BGU Study Finds Optimism Helps Female Students Achieve Higher Grades, But Males Score Lower When Overconfident
BGU Study Finds Optimism Helps Female Students Achieve Higher Grades, But Males Score Lower When Overconfident
November 21, 2011
BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL November 21, 2011 — Female students who were more optimistic achieved significantly higher grades than their less optimistic peers, according to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers. For male students, however, too much optimism led to overconfidence and less studying, resulting in lower grades.
“Optimism in male students can lead to overconfidence or an attitude of ‘things will work out for the best’,” according to Tamar Icekson, a Ph.D. student in BGU’s Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management. “So instead of studying enough for a test, they go out the night before.”
Icekson, along with BGU Prof. Ayala Malach-Pines, dean of BGU’s business faculty, and Prof. Oren Kaplan of Israel’s College of Management, examined the attitudes and grades of 174 BGU business undergraduates (28% men and 72% women, ages 20 to 28, with an average age of 24). The study was recently presented at the International Conference of Positive Psychology.
Icekson and Kaplan focus their research on positive psychology – the effect of positive emotions and thinking on behavior. Those male students who scored as most optimistic got the lowest grades.
For male students, optimism tempered by conscientiousness produced the best results. However, there was no correspondingly high rate of conscientiousness among female students because it was not necessary to achieve higher grades, according to Icekson. “For female students, optimism alone was beneficial because they’re naturally more conscientious than their male counterparts,” she says. “Women have lower self-esteem, and so if they are not sure things will work out, they study for the test.”
Previous positive psychology studies have shown the value of dispositional optimism and conscientiousness in the workplace; however, the academic context has not been particularly well studied as yet.
In Icekson’s study, each participant completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire, for which extra course credit was awarded. Optimism was assessed using the Life Orientation Test. It is a one-dimensional measure that consists of 10 choices, such as: “In uncertain times, I usually expect the best,” or “If something can go wrong for me, it will.”
Academic performance was estimated using the student’s final B.A. grade
ABOUT AMERICANS FOR BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY
By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Israel’s future would be forged in the Negev. The cutting-edge research carried out at Ben-Gurion University drives that vision by sustaining a desert Silicon Valley, with the “Stanford of the Negev” at its center. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU’s remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.
About Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev embraces the endless potential we have as individuals and as a commonality to adapt and to thrive in changing environments. Inspired by our location in the desert, we aim to discover, to create, and to develop solutions to dynamic challenges, to pose questions that have yet to be asked, and to push beyond the boundaries of the commonly accepted and possible.
We are proud to be a central force for inclusion, diversity and innovation in Israel, and we strive to extend the Negev’s potential and our entrepreneurial spirit throughout the world. For example, the multi-disciplinary School for Sustainability and Climate Change at BGU leverages over 50 years of expertise on living and thriving in the desert into scalable solutions for people everywhere.
BGU at a glance:
20,000 students | 800 senior faculty | 3 campuses | 6 faculties: humanities & social sciences, health sciences, engineering sciences, natural sciences, business & management, and desert research.
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