Sex, Drugs, and Reckless Driving

We investigated whether risk-taking measures inadvertently focus on behaviors that are more normative for men, resulting in the overestimation of gender differences. Using a popular measure of risk-taking (Domain-Specific Risk-Taking) in Study 1 (N = 99), we found that conventionally used behaviors...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social psychological & personality science 2018-08, Vol.9 (6), p.744-753
Main Authors: Morgenroth Thekla, Fine, Cordelia, Ryan, Michelle K, Genat, Anna E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Confirmatory bias
Dangerous driving
Gender differences
Masculinity
Measurement
Men
Risk behavior
Risk taking
Sex differences
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Summary:We investigated whether risk-taking measures inadvertently focus on behaviors that are more normative for men, resulting in the overestimation of gender differences. Using a popular measure of risk-taking (Domain-Specific Risk-Taking) in Study 1 (N = 99), we found that conventionally used behaviors were more normative for men, while, overall, newly developed behaviors were not. In Studies 2 (N = 114) and 3 (N = 124), we demonstrate that differences in normativity are reflected in gender differences in self-reported risk-taking, which are dependent on the specific items used. Study 3 further demonstrates that conventional, masculine risk behaviors are perceived as more risky than newly generated, more feminine items, even when risks are matched. We conclude that there is confirmation bias in risk-taking measurement.
ISSN:1948-5506
1948-5514
DOI:10.1177/1948550617722833