Journal of Undergraduate Research
Keywords
gender, hindsight bias, competitiveness, overconfidence, questionnaire
College
Family, Home, and Social Sciences
Department
Economics
Abstract
Hindsight bias, or the psychological tendency to think that we “knew it all along,” has been studied for over fifty years but no study has yet thoroughly documented the specific role that gender plays in an individual’s susceptibility to this effect. This is somewhat surprising, since the existing literature on gender differences in other potentially related respects, such as competitiveness and overconfidence, is extensive. I conducted a questionnaire-based behavioral experiment to test two hypotheses: first, that male subjects are more prone to hindsight bias than female subjects; and second, that male subjects are better at correcting for their personal level of bias once they are aware of it. My findings support both these hypotheses.
Recommended Citation
Andros, Jacqueline and Price, Dr. Joseph
(2013)
"Gender and the Hindsight Bias: An Economic Experiment,"
Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013:
Iss.
1, Article 215.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/215