title: Sex differences in confidence influence patterns of conformity.
abstract: Lack of confidence in one's own ability can increase the likelihood of relying on social information. Sex differences in confidence have been extensively investigated in cognitive tasks, but implications for conformity have not been directly tested. Here, we tested the hypothesis that, in a task that shows sex differences in confidence, an indirect effect of sex on social information use will also be evident. Participants (N = 168) were administered a mental rotation (MR) task or a letter transformation (LT) task. After providing an answer, participants reported their confidence before seeing the responses of demonstrators and being allowed to change their initial answer. In the MR, but not the LT, task, women showed lower levels of confidence than men, and confidence mediated an indirect effect of sex on the likelihood of switching answers. These results provide novel, experimental evidence that confidence is a general explanatory mechanism underpinning susceptibility to social influences. Our results have implications for the interpretation of the wider literature on sex differences in conformity.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, UK.|Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, UK.
authors.forename: Catharine P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Cross
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, UK.
authors.forename: Gillian R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, UK.|Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas J H
authors.initials: TJH
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, UK.
authors.forename: Kevin N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Laland
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D035501:Uncertainty
keywords: gender; gender stereotype; letter transformation; mental rotation; social learning; stereotype threat