Publication: Material incentives drive gender differences in cognitive effort among children
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2023-09-12
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Abstract
Academic performance relies on effort and varies by gender. However, it is not clear at what age nor under what circumstances gender differences in effort arise. Using behavioral real-effort measures from 806 fifth-grade students, we find no gender differences in cognitive effort in the absence of rewards. However, boys exert more effort than girls when materially incentivized. Adding a status incentive on top of material rewards does not further increase the gender gap. While boys achieve superior performance through more proactive control and faster reaction speed, we find no gender differences in overall accuracy. Girls' preferences for a more prudent approach pay off only when reactive control is elicited. These findings are robust to controlling for key personality traits and cognitive ability (fluid intelligence). The results have important implications for understanding gender divides in education and learning.
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Cognitive effort, Gender, Children, Laboratory experiments, Incentives
Bibliographic citation
Apascaritei, P., Radl, J. & Swarr, M. (2023). Material incentives drive gender differences in cognitive effort among children. Authors.