The effects of sex of audience and degree of evaluation on task performance of women assessed on fear of success
Date
1977
Authors
Willis, Kathleen Diane
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Abstract
The purpose of this study has been to explore the behavior of women with respect to three different theoretical orientations: (1) male/female differences in problem solving , (2) social facilitation with emphasis on evaluation, and (3) the motive to avoid success. In order to investigate these areas, relevant findings from past work have been identified and discussed. Also, three preliminary studies have been conducted, t wo of which focused on aspects of social facilitation and the motive to avoid success while the third focused on male/female differences in problem solving. Based on these findings, a final research project relating all three areas of concern was conducted. Significant results from the pilot study on male/female differences have shown that men and women perform better on tasks which appear to be sex-role related. Investigations into the sources of a significant four-way interaction showed that on the feminine task and in the presence of men, women with high fear of success scores had more correct responses when they were evaluated, whereas women with low fear of success scores had more correct responses when they were not evaluated. On the feminine task and in a n unstructured setting, women high in fear of success had more correct responses in the presence of women, whereas women low in fear of success had more correct responses in the presence of men.
A significant main effect showed that regardless of order of presentation, females perform significantly better on female sex-role related tasks than on male sex-role related tasks. Questions can be raised whether the social facilitation and fear of success variables were operationalized vigorously enough to produce the theoretically predicted effects. Also, questions remain concerning the content of the tasks and their relationship to sex-role socialization. Finally, an alternate perspective suggests investigating the possibility that sex-role socialization supercedes other variables, such as social facilitation, in influencing behavior.