1

Psychology 320: Psychology of Gender and Sex Differences

March 3

Lecture 50

2

Announcement

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I must cancel my office hours on Friday, March 7.

I will resume my office hours next week, on Friday, March 14.

3

2. Do males and females make different attributions for success and failure?

Achievement:

3. Are there sex differences in self-esteem?

1. Are there sex differences in responsiveness to evaluative feedback? (continued)

4

By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

2. consider the consequences of responsiveness to evaluative feedback.

3. distinguish between “optimistic” and “pessimistic” attributional styles.

1. review research findings regarding sex differences in responsiveness to evaluative feedback.

5

5. discuss (a) sex differences in attributional styles and (b) the developmental trajectory associated with sex differences in attributional styles.

4. consider the consequences of optimistic and pessimistic attributional styles.

6

Johnson and Helgeson, 2002

• Assessed the self-esteem of bank employees before and after they received their annual performance review.

Are there sex differences in responsiveness to evaluative feedback? (continued)

7

self-esteem was more strongly influenced by feedback among females than males.

negative feedback had a greater influence on females’ self-esteem than positive feedback.

• Found that:

Self-Esteem by Sex as a Function of Type of Feedback

(Johnson & Helgeson, 2002)

8

Self-promotional tendency among males.

9

• Is responsiveness to evaluative feedback detrimental or beneficial?

10

Do males and females make different attributions for success and failure?

• Attributions for success and failure vary along three dimensions: Internality (internal vs. external cause), stability (stable vs. unstable cause), and globality (global vs. specific cause; Abramson, 1989; Weiner et al., 1971).

Examples: I failed the psychology exam because …

Internal, stable, global attribution: “I’m not very smart.”

Internal, stable, specific attribution: “I’m not good at psychology.”

External, stable, global attribution: “The grading system at UBC is not fair.”

External, unstable, specific attribution: “The exam was too hard.”

Internal, unstable, specific attribution: “I didn’t study enough for the exam.”

External, stable, specific attribution: “The professor doesn’t like me.”

11

12

• A substantial body of research has examined sex differences in attributional styles:

13

Dickhauser and Meyer, 2006

Among 8-9 year old girls and boys with comparable grades in math, found that:

(a) girls were less likely than boys to attribute their success to ability.

(b) girls were more likely than boys to attribute their failure to lack of ability.

14

(c) this pattern was strongest among the top math students.

(d) teachers were more likely to attribute success to ability among boys and failure to lack of ability among girls.

(e) girls attributions were based on their teacher’s attributions; boys attributions were based on their teacher’s attributions and their objective math performance.

15

Rosenthal, 1999

Among managers at a financial services firm, civil engineering company, and local health authority, found that:

(b) females were more likely than males to attribute their success to effort.

(a) males were more likely than females to attribute their success to ability.

16

(c) females were more likely than males to attribute the success of their subordinates to ability; males were more likely than females to attribute the success of their subordinates to effort.

(d) females (but not males) believed ability had significantly more to do with the success of their subordinates than it had to do with their own success.

17

Mezulis et al., 2004

Conducted a meta-analysis of 266 papers published between 1994-2001: 523 effect sizes, 41,438 participants. Found that:

18

(a) in childhood, there was no sex difference in attributional style.

(b) in adolescence and adulthood, males were more likely than females to display an optimistic attributional style.

(c) changes in attributional style across the lifespan reflected variations in females’ attributional

tendencies vs. males’ attributional tendencies.

19

Are there sex differences in self-esteem?

• Global self-esteem: General feelings of self-worth.

• Among the most widely used measures of global self-esteem is Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale:

20

Using the scale below, please indicate how much you disagree or agree with the following statements. Circle the appropriate number to the right of each statement.

1 2 3 4 5Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Stronglydisagree agree

On the whole I am satisfied with myself ………………………. 1…….. 2 …

At times I think that I am no good at all ………………………..1…….. 2 ...I feel that I have a number of good qualities …………………. 1……...2

…I am able to do things as well as most other people…………. 1……...2

…I feel I do not have much to be proud of ……………………… 1……...2

…I certainly feel useless at times ………………………………… 1……...2

…I feel that I am a person of worth, at least the equal of others 1……... 2

…I wish I could have more respect for myself ………………….. 1……...2

…All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure………………. 1……...2

…I take a positive attitude toward myself ……………………….. 1……...2

…

Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale

21

By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

2. consider the consequences of responsiveness to evaluative feedback.

3. distinguish between “optimistic” and “pessimistic” attributional styles.

1. review research findings regarding sex differences in responsiveness to evaluative feedback.

22

5. discuss (a) sex differences in attributional styles and (b) the developmental trajectory associated with sex differences in attributional styles.

4. consider the consequences of optimistic and pessimistic attributional styles.