Gender Differences in the Accuracy of Grade Expectancies and Evaluations

Participants were 131 (69 women, 62 men)students in Introductory Psychology, Social Psychology,and Computer Science courses. Eighty-six percent of thesample was Caucasian. The goals of this study were to assess (a) how accurate students'preexamination expectancies and postexamination gradeevaluations are and whether gender differences in theaccuracy of expectancies and grade evaluations onexaminations exist, (b) whether expected grades predictpostexamination grade evaluations even with actualgrades controlled (self-consistency effect), and (c)whether students' grade expectations and evaluationsbecome more accurate with experience. Throughout thecourse of a semester, students estimated their gradesfor each of their examinations. Students overestimatedtheir grades at all points in the semester, although women in Introductory Psychology overestimatedtheir grades less than men did. Students' expectedgrades were a better predictor of their postexaminationgrade evaluations than were their actual grades. For Introductory Psychology students,expectancies and grade evaluations became more accurateas the semester progressed. The importance of accurateself-perceptions regarding academic performance isdiscussed.     

Gender Differences in Problem Solving: Expectancy and Problem Context

In this study, we investigated gender differences in problem solving as a function of problem context and expectations for success. Subjects were 90 women and 56 men from introductory psychology classes who were administered a set of mathematical problems varying in gender context under male-expectancy, female-expectancy, and neutral-expectancy conditions. No significant gender differences or interaction of gender with problem context were found. However, significant effects of problem context and expectancy were found. Both male and female subjects made higher scores on female-context problems and lower scores in the female-expectancy condition. When mathematics aptitude was used as a covariate, an interaction of gender with expectancy was found. Men in the female-expectancy condition made significantly lower scores than either men or women in the male-expectancy condition.     

Alcohol Expectancies and Workplace Drinking1

The relationship between alcohol expectancies and work-related drinking was investigated in a survey of 984 employees from a large unionized manufacturing plant. Respondents were asked about their drinking at work, just prior to work, and in other contexts. Alcohol expectancies were measured by asking how likely or unlikely it was that work-related drinking would lead to 13 personal consequences. The items for this scale were derived from ethnographic interviews and observations in the plant and from a review of the workplace literature. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the expectancy items formed two scales representing positive and negative consequences. These scales predicted work-related drinking in a simultaneous equations path analysis, even when general drinking practices and background variables were controlled. The analysis also indicated that workers who were younger, Caucasian, hourly, on evening or night shifts, and frequent or heavy drinkers outside of work may be at risk for work-related drinking because of their alcohol expectancies.     

Expectancy Accessibility, Alcohol Expectancies, and Intentions to Consume Alcohol

Drug use tends to correlate more strongly with positive expectancies than with negative expectancies. The expectancy-accessibility model provides one explanation for this disparity. This model suggests that the association between positive expectancies of a drug's effects and intentions to use the drug are larger because positive expectancies are often more accessible in memory. Previous work supports the model for positive expectancies and intentions to use smokeless tobacco. Positive expectancies correlated significantly with intentions to use smokeless tobacco only when they were primed in memory. The current study attempted to extend these findings to alcohol consumption. Positive expectancies correlated significantly with intentions to drink when they were primed in memory, as the model predicts. Nevertheless, positive expectancies also correlated significantly with intentions when negative expectancies were primed. In addition, negative expectancies were not associated with intentions to drink, regardless of priming condition. These latter results are not consistent with the model. These findings suggest that the expectancy-accessibility model may be limited.     

Gender,Racial, and Ethnic Differences in Job Context and Work-Activity Preferences

This study explores the effect of social norms in a military situation at the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy. During the wintertime, standing on a wharf, officers were given the offer of jumping into the ocean or not. In the experiment (n?=?75), having an antijump norm induced by a confederate, the jump rate decreased from 76% to 51%. One implication of these findings is that the salience of one norm is a deciding factor when individuals have several conflicting norms.     

Self-Reported Alcohol Expectancies and Postdrinking Sexual Inferences About Women1

In evaluating dating scenarios, perceivers tend to infer more sexual responsiveness for drinking than nondrinking daters. The origin of these postdrinking sexual inferences has not previously been examined. In the present study, we considered whether perceivers' alcohol expectancies would influence these inferences. Male and female subjects completed a brief expectancy measure, read a vignette depicting a beer-drinking or cola-drinking woman, and evaluated the targeted woman. Multiple-regression equations were computed to test a replication hypothesis and an interaction hypothesis. In support of the replication hypothesis, subjects rated the beer-drinking woman as more sexual than her cola-drinking counterpart. In support of the interaction hypothesis, male but not female subjects exhibited the predicted expectancy by drink interaction. High expectancy men but not low expectancy men rated the beer-drinking woman as more likely to engage in sexual behaviors than the cola-drinking woman. This finding was evident on behaviorally specific measures, but not on trait-like measures. The roles of stereotypes and alcohol expectancies as determinants of post-drinking sexual inferences are discussed.     

