Sex differences in performance on ability tests as a function of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny.

Examined with 237 undergraduates the hypothesis that differences in performance on sex-typed ability tests may similarly be attributable to sex-role differences. A battery of tests was administered, including the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, the California Psychological Inventory, and the Comrey Personality Scales, in addition to a male-superior mechanical reasoning test and a female-superior perceptual speed and accuracy test. Large sex differences were obtained. Masculine Ss of both sexes performed highest on mechanical reasoning, followed in order by androgynous, undifferentiated, and feminine Ss. No consistent sex-role differences emerged on the speed and accuracy test. As a control on general ability, the difference between standard scores for mechanical reasoning and for speed and accuracy was calculated; sex-role differences obtained here resembled those on the mechanical reasoning test. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of self-esteem, success–failure, and self-consciousness on task performance.

Research has demonstrated that task performance of low self-esteem individuals (low SEs) suffers in the presence of self-focusing stimuli (e.g., a mirror). The present study determined if such stimuli must inevitably have adverse effects on low SEs. It was reasoned that if low SEs were provided with success feedback from a previous task, then the nature of their self-consciousness would be altered on a subsequent task. Specifically, low SEs should attend more to positive and less anxiety-provoking aspects of themselves than would low SEs who received failure feedback from the previous task. Under the former condition, low SEs' subsequent task performance was expected to improve. For high SEs, who typically perform well, success–failure feedback was expected to have little effect on subsequent performance. 90 undergraduates high and low in chronic self-esteem received false success or failure feedback from a task and completed a concept formation task in either the presence or absence of a mirror. Whereas high SEs performed equally well following success or failure, low SEs in the success condition performed significantly better than low SEs in the failure condition. This Self-Esteem?×?Prior Feedback interaction was significant in the presence of the mirror but not its absence. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measures of psychological masculinity and femininity: A comment on Gaddy, Glass, and Arnkoff.

C. D. Gaddy et al (see record 1983-30152-001) studied the relationship between women's sex-role identity and career decisions. The ANDRO scales of the Personality Research Form were used to assess sex-role identity. This use of measures of psychological masculinity and femininity, which is not uncommon, is questioned by the present author in view of recent advances in the field. Basically, the assumption that scales labeled "masculine" and "feminine" are reliable and valid measures of sex roles, sex-role identity, sex-role orientation, or sex-role beliefs and behavior is viewed as untenable. Researchers are urged to consider extant measures of masculinity and femininity as assessing the socially desirable personality traits of instrumentality (self-assertion) and expressiveness (nurturance/interpersonal concern), respectively. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of parenthood on various aspects of masculinity and femininity: A short-term longitudinal study.

Assessed 3 aspects of sex typing for 30 primiparous couples from the 3rd trimester of the wives' pregnancies to 6 mo postpartum. Based on laboratory observations and self-rating scales (including the Bem Satisfaction Scale and Bem Sex-Role Inventory), measures of femininity and masculinity were obtained for role behaviors, self-rated personality traits, and identity. Despite stability of rank order for all measures, there were changes in the magnitude of sex typing from expectancy to parenthood. Men and women increased in feminine role behavior, feminine identity, and instrumental personality traits, and women decreased in masculine role behavior. The masculine and feminine domains each displayed a modest degree of cohesiveness across the different measures, but the patterns of association were stage-of-life specific and sex specific. Most striking was the dissociation of the feminine role behavior measure from other sex-typing components for mothers of infants. The relationship between masculinity and femininity were measure specific. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory.

Since the beginning of the century, feedback interventions (FIs) produced negative--but largely ignored--effects on performance. A meta-analysis (607 effect sizes; 23,663 observations) suggests that FIs improved performance on average ( d ?=?.41) but that over one-third of the FIs decreased performance. This finding cannot be explained by sampling error, feedback sign, or existing theories. The authors proposed a preliminary FI theory (FIT) and tested it with moderator analyses. The central assumption of FIT is that FIs change the locus of attention among 3 general and hierarchically organized levels of control: task learning, task motivation, and meta-tasks (including self-related) processes. The results suggest that FI effectiveness decreases as attention moves up the hierarchy closer to the self and away from the task. These findings are further moderated by task characteristics that are still poorly understood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of sex steroids on spatial performance: A review and an experimental clinical investigation.

