Gender differences on horizontality and verticality tasks were examined to determine whether they are mediated by gender differences in expectancies for success. Gender differences in performance were found, with males performing better than females. Gender differences in expectancies for success did not fully account for gender differences in…

Examines the effect of age and sex on hand preference and hand skill in two studies using six samples of children and a reanalysis of adult data. Results included findings that left- handers have an advantage over right-handers in visuo-motor speed. There was no evidence of increased dextrality with age. (JAC)

This study was designed (1) to investigate the relationship between physical exertion and mental performance in elementary school children and (2) to determine if male or female mental performances are more affected by physical exertion. A total of 95 second graders participated in six treatments of induced physical exertion during their regularly…

Two studies of perceived sex differences in performance on cognitive tasks are reported. In Study 1, college students (N=256) rated 34 different cognitive tasks on the degree to which they believed males or females would tend to perform better on such a task. In Study 2, college students (N=58) sorted the same 34 tasks according to how well they…

In this study involving 20 four- and five-year-old children, the boys were more motivated by intermittent reinforcement from their fathers, while girls were more motivated by fathers' continuous reinforcement. (RL)

Attributions of causes of successful task performances as a function of task and sex of the performer were investigated. Introductory psychology students (N=157) were presented with closed-circuit, videotaped episodes in which a male or female stimulus person performed a card-guessing task for 10 trials. Subjects heard the task described to the…

The connection between self-esteem, sex, and attributional style was examined in two studies. Results indicated that for positive events, high self-esteem subjects make more internal attributions than low self-esteem subjects, and for negative events, high self-esteem subjects make fewer internal attributions than low self-esteem subjects. The…

The effects of assigned status were investigated in same-sex competition with male (N=40) and female (N=80) college subjects. Those randomly assigned to high status improved in reaction time performance, while subjects randomly assigned to low status suffered a decrement. Contrary to expectations, in mixed-sex competition (fear of success arousal…

Major sex differences in occupational and educational attainment are summarized and a rationale and supporting evidence presented for reducing such sex differences by strengthening across-sex task interaction and reward interdependence in school classrooms, thus strengthening across-sex peer influence. An experimental design is suggested, though…

Performance differences between two trials of two tasks indicated that students who learned during the second trial that they were being evaluated (high evaluation condition) demonstrated greater debilitation on anagrams and greater improvement on the visual motor task than low evaluation condition subjects. Evaluation condition influenced girls'…

When 1,201 males and 1,145 females responded to a range of spatial questions, males significantly outperformed females on 25 of 72 occasions. On no occasion did females significantly outperform males. Wattanawaha's system for classifying spatial tasks was used to identify qualitative differences in performances of males and females. (Author/CM)

Research on gender differences in group performance suggests that males excel at brainstorming while females excel at human relations and integration. To investigate the relations among gender, interaction style, and task performance, 264 college students (130 female, 134 male) worked in three person same sex groups on a production task which…

The problem-solving performance of young boys and girls was examined in three conditions in which good performance was indicated as being appropriate for boys, for girls, or for both boys and girls. The relations between task scores and five sex-role measures were also examined. As predicted, the boys performed significantly poorer when the task…

Ninety-six male and female undergraduates participated in a test of the influence of sex role on performance in a masculine task. Subject sex, norm (challenging or not challenging), and experimenter (male, female, or no experimenter present) were varied in a 2 x 2 x 3 design. When challenged, subjects worked more successfully in the presence of a…

Investigated the effects of occupational sex-dominance on sex differences in occupational performance expectations. College students indicated their self-expectations and comparison person expectations (those of a "typical" male or female) regarding job performance for six occupations. Women reported lower expectations for themselves except for…