Saturday, May 07, 2011

Why Men's Acheivements are More Public

An article I shared a while back discussed reasons why women are less likely to blog (mostly that women need/want less outside praise for their achievements). I wonder, does this apply to other parts of their life? This study suggests yes:
Two ecologically valid studies involving anticipated public performance offer insight into women's tendencies to avoid placing their abilities under a spotlight. First, in an experimental study, women felt less comfortable than did men and experienced more personal risk when they anticipated that their test scores would be public. Second, in a naturalistic observational setting, students taking an experiential forensic psychology course were required to perform intellectually challenging activities in public. Women displayed more concern about the course requirements than did men, and subsequently dropped the course in disproportionate numbers.
Could this also be why women are less likely to do speak up in my class, pursue leadership positions or do improv?

2 comments:

  1. Sarah Eldred10:43 AM

    The problem with this study, and a lot of human behavioral studies, that I see, is that they're not actually examining the societal reasons WHY women or men act a certain way. Rather, it seems they assume its an inheritent part of their genteic makeup, and somehow its also related to their "biological sex", as vague a concept as that may be. I would argue that living in a patriarchial society makes women less prone to speak up or to put themselves "out there," because they are much more likely to be shut down or rejected. And they don't do improv because its a widely held belief that women aren't funny, and the ones who are are single or ugly or lezzie. The ultimate crime!

    i'd speak up in your class!
    sarah

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  2. As you said, I certainly don't think this implies genetics are the difference. I think culture is much more the issue.

    And I'd be glad to have you in my class Sarah.

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You are the reason why I do not write privately. I would love to hear your thoughts, whether you agree or not.