GENDER DIFFERENCES
Terry has scambled quickly up the corporate ladder, earning a
reputation for being hardworking and ambitious. Outside the office, Terry
fights tenaciously for every point on the tennis or basketball
court.
Is Terry popular? You might think it depends on Terry's sex: A
competitive he-Terry would be considered attractively masculine, while an
assertive she-Terry might annoy some folks.
But it turns out that the popularity of competitive people has
little to do with their sex. What truly matters is who they are trying to
beat.
Competitiveness is really two different things, explain Nadege
Morey, M.A., and Gwendolyn Gerber, Ph.D., of John Jay College of Criminal
Justice. Goal competitiveness is the desire to do one's best to reach a
goal. Here your're competing against yourself. Then there's interpersonal
competitiveness, the desire to beat others.
Morey and Gerber find that college students consider goal
competitiveness an asset in both sexes. In fact, goal-competitive women
are especially respected, perhaps because "it takes more for a woman to
be competitive in our society," suggests Morey.
The surprise involves interpersonal competitiveness. According to
stereotypes, "real men" are aggressive, ready for a fight, while women
are more concerned about others. But students give interpersonal
competitiveness a resounding thumbs-down when displayed by either
sex.
All this bodes well for competitive women--as long as their
competitive spirit remains oriented toward reaching goals, not fighting
to outdo others.
PHOTO (COLOR)
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