expectancy statements on children's persistence and expectancy change during failure. 30 male and 30 female 5th graders stated expectancies either before every trial, before the first and last trials, or before only the last trial. Patterns of both persistence and expectancies varied strikingly with the schedule of statements, and, more important, major effects were in opposite directions for the 2 sexes; initial statements heightened boys' persistence but tended to decrease girls' persistence. Findings are discussed in terms of sex differences in anxiety levels and attributional tendencies. Implications for research involving the monitoring of cognitions in achievement situations are noted. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Research has shown that resource allocation in a dyad sometimes follows the principle of equity (proportional reward) and sometimes that of parity (equal reward). However, existing evidence does not clarify the conditions under which each of these rules is invoked. A number of theorists have suggested that salience of the other as a person should lead to parity-based allocation, whereas salience of the other as a functionary filling a role should lead to equity-based allocation. The present study with 60 male and 60 female undergraduates tested these possibilities. Ss were led to perceive their own inputs to group performance as being either substantially lower or substantially higher than a partner's inputs. The partner had been portrayed to the S in terms that made salient the partner's personal characteristics, the partner's role assignment, or neither of these. Among females, subsequent reward allocation followed the predicted pattern in both high- and low-input conditions. Among males, contrary to expectation, person salience led to heightened feelings of competitiveness and to increased allocations to the self. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A model that describes conditions influencing the display of gender-related behavior is presented as a supplement to existent models of sex differences. Whereas many previous models stress the importance of distal factors, our model emphasizes the degree to which gender-related behavior is variable, proximally caused, and context dependent. More specifically, we propose that gender-related behaviors are influenced by the expectations of perceivers, self-systems of the target, and situational cues. This model of gender-related behavior builds on theory and data in the areas of (a) expectancy confirmation processes and (b) self-verification and self-presentation strategies. Support for the model is presented, and suggestions are offered for its future development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
61 female and 62 male undergraduates assessed on the Femininity and Masculinity scales of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory answered multiple-choice questions in a 3-trial computerized quiz game. Ss could modify the experimental situation by choosing the questions' difficulty levels and, on Trials 2 and 3, choosing among stereotypically "feminine," "masculine," and "gender-neutral" question topic areas. Between Trials 2 and 3, Ss were given false success/failure feedback. Results indicate that females chose less-difficult questions and estimated their performance lower than did males even in trials in which they could choose feminine questions. In Trials 2 and 3, Ss' gender strongly influenced choices of feminine or masculine question topics. High-masculine males showed a greater preference for masculine questions, whereas high-masculine females showed a greater preference for neutral questions. Assessed masculinity also influenced topic choices in interaction with the success/failure manipulation. The effects of gender and assessed femininity and masculinity may best be understood in interaction with situational variables. The current paradigm is proposed as a means of carrying out more interactive kinds of research on personality–situation interactions. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This research examined the extent to which the personality characteristics of agency and communion are sex linked, and the extent to which differences in these orientations can account for sex differences in reward distribution behavior. In two studies, the agency and communion level of large samples of male and female undergraduates were assessed. As expected, males were more agentic and females were more communal. Moreover, when subjects who scored high or low on agency and high or low on communion were asked to allocate rewards between themselves and a co-worker, these personality differences were related to their allocation decisions. These results were used as the basis for discussing the role that sex-linked personality differences might play in distributive justice judgments.
Previous research suggests that female students participate less often and less assertively than male students in college classrooms, and that teachers' discriminatory behaviors are partly responsible. Two in-class surveys of college students (N = 1375)—one at a university and one at a small college—assessed perceptions of student-teacher interaction. Factor analysis revealed a number of analytically distinct dimensions of classroom climate: what the class is like in general, what the class is like for the individual student, and what specific positive and negative teacher behaviors affect interaction. Class size affected each of these dimensions. Gender of student was significant only in the college survey, with males participating more, but this gender difference was not due to teachers' discrimination. Female teachers were more likely to create a participatory climate for all students. Creating a better classroom climate for female students creates a better learning environment for all students.
