Men, women, and the self-presentation of achievement

This study examined men's and women's self-presentation of academic achievement in an interactional context. First-year college students were led to expect an interaction with a peer to discuss academic achievement. However the peer was actually a confederate who portrayed his or her achievement in a boastful, moderate, or self-deprecating manner Prior to the anticipated interaction, subjects were induced to describe their own academic achievement and make predictions about their first-semester grade point averages (GPAs) to be shared with the peel: Men's GPA predictions were highest in the boastful condition (and higher than their actual GPAs), next highest in the moderate condition, and lowest (and lower than their actual GPAs) in the self-deprecating condition. Women's predicted GPAs, unexpectedly, did not vary by condition. Women were less comfortable in predicting their GPAs than men, and there was a tendency for men to be more comfortable than women while observing the boastful peer and women to be more comfortable than men while observing the self-deprecating peer Results are discussed with regard to past research and self-in-relation theory.