Sex Differences in Self-Confidence

Abstract

Previous investigators have suggested that situation variables play little role in moderating sex differences in self-confidence. The validity of this suggestion is assessed in an experiment testing the effects of social comparison and task completion upon sex differences. Either before or after taking a test, undergraduates estimated their own scores (noncomparative self-evaluation) and/or compared their scores to that of a competent peer group (comparative self-evaluation). As predicted, task completion affected subjects' noncomparative more than their comparative self-evaluations. Further, social comparison affected women more adversely than men, indicating that this situation variable does moderate sex differences: First, the sex difference in comparative self-evaluation was greater than that in noncomparative self-evaluation. Also, women's actual performances were lower than men's only when comparative self-evaluations preceded the test.