Sex and performance under competition: Is there a stereotype threat shadow?

Abstract

In this paper we experimentally study performance of men and women under competition, with implicitly and explicitly induced stereotype threats to both sexes. We use a mathematical task that is perceived as male-dominant and creates an implicit stereotype threat against woman. We also study conditions in which we explicitly reinforce or contradict the implicit stereotype threat by providing appropriate information. We find that despite stereotype threats against women, both men and women react positively and equally strong to competitive incentives. When the stereotype threat is explicitly contradicted, competitive incentives do not have an effect on the performance of both men and women. Our findings contrast previous results suggesting that men are more responsive to competition than women. We observe that men and women react similarly to competition in terms of performance across three different stereotype threat conditions. Interestingly, we also find that explicit stereotypebased expectations that contradict the stereotype men and women hold harm the competitive performance of both sexes.

Essays on competitive attitude

“…12 In short, we consider that it is rational for participants to provide their best effort regardless of their choice of x. Following Geraldes, Riedl, and Strobel (2017), we use participants' number of attempts to tackle the addition problems as a proxy measure of effort provision. In Table 4.8, we see that participants in the GM condition significantly increase their number of attempts to solve the addition problems in the competitive round.…”

Experimental Studies on Bargaining and Competitive Behavior

“…It has been shown that competition varies across age (Gneezy and Rustichini, 2004;Flory et al, 2018;Mayr et al, 2012), different cultural backgrounds (Gneezy et al, 2009;Andersen et al, 2013;Leibbrandt et al, 2013;Dariel et al, 2017), and gender (Croson and Gneezy, 2009;Niederle and Vesterlund, 2011;Niederle, 2015). In addition, exogenous factors such as stereotype-threat in the task and the group composition (e.g., number of competitors, gender composition and the existence of information contradicting an existing stereotype) can shape competitive behavior (Gneezy et al, 2003;Booth and Nolen, 2009;Geraldes et al, 2011;Iriberri and Rey-Biel, 2012;Dreber et al, 2014;Jung and Vranceanu, 2017).…”