Behavior Patterns, Performance Expectations, Gender, and Task Focus: A Replication and Extension

Abstract

Previous work by Webster and Rashotte (2010) experimentally tested a theory of behavior and performance expectations, and female and male participants acted quite differently in the experiment. Theories of status processes predict no differences in how women and men use status information. We replicated two conditions and added two more conditions to assess a plausible cause of gender effects here. New results do not show a gender difference. We also find that: (1) theoretical predictions are confirmed more strongly in the replication than in the first experiment, (2) extraneous processes that may have affected the earlier experiment did not appear in the replication, (3) steps to enhance task focus did not improve the data and so are not needed in this experimental design, and (4) results are robust across participant pools, experimenters, computer equipment, and eight years of historical and cohort differences.