chapter 6

failure vs success

- Men's success is attributed to internal causes, in particular, ability, and women's success is attributed to internal, unstable causes (e.g., effort) or external causes (e.g., luck). - Men's failure is attributed to external causes or internal, unstable causes (e.g., lack of effort), and women's failure is attributed to internal, stable causes (e.g., lack of ability). - These attributions seem to be a function of our expectancies for men's and women's successes and failures.

eccles expectation x value model

-Achievement behavior is a product of the person's expectations and values. -we pursue areas of achievement in which we expect to succeed and that we value. -Gender differences in math performance emerge at time when girls stop taking math classes in high school -Even when abilities seem to be equal, men and women have different expectancies for success in an area. -Men and women attach different values to achievement-related pursuits.

individual factors: attributions

-At least for masculine tasks, which are basically achievement-related, males and females make different attributions for their own performance. -They also perceive the causes of other males' and females' performance to differ.

role teachers

-Compared to girls, teachers give boys: More attention More criticism More negative behavioral feedback Less positive behavioral feedback -Teachers have different beliefs about boys' and girls' abilities, -Teachers spend time differently with boys and girls. -Teacher expectations have been shown to affect student performance.

achievement differences:school performance

-Girls consistently get better grades than boys Even in areas that boys score higher in ability tests -Girls surpass boys in school achievement but lag behind them in career achievement. -Why? Keep these statements in mind as we continue this lecture.

self-esteem

-On some measures of general self-concept, males score higher than females, but the size of the difference is very small. -Difference appears to emerge in adolescence. -In adolescence, girls are more unhappy with their bodies than boys, which may account for adolescent girls' lower levels of self-esteem. -Gender-related traits, such as agency and communion, seem to show more consistent relations to self-esteem than sex, per se.

self confidence

-The major factor that influences sex differences in self-confidence is the nature of the task. -Sex differences in self-confidence seem to be limited to masculine tasks. -May be a factor in the under-representation of women in masculine areas of achievement. -Women are more reluctant than men to display confidence when they have outperformed another person, believing that others' self-esteem would be threatened by such displays.

response to feedback

-Women are more responsive to evaluative feedback than men—they find the feedback to be more credible and use it to make inferences about their abilities. -One reason that women are more responsive to feedback is that they view the information as more accurate—as more informative of their abilities. -Men may discount negative feedback in an effort to protect their self-esteem.

Stereotype threat

-being at risk of personally confirming a negative stereotype about one's group -Being the object of two negative stereotypes hurts performance twice as much example latina womens math performance

parents communicate these stereotypes to children by

-the activities they encourage -the toys they buy -the time they spend with children - the attributions they make for performance.

Criticisms of Horner's research

Use of a projective test (a method of psychological measurement that uses ambiguous stimuli; the person's responses are thought to reflect his or her personality based on the assumption that one's personality is projected onto the ambiguous stimulus

motive to avoid succes

a hypothesized fear of success that leads people to avoid being successful

the SAT

a standardized academic achievement test taken by many college-bound high school students; some colleges and universities use it in making admissions decisions

internal versus external causes

early research: women were more likely than men to attribute success to external causes

role of parents

parents have stereotypes that: boys are better than girls in math girls are better than boys in verbal abilities

Female underprediction effect

phenomenon that females' SAT scores predict lower grades in college than they actually get

attribution

process by which people make judgments about the cause of events

Achievement motivation

the desire to accomplish something of value or importance through one's efforts; the desire to meet standards of excellence

Classic literature says females have lower level of achievement motivation

true

Motive to avoid success may exist, but it hasn't been measured adequately

true

Stereotype threat may interfere with performance by reducing cognitive capacity and/or increasing anxiety

true