Optimism helps female students perform better

However,for male students,too much optimism led to overconfidence and less studying,resulting in lower grades. Optimism in male students can lead to overconfidence or an attitude of things will work out for the best, said Tamar Icekson,a Ph.D. student in BGUs Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management.

So instead of studying enough for a test,they go out the night before.

Icekson,along with BGU Prof. Ayala Malach-Pines,dean of BGUs business faculty,and Prof. Oren Kaplan of Israels College of Management,examined the attitudes and grades of 174 BGU business undergraduates 28 men and 72 percent women,ages 20 to 28,with an average age of 24.

Those male students who scored as most optimistic got the lowest grades.

For male students,optimism tempered by conscientiousness produced the best results.

Icekson said that there was no correspondingly high rate of conscientiousness among female students because it was not necessary to achieve higher grades. For female students,optimism alone was beneficial because theyre naturally more conscientious than their male counterparts.

Women have lower self-esteem,and so if they are not sure things will work out,they study for the test, she added.

The study was recently presented at the International Conference of Positive Psychology.