Two studies tested the influence of various types of verbal evaluative feedback men's and women's self-evaluations of their performance in achievenment situations. We tested a theory that women perceive evaluative feedback, particularly negative feedback, to be more informative about their abilities than do men. Because of this, women's self-assessments of their abilities are more straightforwardly influenced by evaluative feedback than are men's. In contrast, men take a more self-promotional approach to evaluative situations, and therefore are more selective in their responses to feedback. Results from our questionnaire study showed that women's self-evaluations were influenced by both positive and negative evaluative statements. Men allowed positive feedback to influence them more than negative feedback, and were less influenced overall by negative feedback than women. Furthermore, women reported that evaluative feedback, particularly negative feedback, contained more information relevant to their abilities than men. Our laboratory study showed that women's actual self-evaluations were impacted differently by positive and negative feedback, whereas men's were not. In addition, we found some evidence to indicate that women were more negatively influenced by feedback that was positively toned, yet irrelevant with respect to their performance, than men. This finding underscores the fact that the focus, and not just the valence, of evaluative feedback plays an important role in men's and women's responses to it.
Three experiments were conducted to test a two-factor model of the determinants of attributional modesty in women. Women tended to make modest attributions for success when they were concerned about how others would evaluate them and when they were concerned about their own self-image. Specifically, the knowledge that one's attributions would be public and the anticipation of future performance on similar tasks led to modesty. Self-derogatory attributions for failure occurred when the subjects thought their attributions would be public.
The thesis that males and females differ in their strategies for reward allocation in the face of distributive problems was examined. Evidence, primarily from the areas of achievement motivation and behavior, was reviewed to show that while the equity norm is consistent with the goals of Western males, equality is consistent with the goals of females. On the assumption that equitable allocations reinforce competitive (agentic) success and equal allocations reinforce social (communal) success, the research examining reward allocation was assessed within each of the four paradigms commonly employed. Sex differences were predicted and obtained in two of these paradigms: When the allocation situations contained interpersonal elements, females allocated less to themselves than did males and less than predicted by equity theory when asked to distribute rewards to self and others, and all female groups made more equal group allocation decisions than did all male groups when the interaction was competitive. Variables hypothesized to influence males' and females' adherence to and deviation from the equity and equality norms such as the types of tasks, the nature of the rewards, and the sex composition of the group are discussed.
Previous investigators have suggested that situation variables play little role in moderating sex differences in self-confidence. The validity of this suggestion is assessed in an experiment testing the effects of social comparison and task completion upon sex differences. Either before or after taking a test, undergraduates estimated their own scores (noncomparative self-evaluation) and/or compared their scores to that of a competent peer group (comparative self-evaluation). As predicted, task completion affected subjects' noncomparative more than their comparative self-evaluations. Further, social comparison affected women more adversely than men, indicating that this situation variable does moderate sex differences: First, the sex difference in comparative self-evaluation was greater than that in noncomparative self-evaluation. Also, women's actual performances were lower than men's only when comparative self-evaluations preceded the test.
The experiment examines status and gender role explanations of the tendency for women to conform more than men in group pressure settings. Subjects believed they were assigned to groups containing two males and two females in addition to themselves and received these other group members' opinions, which were represented as deviating from the opinions that subjects had given earlier. Subjects then gave their opinions with the other group members either having or not having surveillance over these opinions. In addition, subjects were required to form impressions of each other's likability or expertise. The findings indicate that subjects' sex and age affected the extent of their conformity. Among older (19 years and older) subjects, females conformed more with surveillance than without it, whereas surveillance did not affect males' conformity. Among younger (under 19 years) subjects, surveillance had no effects. Analysis of sex differences revealed that older females were significantly more conforming than older males when under surveillance as well as when subjects formed impressions of one another's likability. Among younger subjects, there were no sex differences. These findings are discussed in terms of the theories that (a) both sex and age function as status characteristics and (b) gender roles determine conformity.
