TOO MUCH, TOO LITTLE, OR JUST RIGHT? AN INVESTIGATION OF CONFIDENCE, DEMOGRAPHICS, AND CORRECTNESS

At the undergraduate level, overconfidence and unwillingness to admit uncertainty when asked a question are as common as football Saturday tailgating. Research in a number of disciplines has shown that males will almost always attempt to answer a question, regardless of their familiarity with the subject. Males also tend to be more confident than women of equivalent ability level, particularly in the sciences. Females are under-confident and tend to underestimate their own abilities. Interestingly, other studies have shown that females are much better than males in accurately self-calibrating their confidence with their knowledge of a subject. The SPSS Software program was used in order to analyze over 180 questionnaires that were given to non-science majors enrolled in a Physical Science course. All subjects had received instruction on plate tectonics before completing the questionnaire. The questionnaire asked the subjects to answer questions about plate-tectonic concepts and to rate their self-confidence in their responses. The questionnaire included a slightly modified version of a “standard” plate tectonic figure, typical of figures used in textbooks. Questions about subjects’ prior experience in the geosciences and their demographics were included as well. Our findings are in agreement with past studies, with results indicating that females’ confidence ratings are consistently higher when responses are correct than when responses are incorrect. In addition, we find that overall males are more confident than females in their responses. The majority of males showed high confidence regardless of correctness of their answer and this same gender confidence trend was seen when comparing students of different ethnic backgrounds. However, male responses were no more correct than females. Where females did indicate a high confidence in their answers, they tended to provide a more complete answer than males did for the same reported level of confidence. This work will enhance our understanding of the role played by demographic factors in the complex relationship between task performance and confidence.