"Women Are Better Than Men"-Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking.
Reports in public media suggest the existence of a stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men. The present online survey aimed at supporting this incidental observation by empirical data. For this, 488 participants from various ethnic backgrounds (US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Tur...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140371 |
| _version_ | 1818363189590491136 |
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| author | André J Szameitat Yasmin Hamaida Rebecca S Tulley Rahmi Saylik Pauldy C J Otermans |
| author_facet | André J Szameitat Yasmin Hamaida Rebecca S Tulley Rahmi Saylik Pauldy C J Otermans |
| author_sort | André J Szameitat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Reports in public media suggest the existence of a stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men. The present online survey aimed at supporting this incidental observation by empirical data. For this, 488 participants from various ethnic backgrounds (US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and others) filled out a self-developed online-questionnaire. Results showed that overall more than 50% of the participants believed in gender differences in multitasking abilities. Of those who believed in gender differences, a majority of 80% believed that women were better at multitasking. The main reasons for this were believed to be an evolutionary advantage and more multitasking practice in women, mainly due to managing children and household and/or family and job. Findings were consistent across the different countries, thus supporting the existence of a widespread gender stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men. Further questionnaire results provided information about the participants' self-rated own multitasking abilities, and how they conceived multitasking activities such as childcare, phoning while driving, and office work. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T21:44:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ac0e6568947243f09b74230a9b8fe203 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T21:44:31Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-ac0e6568947243f09b74230a9b8fe2032022-12-21T23:30:27ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-011010e014037110.1371/journal.pone.0140371"Women Are Better Than Men"-Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking.André J SzameitatYasmin HamaidaRebecca S TulleyRahmi SaylikPauldy C J OtermansReports in public media suggest the existence of a stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men. The present online survey aimed at supporting this incidental observation by empirical data. For this, 488 participants from various ethnic backgrounds (US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and others) filled out a self-developed online-questionnaire. Results showed that overall more than 50% of the participants believed in gender differences in multitasking abilities. Of those who believed in gender differences, a majority of 80% believed that women were better at multitasking. The main reasons for this were believed to be an evolutionary advantage and more multitasking practice in women, mainly due to managing children and household and/or family and job. Findings were consistent across the different countries, thus supporting the existence of a widespread gender stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men. Further questionnaire results provided information about the participants' self-rated own multitasking abilities, and how they conceived multitasking activities such as childcare, phoning while driving, and office work.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140371 |
| spellingShingle | André J Szameitat Yasmin Hamaida Rebecca S Tulley Rahmi Saylik Pauldy C J Otermans "Women Are Better Than Men"-Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking. PLoS ONE |
| title | "Women Are Better Than Men"-Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking. |
| title_full | "Women Are Better Than Men"-Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking. |
| title_fullStr | "Women Are Better Than Men"-Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking. |
| title_full_unstemmed | "Women Are Better Than Men"-Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking. |
| title_short | "Women Are Better Than Men"-Public Beliefs on Gender Differences and Other Aspects in Multitasking. |
| title_sort | women are better than men public beliefs on gender differences and other aspects in multitasking |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140371 |
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