Rachel Silverthorn is a senior at Eastern Washington University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. As an EWU McNair scholar, she has conducted two research internships under the mentorship of Dr. Kayleen Islam-Zwart examining whether pregnancy has any effect on juror perceptions of a female defendant. Rachel will continue her research focus on judicial proceedings and treatment of defendants and offenders within the criminal justice system as she pursues a Ph. D. in International Crime and Justice at Florida International University. Her goal is to become a professor and continue research within the criminal justice system so she can impact policy in order to reduce bias and increase equitable treatment.
Men tend to be more overconfident than women in settings typically perceived as masculine (Lichtenstein et al, 1982; as cited in Baldiga, 2014). Women are also more likely to defer to men in mixed-sex group situations than men are to women (Hopcroft, 2009) Deference is correlated with women having lower self-esteem and lower confidence than men, both beginning to show around puberty. In same sex situations, deference is related to social ranking and physical features, but in mixed-sex situations it tends to be sex-based. Propp (1995) found that in mixed-sex groups men tend to verbally contribute more than women, whereas in all male or all female groups contribution is about equal. In situations where there is risk associated with decision making, men tend to answer more confidently than women as women have been found to have high risk aversion than men (Badiga, 2014). Given this, it seems probable that there would be differences in confidence when making jury decisions as a function of gender. This study looked at differences in confidence levels between men and women in a jury setting. Participants were 105 male and 388 female students. There were questions regarding how confident participants were in their decision of guilt versus innocence for each of six crime scenarios. Participants rated their confidence in their decision on a scale from one, not confident at all, to ten, very confident. Results reveal some differences in confidence of decision as a function of gender, especially when the stakes are higher.