Gender Differences in Mother-toddler and Father-toddler Verbal Initiations and Responses during a Caregiving and Play Context

Contextual variations in mother-child and father-child verbal communication were examined among 80 U.S. families from Kansas who were predominately Caucasian (85%) and middle-class. There were 41 girls and 39 boys between 15- and 18-months-old observed with their mothers and fathers in separate play and caregiving laboratory situations. Parent and child behaviors were coded for verbal initiation and response strategies. MANOVA’s revealed more differences between mother’s and father’s verbal communication strategies in the play context than the caregiving context. Boy’s and girl’s verbal communication was relatively similar across contexts. The interactions between gender and context are discussed in relation to gender role development in the family.     

Surviving the Holidays: Gender Differences in Mortality in the Context of Three Moslem Holidays

Drawing on E. Durkheim's [(1915) The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, London: George Allen & Unwin] discussion of religious holy-days and on his argument regarding the implications of institutional gender differences [(1897/1951) Suicide, New York: Free Press], it was hypothesized that holy days may affect mortality patterns differentially by gender. The present study focused on Moslems in Israel a very different social and religious context than those that have been studied before. The 1983–1992 data on Israeli Moslem deaths were used. After removing the long-term growth and the seasonal effects, women's mortality was found to be significantly greater in the month of Ramadan than in the month before, and in the two weeks before the feast of Id el-Adhha than in the two weeks after it. For men, mortality was higher in the two weeks after the feast of Id el-Fitr than in the two weeks before it. Religious holidays, then, have a different effect on the pattern of mortality of men and women, reflecting their different roles in the preparation and celebration of the holy day rites.     

Social Anxiety and Specificity of Positive Alcohol Expectancies: Preliminary Findings

This preliminary study examined the relationship between social anxiety and specificity of positive alcohol outcome expectancies (AOE) in a community sample of 62 drinking adults. The sample was divided into subsets of socially anxious (n = 17) and nonsocially anxious (n = 45) men and women. The Drinking Expectancy Questionnaire (DEQ) and Alcohol Expectancies in Social Evaluative Situations Scale (AESES) were used to determine if groups differed in the general positive AOE they hold, or only in AOE specific to social situations. ANOVAs revealed that socially anxious individuals had greater positive AOE specific to social situations (DEQ—Assertion scale and AESES) than nonsocially anxious individuals, with no differences in other positive AOE. Partial correlations controlling for social anxiety revealed that AOE specific to social situations correlated with greater drinking and alcohol dependency levels. Findings indicate that identification of AOE specific to social situations may be useful in classifying socially anxious individuals at risk for alcoholism and as a focus of expectancy challenge strategies for individuals with co-occurring social anxiety and drinking problems.     

Gender Differences in Depression

From early adolescence through adulthood, women are twice as likely as men to experience depression. Many different explanations for this gender difference in depression have been offered, but none seems to fully explain it. Recent research has focused on gender differences in stress responses, and in exposure to certain stressors. I review this research and describe how gender differences in stress experiences and stress reactivity may interact to create women's greater vulnerability to depression.     

Gender Differences in Creativity

Research on gender differences in creativity, including creativity test scores, creative achievements, and self‐reported creativity is reviewed, as are theories that have been offered to explain such differences and available evidence that supports or refutes such theories. This is a difficult arena in which to conduct research, but there is a consistent lack of gender differences both in creativity test scores and in the creative accomplishments of boys and girls (which if anything tend to favor girls). As a result, it is difficult to show how innate gender differences in creativity could possibly explain later differences in creative accomplishment. At the same time, the large difference in the creative achievement of men and women in many fields make blanket environmental explanations inadequate, and the explanations that have been proposed thus far are at best incomplete. A new theoretical framework (the APT model of creativity) is proposed to allow better understanding of what is known about gender differences in creativity.     

Gender and Conjugal Differences in Happiness

Abstract

The author examined conjugal congruence on 4 role experiences–spousal, parental, filial, worker–and on subjective well-being (SWB). According to purposive sampling strategy, 222 community adults (111 married couples) in Taiwan completed a research questionnaire. Conjugal congruence on role experiences was linked to conjugal congruence on SWB as well as personal well-being. Analyses showed that conjugal congruence on role experiences (except the worker role) and SWB was generally high. However, some conjugal discrepancies persisted: The husbands were more committed to the worker role, whereas the wives were more committed to the parental role. Furthermore, conjugal discrepancies in role experiences were related to conjugal discrepancies in SWB as well as to husbands' happiness.     