Males typically surpass females in spatial performance, an outcome that may be linked to testosterone and estrogen. The authors (a) review physiological mechanisms, developmental periods, and past empirical work relevant to sex steroids' effects on human spatial performance and (b) report an experimental study of the role of actively circulating sex steroids in 55 adolescents being treated for delayed puberty (mean age 13.70 yrs). Sex steroids (stimulating early, middle, and late puberty) and placebos were given alternately over 21 months and spatial tests were given every 3 months. Spatial performance showed traditional sex differences but did not vary with levels of actively circulating sex steroids. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of reward contingency and performance feedback on intrinsic motivation.

93 high school students were offered performance or task-contingent rewards or no reward for doing hidden-figures puzzles. Ss offered performance-contingent rewards all received positive feedback concerning performance, and half the Ss in task-contingent and no-reward conditions received the same positive feedback. Performance-contingent rewards were found to undermine intrinsic motivation more than task-contingent ones, which produced decrements relative to control conditions of no reward, supporting E. Deci's (1972, 1975) control model. Positive feedback enhanced intrinsic motivation; this effect was independent of reward effects. A recall measure indicated that Ss receiving performance-contingent rewards remembered fewer performance-irrelevant details about the task, suggesting that rewards may affect the process of task involvement as well as its motivational outcomes. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of superior female performance and sex-role orientation on gender conformity.

Assessed the effects of gender, sex-role orientation, and demonstrated female task superiority on influenceability in 54 mixed-gender dyads. The dependent variable was the number of items changed on a social judgment questionnaire subsequent to the influence attempt. The female superiority manipulation rather than gender- or sex-role orientation emerged as the strongest factor in determining influenceability. As predicted, the gender-relatedness of the measuring instrument also played an important role, with females conforming more on masculine items and males conforming more on feminine items. Results are interpreted as consistent with expectation states theory. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations for success on effort-determined tasks as a function of incentive and performance feedback.

Conducted 2 experiments to investigate an attributional analysis of the consequences of perceiving one's effort as stable, as opposed to unstable, on future performance expectancies. In Exp I, 32 male undergraduates were told that performance on the experimental tasks was purely effort determined; they expected a monetary incentive for good performance on half the tasks and received preprogrammed feedback that their performance was either variable or consistent. In Exp II, both 45 male and 51 female Ss believed the tasks were either effort or ability determined and received variable or consistent feedback; incentive was operationalized as the level of task interestingness. As predicted, Ss who believed performance was effort determined and received variable feedback had higher expectations for performance on a later task when its incentive value was high than when it was low. Ss receiving consistent feedback did not differ in their expectations, regardless of the incentive value of the task. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of success and failure on the discrimination learning of normal and retarded children.

30 normal and 30 retarded children learned a 3-choice size discrimination following exposure to experimental tasks under conditions of success, failure, or neutrality. Both normal and retarded children learned more quickly following success and failure than under the neutral condition. In a 2nd study, 32 normal and 32 retarded children learned the same criterion task under success or failure conditions. Here, both success and failure again facilitated the performance of both normal and retarded Ss. Also, social responsivity interacted with intelligence and exeprimental conditions in influencing the children's learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Awareness of prior success or failure: A critical factor in task performance.

Exp I, with 36 undergraduates, determined the effects of 2 levels of history of success (high or low) and the presence or absence of an audience on task performance. Results show that after prior failure, alone Ss performed significantly better than audience Ss, although after prior success, the performance of alone and audience Ss did not differ. These results counter K. J. Good's (1973) results, since his experiment produced a social facilitation effect after prior success, not after prior failure. Performance differences were probably due to differences in audience awareness. In the present experiment, the audience was presumably unaware; whereas in Good's experiment, the audience was presumably aware of S's prior performance level. Exp II (60 Ss) tested the merits of this explanation. Ss with a history of success or failure performed either alone or in 1 of 2 audience manipulations. Ss were told that the audience was either aware or unaware of their prior performance level. Results support the hypothesis. It is argued than an audience can affect the type of standard that an S uses to evaluate performance and that the quality of an S's performance is a function not only of the criterion but also of S's expectation of meeting the criterion (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feedback valence, feedback style, task autonomy, and achievement orientation: Interactive effects on creative performance.

This study examined the interactive effects of 3 contextual variables (feedback valence, feedback style, and task autonomy) on creative performance. Data were collected from participants who performed a role-playing task in a laboratory setting (N?=?210). Results demonstrated that the 3 contextual variables interacted to affect creative performance such that individuals who received positive feedback delivered in an informational style, and who worked in a high task autonomy work environment, generated the most creative ideas. This 3-way interaction held regardless of the participants' differences in achievement orientation. Implications of these results for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The attribution of similarity: The influence of success and failure.

