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Optimism in female students gives a chance to have a good career and in students it leads to overconfidence
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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According to a new study by scientists from Ben-Gurion University (Israel), female students who were more optimistic were more successful in their careers in the future than their less optimistic peers. For male students, too much optimism leads to overconfidence and poor academic performance, and, as a result, to problems in their careers in the future.
"Optimism in male students can lead to overconfidence, which is accompanied by the motto 'everything will be fine anyway,'" says Temeru Isekson, Ph.D., of the Faculty of Business and Management at Ben-Gurion University in Glazer. So, instead of studying at the university, they prefer to have fun during their student years.
Isaacson, together with Professor Ayala Malak-Pines, dean of the business faculty at Ben-Gurion University, analyzed the attitudes toward study of 174 students, of whom 28% were men and 72% were women, aged 20-28.
The scientists focused their research on positive psychology, namely the influence of positive emotions and thinking on behavior.
In the study, each participant answered a questionnaire anonymously. Optimism was assessed using the "life orientation" test. This test consists of 10 questions, such as: "Life always seems exciting and exciting to me", "I have no specific goals or intentions in life", "Every day always seems new and different to me", etc.
The results of the study showed that more optimistic male students were less conscientious and, therefore, were more negligent in their studies. As for female students, optimistic girls demonstrated greater conscientiousness than their male colleagues. Women demonstrated lower self-esteem and, in order to prove their worth, were more responsible in their studies.
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