Minutes

Reference: Sójta, M., Kołodziej-Zaleska, A., & Przybyła-Basista, H. (2023). Risk factors for intimate partner violence: The role of dyadic adjustment and family-of-origin. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), 2553. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032553

Do women really avoid competition? For years, people believed that women shy away from competitive situations more than men. Psychologists wanted to test if that’s actually true, or just an outdated stereotype.

 

Researchers observed over 100 pairs of friends to see how they competed with each other. There were same-gender and cross-gender pairs who were told they were in a contest, while others just did the task for fun. In another part of the study, thousands of men and women signed up for a global online trivia game. Some knew they were entering a competition, deciding to compete, and others thought it was casual.

 

Results? Women competed just as much as men, especially when they had time to decide. In fact, women were slightly more likely to enter competitions. when they weren’t rushed. In the friend study, women responded positively to competition with friends, showing just as much effort and interest as men. These results challenge the old idea that women avoid competition.

 

What is the key takeaway? Women aren’t less competitive! They’re just more thoughtful about when and how to compete. Thoughtful doesn’t mean timid. Once in, women are just as driven to win as men.

Written by Kristin M. Harris, Ph.D.