Sex differences in self-perceptions of intelligence and self-confidence were examined among third through eighth graders. In third grade, differences between the sexes were small and, in the case of perceptions of intelligence, favored the females. By fifth grade, males were more likely to describe themselves as smart and self-confident than were females. These differences persisted into the eighth grade. Further analyses indicated that the sex differences could not be adequately explained by the process of internalizing sex-stereotypes.
This chapter presents the individual differences in two general areas of justice behavior—reward distributions and reactions to injustice. Reward distribution refers to the way people decide that what is a fair allocation of resources, either to others, to themselves, or among themselves and others. The area broadly termed reactions to injustice is concerned with how a person reacts when he or she is treated unfairly by another. The individual difference variable that has received the most attention in justice research is the sex of the subject. In part, this attention is because of the obvious ease of obtaining and measuring this variable. However, a second reason for this attention is more theoretical in nature. Early research revealed frequent differences between men's and women's behavior, particularly in the area of reward distribution. Few sex differences are found when women and men allocate rewards to others and are not involved as co-recipients. The few differences obtained appear to be because of the specific nature of the instructions, to ambiguity concerning whether or not the allocator will interact with the recipients in the future, or to confounding of the sex of the allocator with the sex of the recipient.
What is the nature of a “positive” disclosure versus a “boastful” one? How are those who use these different types of disclosures differentially construed? A set of three studies was designed to investigate three general issues. Study 1 asked respondents to rate characters who disclosed in a boastful, positive, or negative fashion. Boasters and positive disclosers were viewed as more competent than negative disclosers, negative and positive disclosers were viewed as more socially sensitive than boasters, and positive disclosers were best liked. In Study 2, the gender of the target disclosing positively or boastfully was manipulated. Compared to the boaster, the positive discloser was rated as more socially involved and feminine (less masculine) but less competent. Polarized judgments were made by both genders. Study 3 had individuals generate “boasts” and “positive statements.” The few gender differences that emerged suggest that although females’ bragging strategies may be less extreme or extensive, it is only when gender information is known that the brags of men and women are differentially construed. The present work suggests that men and women, as perceivers, may differentially activate cognitive structures (involving social involvement and femininity, on one hand, and competence and masculinity, on the other) when evaluating men versus women. The nature of the communication itself (boasts being perceived as more masculine and positive disclosures as more feminine) may exacerbate such differential activation in the construction of “mental models” of another's communication.
Causal attributions were made explaining the outcomes of 48 male and 48female subjects who succeeded or failed on an anagram task. Actual outcome was manipulated by varying the difficulty of the anagram task. Half of the subjects were led to believe their scores and ratings would remain private, whereas the other half were told they would participate in a group discussion about scores and causal explanations. Manipulation of anticipated privacy level had little effect under conditions of success, but after failure female subjects made more modest attributions in the public than in the private conditions. Attributions of males remained constant across public and private failure. Results were interpreted as casting doubt on expectancy explanations for sex differences in causal attributions for task outcome and as supporting a self-presentational analysis.
Studied the differences in self-confidence between the sexes after head-to-head competition in a neutral task. 40 males and 40 females aged 17–25 yrs participated to determine if sex of S, sex of opponent, or perceived ability of opponent affected Ss' self-confidence after competing at a TV Ping Pong game. A 2 × 2 × 2 mixed factorial design, with 10 Ss assigned to each cell, was used. All Ss competed in 5 games against a confederate, and in all cases Ss lost all but the 2nd game. Analysis of covariance of the data showed that regardless of sex of the opponent, females expressed postperformance confidence levels equal to males after performing against an opponent thought to be poor in ability, but they were significantly less confident after performing against opponents perceived to be good in ability. These findings support researchers who note that the performance expectations of females tend to be unstable and change with single encounters, whereas males are less likely to allow one failure to affect performance assessments. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Two studies involving 224 undergraduates examined gender differences in moral reasoning and judgments about competitive athletic encounters. In Study 1, Ss read an open-ended script regarding a competitive athletic encounter between friends, which required a decision with achievement related or affiliation related outcomes. Ss made a decision and reasoned aloud about it in a structured interview. Contrary to C. Gilligan's (1982) model, men and women were equally likely to use "justice" and "care" considerations in their reasoning, and there were no gender differences in their final decisions. In Study 2, Ss considered the same situation, even though the protagonist had already decided between pursuing achievement, both achievement and affiliation, or affiliation. Women regarded the decison as entailing "moral" considerations whereas men did not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The present study examined the expectancies of success, evaluations of performance, and achievement-related attributions that high school students made about verbal and spatial tasks that typically show sex differences. Although no sex differences were found in task performance, boys expected to do better than girls on both the spatial and verbal tasks. After completing the task, the girls continued to evaluate their performance more negatively than did boys on the spatial tasks. On spatial tasks girls also attributed to themselves less ability and saw the tasks as being more difficult than did boys. The results suggest that there are generalized, rather than task-specific, sex differences in achievement expectancies, evaluations, and attributions. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for sex-related differences in cognitive functioning and subsequent achievement behaviors.
