Across the world, girls are more likely than boys to blame academic failure on a lack of talent, according to a large study on gender stereotypes published Wednesday last week.
Paradoxically, the idea that males are inherently more brilliant was most entrenched in countries that are more egalitarian.
Such stereotypes have been explored in the past, but the new work, published in the journal Science Advances, has the advantage of encompassing 500,000 students across the world, making it possible to compare between countries.
Photo: EPA-EFE 照片:歐新社
It used data from the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), a study conducted every three years to learn more about the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students in math, reading, and sciences.
The 2018 survey included the sentence: “When I am failing, I am afraid that I might not have enough talent.”
The result: in 71 of the 72 countries studied, even when performance was equal, girls were more inclined to attribute their failures to a lack of talent than boys, who were likelier to blame external factors. The sole exception was Saudi Arabia.
Contrary to what one may expect, the differences were most pronounced in wealthy nations.
The less talented that girls believe they are compared to boys, the less confidence they have, the less they enjoy competition, and the less willing they are to work in male-dominated occupations such as information and communication technology.
The result “suggests that the glass ceiling is unlikely to disappear as countries develop or become more gender-egalitarian,” the authors said in the paper.
A proposed solution: “Stop thinking in terms of innate talent,” said study co-author Thomas Breda, of CNRS and the Paris School of Economics.
“Success comes from learning through trial and error. If we deconstruct the concept of pure talent, we will also deconstruct the idea that girls are less naturally endowed with talent than boys.”
(AFP)
根據上週三發表的一項對性別刻板印象的大型研究,各國的女孩比男孩更有可能將學業上的失敗歸咎於缺乏天賦。
弔詭的是,認為男性天生較聰明的這種想法,在較平等的國家最為根深蒂固。
像這樣的刻板印象過去已有所探討,但這項發表在《科學前緣》期刊上的新研究涵蓋了全球五十萬名學生,這種優勢讓不同國家間之情況能夠進行比較。
該研究採用了二○一八年國際學生能力評量計劃(PISA)之數據,此評量計劃每三年舉辦一次,旨在對十五歲學生在數學、閱讀及科學方面的知識與技能有更多了解。
二○一八年的調查中有這句話:「我失敗時,我怕自己可能沒有足夠的天賦」。
研究之結果為:即便在男女成績相同之情況下,在所研究的七十二個國家中,有七十一國的女孩比男孩更傾向將失敗歸因於自己缺乏天賦,男孩則傾向將失敗歸咎於外部因素。唯一例外的國家是沙烏地阿拉伯。
與所預期的相反,這種差異在富裕國家最為明顯。
女孩越認為自己的才華比不上男孩,她們就越沒有自信、越不喜歡競爭,也就越不願意從事資訊及通訊科技等男性主導的行業。
作者在論文中表示,研究結果「表明,國家發展進步或變得更加性別平等,玻璃天花板仍不太可能隨之消失」。
建議解決方式:「不要去想與生俱來的天賦」,該研究之共同作者、法國國家科學研究中心及巴黎經濟學院的湯馬斯‧布瑞達說。
「成功來自於反覆嘗試、在錯誤中學習,如果我們解構純粹天賦的概念,也會解構女孩之才能天生不如男孩的觀念」。
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
A: Hey, didn’t you go to the opening of the Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport Nangang last week? B: Yeah, there are about 300 shops, including the first overseas branch of Japan’s Mahou Dokoro — a famous Harry Potter-themed store. A: Wow, I’ve always wanted to get a magic wand. B: There are also a bunch of great restaurants, such as Smart Fish hotpot restaurant. A: I wish I had Harry Potter’s “apparition” and “disapparition” magic, so I could teleport to the mall right now. A: 你上週不是有去LaLaport南港的盛大開幕嗎?有什麼特別的? B: 那裡有多達300家專櫃,包括魔法之地的海外首店——它可是日本知名的《哈利波特》專賣店。 A: 哇我一直想買根魔杖。 B: 另外還有各式各樣的美食,像是林聰明沙鍋魚頭。 A: 真希望我也有哈利波特的「現影術/消影術」魔法,能瞬間移動到商場去! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張迪)
When it comes to movies, some people delight in watching spine-chilling horror films. Surprisingly, apart from containing a few scares, horror movies may also offer an unexpected __1__. According to a study, watching 90 minutes of a scary movie can burn an average of 113 calories, which is roughly __2__ to taking a 30-minute walk. Researchers from the University of Westminster carried out an experiment in which they __3__ participants’ oxygen intake, carbon dioxide output, and heart rates while they were watching horror movies without any distractions. The results revealed that physiological responses to fear play a crucial role
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