This study
indicates that a woman doesn't mind bragging about others and they feel better
about bragging when the environment is different. Here is the study.
Bragging rights: Study shows that
interventions help women's reluctance to discuss accomplishments
Date - January 13,
2014
Source - Montana State
University
Summary:
Research found that
women dislike promoting their own accomplishments, but it is possible for
negative effects to be offset and to improve self-promotion.
A study published by
Jessi L. Smith, professor of psychology at Montana State University, and Meghan
Huntoon, who was Smith's student at MSU when research was conducted, has found
that gender norms about modesty help explain why women don't feel comfortable
bragging about their own accomplishments. However, intervention techniques can
help women to communicate more effectively about their successes.
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"Women's Bragging
Rights: Overcoming Modesty Norms to Facilitate Women's Self-Promotion" was
published in the Dec. 20 issue of Psychology of Women Quarterly.
The research, which
sampled nearly 80 MSU undergraduate women, confirmed that women downplay their
own accomplishments but have no trouble promoting a friend, Smith said. Past
research had already shown than men are not affected by modesty norms like
women are. However, this was among the first studies to test ways to intervene
to help women write about themselves effectively.
"We also showed
that we can intervene positively, and women can absolutely write about their
accomplishments effectively," Smith said.
Smith said she and
Huntoon, now a doctoral student in psychology at Northern Illinois University,
launched the study when Smith observed an interesting response to a request for
submissions to an MSU Women's Faculty Caucus newsletter.
"Nobody responded
about themselves. Not one," Smith recalled. However, many women told Smith
about really great things happening with their friends and colleagues.
"We wondered what
was going on, so we began looking at the research," Smith said.
Smith said they found
that American women are reluctant to talk about their own accomplishments
because cultural norms promote modesty. And, society disapproves of women who
are perceived to be bragging about themselves. However, Smith said, American
men who brag about their accomplishments are perceived as confident and
capable.
"We live in a
society where cultural gender norms are powerful and imbedded in our
history," she said. "This is no way, shape or form to be blamed on
women. It's just part of our culture, and it is our job to find ways to change
these cultural norms."
Smith and Huntoon
wondered if this could be reversed, so they devised a study in which four
groups of about 20 mostly freshmen female students at MSU each were asked to
write essays for a scholarship based on merit that ranged in value up to
$5,000. The subjects were told that the essays would be used as samples to help
other students improve their essay skills.
One group was asked to
write essays about their own accomplishments; another group was asked to write
about the accomplishments of someone else. A group of impartial judges
evaluated the essays, awarding an average of $1,500 less to those essays in
which people wrote about their own accomplishments rather than about someone
else's.
In order to study
whether the female modesty effect could be overcome, Smith and Huntoon had
another two groups write essays about themselves and introduced a distraction.
A black box of about 3x3 feet square was placed in the room where the students
wrote the essays. The researchers told one of the groups of subjects that the
box was a "subliminal noise generator" that produced ultra-high
frequency noise that couldn't be heard, but could cause them discomfort.
"There is no such
thing as a subliminal noise generator," Smith said. "It was total
fiction. But, we had given them an explanation for any anxiety they felt while
writing their essay."
The other control
group wasn't told what the box in the room was. The group that had the black
box as justification to explain their discomfort wrote essays that were awarded
up to $1,000 more than the group that had no explanation. And they enjoyed the
experience of writing more, too.
"The key here is
that when women had an alternative explanation for why they might be feeling
uncomfortable -- the supposed noise generator- the awkwardness they felt from
violating the modesty norm by writing about themselves was diverted, and they
did just fine," Smith said.
The research has broad
practical implications, Smith said.
"Basically,
people in authority positions need to put in place practices that make it feel
normal for women to promote their accomplishments," she said.
"Cultural shifts take time, so while we wait, our results also suggest
that people should be proactive and promote the accomplishments of their female
friends and colleagues to their bosses. Women were very good at promoting the
accomplishments of friends."
Smith said she has
already used the results of the study while she talks to search groups and pay
equity task forces and others in a position to review applications from women.
"This sheds light
on an important issue and brings into question how we look at self-nomination
for awards, cover letters for job applications and even pay raises," Smith
said.
"I tell them that
the woman that you are reading about on paper is likely really more outstanding
than she appears."
Story Source:
Journal Reference:
1. J. L. Smith, M. Huntoon. Women's Bragging
Rights: Overcoming Modesty Norms to Facilitate Women's Self-Promotion. Psychology
of Women Quarterly, 2013; DOI: 10.1177/0361684313515840
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