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What's fine for the gander isn't always good for the goose: Sex differences in self-confidence as a function of ability area and comparison with others

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Abstract

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Maine, 04469, Orono, Maine

    Ellen Lenney

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  1. Ellen Lenney
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Lenney, E. What's fine for the gander isn't always good for the goose: Sex differences in self-confidence as a function of ability area and comparison with others. Sex Roles 7, 905–924 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290974

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