Explanations of successful performance on sex-linked tasks: What is skill for the male is luck for the female.

Abstract

Male and female subjects evaluated the performance of either a male or female stimulus person who was heard to perform in an above-average manner on either a male-or female-related task. Analysis of the attributions made to luck versus skill in explaining the performance of the stimulus person showed that as predicted, performance by a male on a masculine task was more attributed to skill, whereas an equivalent performance by a female on the same task was seen to be more influenced by luck. Contrary to prediction, the reverse did not hold true for performance on a feminine task. Overall, males were seen to be more skillful than females. The utility of an attributional analysis in the study of perceived sex differences was discussed.Investigations of the evaluation of male and female performance in equivalent situations have tended to focus on the ratings made of the performance itself, frequently finding that the male tends to be rated more favorably than the female when the presented evidence is identical. Thus, presenting rather broadly and generally described evidence about the performance of a male or female author (Goldberg, 1968), a male or female painter (Pheterson, Kiesler, & Goldberg, 1971), and a male or female applicant for a study-abroad program (Deaux & Taynor, 1973), the cited authors have found that the male's performance tends to be rated more favorably than the female's. One apparent exception to this depressing regularity was reported by Pheterson et al. (1971) in a condition in which the label winner was attached to the evidence, in this case a painting. Under these conditions, no differences between ratings of male and female artists emerged on measures of competence and artistic future. We might tentatively assume, therefore, that specific information regarding the quality of a performance eliminates sex-linked biases in the evaluation of that performance.

Effects of status and outcome on attributions and just-world beliefs: How the social distribution of success and failure may be rationalized

“…As may be seen in Table 1, ability was rated comparatively higher in high-status success and in low-status failure than in highstatus failure and low-status success. On the other hand, high-status failure and, particularly, low-status success were attributed to luck more than high-status success and low-status failure (see also, for instance, Deaux & Emswiller, 1974;Frieze & Weiner, 1971). …”

“…So far, research has established the justificatory function of attributions for the outcomes of social groups holding asymmetrical positions by pointing to systematic differences in the use of 4 internal vs. external attributions (e.g. Deaux & Emswiller, 1974;Deschamps & Beauvois, 1994;Hewstone & Jaspars, 1982). What is suggested herein is that lay theories and ideological beliefs may justify the present distribution of social value in a more subtle way by entailing systematic differences in the use of different types of internal attributions, i.e.…”

Putting gender into context: An interactive model of gender-related behavior.

“…In numerous studies, for example, subjects have been told explicitly that a task is performed better by men or by women, with differing consequences (e.g., Deaux & Farris, 1977). Only slightly less explicit are those studies that use material associated more strongly with one sex than the other, such as cooking utensils or infant care as opposed to mechanical tools (e.g., Deaux & Emswiller, 1974;Karabenick, Sweeney, & Penrose, 1983). Such manipulations, we suggest, are likely to activate gender-related aspects of the self-concept.…”

Second Thoughts About Second Acts: Gender Differences in Serial Founding Rates

“…Men are generally viewed as suffering from higher levels of unjustified confidence then women (Deaux andEmswiller 1974, Nieva andGutek 1980), this is especially true if a task is considered to be "masculine" such as finance (Barber and Odean 2001) or entrepreneurship (Gupta et al 2014). In the context of entrepreneurship, self-assessments of entrepreneurial ability, one way of measuring self-confidence, have similarly shown that men are more confident in their founding abilities than women (Thébaud 2010).…”