| Abstract: | Pursuing answers to the twin questions of whenand why women engage in “modest”self-presentation, this study examined theself-presentation of academic achievement in a collegesetting. Gender of the participants, gender of the partners,and vulnerability (concern over his/her low grades ornot) of the partner were completely crossed.Participants were 85 first-year students, drawn from acollege population that was 6% African-American, 9%Asian, 79% Euro-American, and 5% Latinola. They heardinformation about a partner's academic record, and thenwere induced to predict their own grade point average, in a context in which they anticipatedinteracting closely with the partner on a joint task.Women's grade point average predictions were lower thanmen's, and particularly so when the partner wasvulnerable. Vulnerable male partners were particularlysalient for women in both the grade point averagepredictions and self-report data; the nonvulnerable malepartners were particularly salient for men. Results are discussed with reference toself-in-relation and social comparisontheories. |
