Health Scan: Gender differences in student optimism

04.12.2011                      08.Kislev. 5772

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Health Scan: Gender differences in student optimism

BGU research finds that optimism can lead male students to be overconfident and to neglect their studies.

Optimism can be a good thing for women students, while in their male counterparts, it can lead them to be overconfident and to neglect their studies, according to new research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba.
Tamar Icekson, a doctoral student in its department of business administration, who was directed by Prof. Ayala Malach-Pines and Prof. Oren Kaplan at the School of Business Administration at the College of Management, examined the attitudes and grades of 174 BGU undergraduates. They found that female students who were more optimistic achieved significantly higher grades than their less optimistic compatriots, but in men, it had a harmful effect and led to disappointing grades. Icekson and Kaplan, who presented their findings at the International Conference of Positive Psychology in the summer, focus their research on the effect of positive emotions and thinking on behavior….