The Female Underprediction Effect
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Transcript of The Female Underprediction Effect
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Running Head: THE FEMALE UNDERPREDICTION EFFECT 1
The Female Underprediction Effect
There is no doubt that the Female Underprediction Effect is one of the most discussed
problems associated with the gender gap in testing. Unfortunately, widespread college
admission tests SAT and ACT are known to under predict the abilities of females. For
instance, Howard Wainer and Linda Steinberg discovered that males score 33 points higher
on the SAT-Math than females who earn the same grades in the same college math courses
(N.D., 2007, p.1). SAT and ACT results of young women are often lower than their GPA
scores. The gender gap is especially evident in Mathematics, Science Reasoning and all
Physical Sciences. Tests demonstrate that women do better on questions related to the
Humanities and relationships when men show better results on questions about the Physical
Sciences, business and sport. It is interesting that females often outperform males in
academic studies that is not reflected in the results of the tests.
This situation is disturbing because it provokes a lot of negative consequences. The
results of tests are used to determine eligible candidates for scholarships and female
underprediction deprives women of additional educational opportunities that may affect the
quality of education. Moreover, women are often underrepresented in science and technical
fields which are usually considered to be more financially rewarding that spheres dominated
by females (Nelson et al., 1999).
There is no doubt that policy makers should be aware of the situation and take into
account gender bias and the Female Underprediction Effect (Hyde and Kling, 2001). It
should result in elaboration of alternative methods of academic assessment that would be
characterized by lack of gender bias and give females equal opportunities with male
students. In my opinion, it is an important aim that should be reached in a truly democratic
society.
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THE FEMALE UNDERPREDICTION EFFECT 2
References
Hyde, J. and K. Kling. (2001). Women, Motivation and Achievement. Psychology of
Women Quarterly December, Vol. 25, No. 4, 364-378.
Nelson, B., R. Aron, and D. Poole. (1999). Underprediction of Female Performance from
Standardized Knowledge Tests: A Further Example from the Knowledge of Geography Test.
A Journal of Research.
N.D. (2007). Gender Bias in College Admissions Tests. Web. 8 Sept. 2012. Retrieved from
http://www.fairtest.org/facts/genderbias.htm