Female Confidence Levels: Does the Sex of an Opponent Affect a Female’s Confidence?

Abstract

A large body of literature substantiates sex differences in confidence, and generally finds that females display lower confidence than males. This study addresses a new angle to sex differences in confidence that previous literature has overlooked: do females’ confidence levels fluctuate in a competition scenario depending on the sex of an opponent? Fifty-two female undergraduates participated in this experiment in which they competed in games that involved athletic coordination. In one condition, participants competed against a female confederate, while in another condition they competed against a male confederate. Contrary to the hypothesis, the results of this study reveal that the sex of the confederate had no effect on the participants’ confidence levels.