The role of women in the People's Republic of China has changed dramatically in the last 40 years. This study assesses what impact these changes have had on the attitudes of Chinese youth. The sample consisted of 164 subjects (77 men and 87 women) who completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Objective Fear of Success Measure, a locus of control scale, and a personal goals questionnaire. They also evaluated a painting attributed to artists of different gender and status. The results indicate that the sex role orientations of Chinese students were similar to those of American students. On the Bem inventory, the direction of the sex differences on the sex role scales was the same for U.S. and Chinese students, but the latter had a sex role orientation that, in our culture, is regarded as more traditional. Chinese women were significantly more likely to endorse statements expressing fear of success than were Chinese men. On the locus of control measures, Chinese women were more likely than men to attribute their achievement successes to luck and failures to a lack of ability. The women students also attributed affiliation outcomes more to luck than did the men. The most important personal goal cited by both men and women was that of career success. Chinese men placed greater importance than women on achieving wealth, and their expectancy of actually becoming wealthy was higher. Finally, in an evaluation of a painting, Chinese men, but not the women, devalued a painting when it was supposedly the work of a female student artist.
Previous investigators have suggested that women display lower self-confidence than men across almost all achievement situations. The empirical validity of this suggestion is assessed in an experiment testing the following hypotheses: (1) Sex differences in self-confidence depend upon the particular ability area. (2) Women's self-confidence is more influenced than men's by characteristics of the particular individual with whom they compare themselves. Undergraduates completed verbal, interpersonal perceptiveness, spatial-mechanical, and creativity subtests. After each subtest, subjects estimated both their own score and that of the average undergraduate, the average male undergraduate, or the average female undergraduate. Self-confidence was operationally defined in terms of how favorably subjects compared their work to that of their peers. As predicted, women's self-confidence was lower than men's in only the spatial-mechanical and creativity subtests; and for women, but not for men, self-confidence depended upon which peer was specified. It is concluded that situation variables do determine sex differences in self-confidence and that women's self-confidence may be unduly affected by situation-specific comparison cues.
The theme of separateness and connectedness plays a central role in many schools of psychological thought. While traditional theories, such as those of Mahler in 1975 and Winnicot in 1965, conceptualize a universal development of separateness and connectedness, a number of recent theories such as those of Choderow in 1978, Gilligan in 1982, Frankenstein in 1966, Bakan in 1966, and Gutmann in 1965, propose gender differences such that males are more separated and females are more connected. The present study examined the hypothesis that men are more separated (as measured by self—other differentiation and independence) and women are more connected (as measured by empathy and desire for intimacy). Thirty men and 30 women (Israelis of western origin) responded to self-report questionnaires. Males and females were found to differ with regard to all four variables examined, such that men are more differentiated and independent, and women are more empathic and desire higher intimacy. These results are consistent with those theories that propose that males are more separate and females are more connected. The results are relevant as to the nature of the constructs themselves. The relationships between the variables defining separateness and connectedness suggest that these constructs are complex and multifaceted.
