Stereotypes Concerns and Discreet Existence of Differences between Men and Women in Risk-Aversion – a Replication Study

The present research conceptually replicates and extends the results of a study on the relation between individuals’ sex, their risk attitudes and stereotype threat (Carr & Steele, 2010). The authors reported that differences between men and women in risk aversion emerged only after activating negative stereotypes about women’s performance in mathematics. A total of 321 Slovaks, randomly assigned to control or experimental treatments, answered questions on their risk aversion, anxiety, analytical reasoning and gender self-concept. We expected to observe differences between men and women only after activating stereotypes. Aware of the issues with the consistency of different risk aversion measures, we investigated whether the effect of stereotype threat on risk aversion differs across three different risk aversion measures. Additionally, we explored whether this effect depends on how the stereotype threat is activated (explicit vs. implicit activation). Finally, to explain the mechanism through which stereotypes foster women’s risk aversion, we explored the moderating effect of gender self-concept and mediating effects of anxiety and analytical reasoning on the relationship between stereotype threat and risk aversion. In general, the study found no differences between men and women in risk aversion and did not replicate the original effect of stereotype threat on risk aversion.