Sex-Role Stereotypes and Causal Attributions for Success and Failure in Motor Performance

Abstract

Abstract This experiment investigated the relationship between sex-role stereotypes and causal attributions. Eighty fourth-grade boys and girls competed at a motor skill task against either boys or girls—either winning or losing. Subsequently, subjects assigned causality of their success or failure to various attributional factors. The data confirmed the following hypothesis derived from the literature on the sex-role stereotypes: Boys are less likely to claim the lack of their own abilities and the presence of the opponents' (girls') abilities as causes of their failures when they lose to girls than when they lose to boys. Girls showed a tendency (nonsignificant) to accept the lack of their abilities and the presence of the opponents' (boys') abilities as causes of their failures to a greater extent after losing to boys than after losing to girls. The results further revealed that mere performance against competitors of the same sex increased boys' stereotypes about their superiority over girls.