Two separate samples of males and females holding first-level management positions in United States organizations completed questionnaires which asked for self-evaluation on a number of job-related characteristics and for attributions of causality for successful and unsuccessful job experiences. In support of previous research, results indicated that males evaluated their performance more favorably than did women, and rated themselves as having more ability and greater intelligence. Men also saw ability as more responsible for their success than did women, but the sexes did not differ in attributions to luck, effort, or task. Implications for equal opportunity and potential for change are considered.
College subjects undertook nine cognitive tasks with different perceived sex linkages, stating their expectancy of success prior to each task and attributing causality for their perceived performance following each task. As hypothesized, two components were present in the overall sex difference in expectancy of success, even when differences in actual task performance were statistically controlled. One component was attributable to a general tendency of females to state lower expectancies; the other was a function of the accord between the perceived sex linkage of the task and the subject's sex. The attribution data suggest that females tend to be more external for success and more internal for failure than males.
The achievement behavior of women was examined in relation to their masculinity-femininity of self-concept and the mediating effects of the situation. The masculinity-femininity of self-concept of 58 female subjects was determined through the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (J. Spence, R. Helmreich, and J. Stapp, The Personal Attributes Questionnaire: A Measure of Sex Role Stereotypes and Masculinity-Femininity, Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 1974, 4, 43–44). These subjects then competed in either a mixed-sex or same-sex group. Each subject was led to believe she was a high-ability performer in relation to the group members she competed against. While feminine women did not display poorer performance when competing against lower ability males than lower ability females, they did feel more ambivalence than the others about performing successfully in a competitive situation.
Two studies examine the hypothesis that females who are immodest about their achievements are perceived more negatively than are males who are immodest. The assumptions that there are social consequences of immodesty, and that women and girls believe there to be such consequences, have been raised in self-presentational explanations of women's tendencies to undervaluate and underestimate their performances. This study provides a test of this assumption is a sample of 236 high school students and 144 teachers. Each judged the intelligence, personality, popularity, and adjustment of a very successful (hypothetical) high school student who was presented as male or female, mdoest or immodest. Two replications allowed this assumptions to be tested for diverse areas of success. Results showed consistent and negative social consequences of immodesty, which were, however, differentially worse for girls in only one of four tests. Other significant effects revealed that the characteristics of the judges was a factor. The findings are interpreted in the context of assumptions in both the popular culture and the research literature that feminine immodesty may be perceived differently than immodesty on the part of males. Directions for future research to elucidate these findings are offered.
Two experiments were conducted in which first-year male and female subjects (75% white; 25% minorities) at a highly selective liberal arts college predicted their first-semester grade point averages (GPAs). The first experiment varied whether predictions were given publicly or privately when an incentive for accuracy was either present or absent. Whereas the actual GPAs obtained by women did not differ from those obtained by men, women predicted that they would receive lower GPAs than men predicted, but only in the public condition. Whether incentive was present or absent did not affect predictions. The second experiment varied whether predictions were given publicly or privately as well as the perceived achievement of the experimenter. Once again, women's actual GPAs did not differ from men's. However, women predicted that they would receive lower GPAs than men predicted, but only when their estimates were given publicly to a low-ability experimenter. Although previous research has concluded that gender differences on performance estimates is attributable to a lack of confidence among women, these results suggest that the gender difference may be (at least partly) attributable to self-presentational style. It appears that women in this study adopted a modest self-presentational style that was motivated by attempts to protect the self-esteem of the experimenter.
Previous investigators have suggested that women display lower self-confidence than men in almost all achievement settings. The validity of this suggestion is assessed in an experiment testing the impact of comparison to others upon sex differences. Male and female undergraduates, who expected to cooperate in the future with a same-sex partner of high, average, or low ability, selected a difficulty level for an achievement test, completed the test, evaluated their own performance, and estimated their future partner's probable performance. As predicted, only when subjects' future partner was highly competent did women select an easier test than men, perform less well, and compare themselves less favorably to their partner. Also, women's, but not men's, self-evaluations depended upon their partner's ability level. It is concluded that sex differences are moderated by social comparison variables. Cognitive processes that may underlie such differences are discussed.