"One subject in… [a] pair was informed that he had earned high percentile scores on… [tasks], while the other subject was told he had earned low scores. Each subject then received a partially completed Allport-Vernon-Lindzey test booklet designed either to be identical with or systematically dissimilar to the one completed by the subject 6 or more weeks earlier… . he was to complete the booklet as he believed his colleague had. Degree of similarity attributed was defined as the absolute difference between own and attributed score on a… scale… . The results revealed that failure subjects attributed greater similarity to their colleagues than did successful subjects, particularly with respect to presumably dissimilar colleagues." From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2GE19S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student assessment of teacher masculinity and femininity: A test of the sex role congruency hypothesis on student attitudes toward learning.

This study expanded the traditional research on teacher sex differences and student outcomes. We examined the impact of teacher and student sex differences and student assessment of teacher sex role orientation on student attitudes toward learning and found no interaction effects to support the sex role congruency hypothesis. Rather we found only a main effect for sex role orientation with androgynous teachers (those who show warmth and concern plus are assertive and dominant), who produced the most positive student attitudes toward affective, cognitive, and behavioral intent learning. Students, whether male or female, were more affected by overall teacher qualities than by whether the teacher was male or female. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of different social feedback conditions upon performance in dyadic teams.

27 pairs of Ss working as dyadic teams were given 50 trials on a simple knobturning task with one of 6 combinations of feedback conditions. Response measures consisted of individual response accuracy, team accuracy, and response differentiation between team members. Significant differences between feedback conditions on each of the measures was obtained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial and numerical predictors of measurement performance: The moderating effects of community income and gender.

Spatial reasoning and numerical predictors of measurement performance were investigated in 4th graders from low-income and affluent communities. Predictors of 2 subtypes of measurement performance (spatial–conceptual and formula based) were assessed while controlling for verbal and spatial working memory. Consistent with prior findings, students from the affluent community outperformed students from the low-income community on all measures examined. More importantly, the study revealed different patterns of relations between cognitive skills and academic performance in the 2 communities. Specifically, spatial skills were related to measurement performance in the affluent but not in the low-income community. These findings demonstrate that socioeconomic context impacts not only children's levels of performance but also their capacity to apply basic cognitive skills, like spatial reasoning, to their academic performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incremental effects of modeling and performance feedback in teaching decision-making counseling.

In a replicated study involving 54 randomly assigned counselor trainees, 3 cumulative methods of teaching decision-making counseling were compared (a traditional method, a method incorporating a filmed instructional model, and a method featuring several microcounseling components). In both the original study and in the replication the latter method was found to be significantly more effective than either of the former methods in promoting student acquisition of decision-making counseling skills. Incorporation of a filmed instructional model did not significantly improve the traditional method. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How children learn to listen: The effects of modeling feedback styles on children's performance in referential communication.

48 kindergartners and 48 2nd graders participated as listeners in a referential communication task with an adult speaker. Ss were presented with sets of 4 pictures and asked to choose the referent on the basis of a speaker's message. The messages were either adequate or ambiguous, describing 2 of the 4 possible referents. Ss were instructed to ask questions if they needed more information. Prior to these trials, Ss were exposed to 1 of 3 modeling conditions in which they viewed an adult listener responding to ambiguous messages by asking either general questions, specific questions, or specific questions accompanied by an explanation of the underlying strategy. A 4th group received no modeling. Although each of the modeling groups was successful in increasing the frequency of the modeled question, older Ss benefited more from modeling than younger children. Age differences suggested that the effectiveness of modeling interacted with children's existing cognitive abilities. Auxiliary evidence pointed to the role of information processing in children's abilities to deal with ambiguous communications as listeners. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of negative feedback on tension and subsequent performance: The main and interactive effects of goal content and conscientiousness.

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the interplay of goal content, conscientiousness, and tension on performance following negative feedback. Undergraduate students were assigned either a learning or performance goal and then were provided with false feedback indicating very poor performance on the task they performed. After assessing tension, participants performed the task again with the same learning or performance goal. A mediated moderation model was tested, and results were supportive of our hypotheses. Specifically, individuals assigned a learning goal experienced less tension and performed better following negative feedback than individuals assigned a performance goal. Individuals high in conscientiousness experienced greater tension than individuals low in conscientiousness. Conscientiousness and goal content interacted in relating to both tension and performance, with tension as a mediator, such that high conscientiousness amplified the detrimental effect of a performance goal on tension following negative feedback leading to lower performance. High conscientiousness facilitated performance for participants with a learning goal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)