Gender Differences in Gossip and Friendship

Gossip has been related to friendship as it can increase the bond between people and sense of belonging to a group. However, the role of gender in the relationship between gossip and friendship has not been examined in the literature. So, the present study examined gender differences in the relationship between friendship quality and gossip tendency with a sample of 167 female and 69 male Western Canadian undergraduate University students using the Friendship questionnaire and the Tendency to Gossip questionnaire. Given gender differences in friendship, with males being more agentic and females more communal, the relationship between gossip and friendship was predicted to be stronger in the males compared to the females. Friendship quality was positively correlated with gossip tendency in the males, but this effect was not present with the females. The information gossip scale was strongly associated with male friendship quality. This finding may be related to the greater emphasis on status with males, and that possession of knowledge and control of information is a method of attaining status. Physical appearance gossip was found to be more prevalent in females, but not related to friendship quality. This type of gossip may be a more of a competitive threat to the relationship in females. Achievement related gossip was also related to male friendship quality, which reflects the greater emphasis on individuation in male friendships.     

The Differentially Discriminating Properties of Alcohol Expectancies for Female and Male Drinkers

Alcohol expectancies are the anticipated outcomes of consuming alcohol. In this study, a variety of alcohol expectancies were found to discriminate between problem- and non-problem-drinking college students. In addition, the author discovered that the expectancy profile that distinguished female problem drinkers from female nonproblem drinkers was relatively distinct from the profile that separated these types of drinkers among men. The alcohol expectancy with the strongest discriminating value among the women was “arousal and power,” whereas for the men it was “physical and social pleasure.” The author discusses the implications of these findings for counseling problem-drinking women and men.     

Gender Differences in Rape Reporting

This paper compares male and female rapereporting behavior. Participants from National Crime andVictimization Survey data (90% female, 10% male) aremuch like victims of other violent crimes (25%non-white, higher than average unemployment, young, andunmarried). The data indicate that the situationalcharacteristics of rape, and factors that influence arape reporting decision, differ by sex. Whereas men fail to report rape when it jeopardizes theirmasculine self-identity, women fail to report rape whenthe rape does not fit the classic stereotypical rapesituation. Women reported victimization more frequently than did men. It is asserted that furthercomparative research on rape reporting behaviorutilizing qualitative methods is needed in order tofully understand rape victimization for bothsexes.     

Gender Differences in Romantic Jealousy

Abstract

Findings of studies of gender differences in jealousy are contradictory. In the present study, conflicting literature was addressed by distinguishing 5 dimensions of jealousy: level, trigger, experience, focus, and responses. In 4 studies, 3 in the U.S. and 1 in Israel, gender differences were explored in these 5 dimensions of romantic jealousy. Although there were no gender differences in the likelihood, frequency, duration, or intensity of jealousy, there were differences in the responses to certain jealousy-producing occasions as well as in the focus, experience, and expression of jealousy.     

Religious Fundamentalism and Gender Differences

The role of religious fundamentalism and its relationship to shame and guilt was evaluated in 107 students who attend a church-sponsored university. A number of personality measures were given and gender differences were analyzed. The role of externalization was similar for males in this sample to that of earlier studies. However, it was found that females showed positive correlations between externalization and both shame and guilt. For females, more fundamentalistic religious training may help to contribute to an external orientation at the expense of identifying with a personal religion, and appropriate guilt.     

Cross-Sex Best Friendship Influences on Early Adolescent Cigarette and Alcohol Expectancies and Use

In this study, the author investigates the influences of cross-sex best friends in early adolescence in regard to cigarettes and alcohol. Specific goals include determining the prevalence of cross-sex best friendships, investigating expectancies and perceived approval of the use of cigarettes and alcohol, and examining substance use levels. A group of urban sixth, seventh, and eighth graders completed a survey that addressed these issues. Results indicate the presence of cross-sex best friendships in the sample. Significant findings on cross-sex best friends' influence include positive expectancies for alcohol in sixth (p = .006) grade, the perception of seventh graders that the best friend's attitudes about smoking (p = .003) and drinking (p = .001) are less negative, and higher levels of cigarette use in sixth (p = .001) and eighth (p = .024) grade and alcohol use in sixth (p = .008), seventh (p = .002), and eighth grades (p = .039).     

创造性思维的性别差异

创造性思维是推动科学技术进步和人类社会与文化发展的重要心理基础。人类两性分别在创造性思维的聚合思维和发散思维方面表现出显著的行为和神经活动差异。在发散思维方面, 女性优势相对明显; 但在聚合思维方面, 男性具有一定优势。两性在不同类型创造性思维方面的相对优势与大脑两半球的加工优势有密切联系, 且受到包括性别作用等因素的调节。研究对这些问题进行了系统探讨, 并就当前研究不足和未来趋势进行了展望。