Women are more optimistic than men** Claim only refers to women and men with ages ranging from 18 to 26 from Brasov

Hypothesis• Women are more optimistic than men (* Claim only

refers to women and men with ages ranging from 18 to 26 from Brasov)

• The study also aims at gaining insight with respect to the way in which women and men describe themselves as being(optimistic/pessimistic/ neither/both) and the way in which they think others perceive them (optimistic/pessimistic/ neither/both) and highlight possible differences that might occur between the two genders at this level.

Constituents of optimism

• Expecting the best possible outcome when in an uncertain situation

• Expecting the future to bring only the best

• Always taking the good part of things (“seeing the glass as half full”)

• Entering a competition with the belief that you have the ability to win as much as any other of your competitors.

• Being confident that you can cope with a difficult task, when having to solve one.

• Focusing on the happy moments in one’s life rather than on the failures and unhappy times.

• Expecting the worst possible outcome when in an uncertain situation

• Expecting the future to bring only the worst

• Always taking the bad part of things (“seeing the glass as half empty”)

• Entering a competition with the belief that you don’t have the same ability to win as your competitors.

• Lacking the confidence that you can cope with a difficult task, when having to solve one.

• Focusing on the unhappy moments in one’s life and one one’s failures rather than on happy times.

Constituents of pessimism

Independent variables : gender (&

age)Dependent

variable (optimism)

Sample

• 18 people took part in the survey (7 male and 11 female respondents)

• 1 questionnaire was not taken into consideration in the data analysis process as the (female) respondent did not answer all questions.

• No other criteria (except age and gender) was taken into consideration at this point, as the survey aimed at primarily studying the difference between genders.

Shortcomings of the sampling process:

• 18 respondents (all from the same geographical region) – not a large enough sample for a highly general claim

• Only age and gender were taken into consideration, whereas adding more criteria with respect to personal data could bring to light potentially interesting results

• Sampling was done as randomly as possible given the difficulty of finding respondents, but a different sampling process should be found should the study take place on a larger scale.

Instrument• Questionnaire – consisting of 10

questions• All of the questions are closed ended• Questionnaire was administered in

Romanian though most of the respondents (both male and female) are fluent in English in order to prevent the results from being altered by possible language barriers.

Shortcomings• A wider variety of question types

could have been used, and might have lead to more complex and varied results.

Figures1) Considerati ca sunteti o persoana

Overall Results Men Women

a) Mai degraba optimistab) Mai degraba pesimistac) Nici optimista, nici pesimistad) Si optimista, si pesimista, in egala masurae) Nu stiu/Nu raspund

Answer a: 52,94%

Answer b: 0%

Answer c: 05,88%

Answer d: 35,29%

Answer e:05;58 %

Answer a: 42,85 %

Answer b: 0%

Answer c: 0%

Answer d: 42,85%

Answer e: 14,28%

Answer a: 60%

Answer b: 0%

Answer c: 10%

Answer d: 30%

Answer e: 0 %

2) Cei din jur va considera o persoana:

Overall Men Women

a) Mai degraba optimistab) Mai degraba pesimistac) Nici optimista, nici pesimistad) Si optimista, si pesimista, in egala masurae) Nu stiu/Nu raspund

Answer a: 35,29%

Answer b: 0%

Answer c: 29,41%

Answer d: 0%

Answer e: 41,17 %

Answer a: 28,57%

Answer b: 0%

Answer c: 14,28%

Answer d: 0%

Answer e: 57,14%

Answer a: 40%

Answer b: 0%

Answer c: 40%

Answer d: 0%

Answer e: 20%

Part II of the survey

• Instructions: Citiţi fiecare dintre întrebarile de mai jos şi exprimati-va acordul sau dezacordul încercuind una dintre cele cinci variante ale scalei, unde 1 = dezacord total iar 5 = acord total.

• The closer to 1 the respondent’s answers are, the more pessimistic he/she is and vice-versa.

• The aim of the following questions was to enable averaging the scores for both male and female respondents and see whether women score higher than men (and therefore can be considered to be more optimistic)

• The scores were calculated for each question separately, as well as for all the 6 questions overall.

3. Atunci cand ma confrunt cu o

situatie al carei final este incert,

ma astept ca lucrurile sa se

rezolve in favoarea mea

Overall Men Women

3,76 3,42 4

4. Privesc mereu cu incredere spre

viitor

3,88 3,57 4,1

5. Vad intotdeauna

jumatatea plina a paharului

3,88 3,71 4

6. Atunci cand ma aflu intr-o competitie

cu alte persoane, plec de la premisa ca

(avand in vedere abilitatile mele) am

sanse cel putin egale cu ale acestora de a

castiga.

4,41 4,7 4,2

7. Atunci cand am o sarcina dificila

de indeplinit, sunt sigur(a) ca o voi duce cu bine la

capat

Overall Men Women

4,41 4,14 4,6

8. Atunci cand imi amintesc de

anumite perioade din viata mea, imi

vin in minte cu precadere momentele

placute.

4,17 3,71 4,5

Overall questions 3-8

4,08 3,87 4,23

Findings• According to the table presented, women are slightly more

optimistic than men (as their scores were higher for 5 out of the 6 questions, as well as overall)

• There was 1 single question where men stood out as being substantially more optimistic than women – the one referring to competitive spirit. However, this could also be due to men being more competitive than women (which should be subject to further research)

• This question was also the one where the highest score was obtained (namely 4,7 which was the closest value to the maximum of 5 out of all the scores for all the 6 questions)

• More female respondents(60%) than male respondents (42,85) describe themselves as being optimistic.

• None of the respondents describes himself/herself as being pessimistic.

• No male respondent describes himself as being neither optimistic nor pessimistic, as opposed to 10% of all female respondents (1 female respondent)

• More male respondents(42,85%) than female respondents(30%) consider themselves to be equally pessimistic and optimistic.

• 14% of all male respondents chose to respond “Don’t know” to the question as opposed to 0% of all female respondents.

• More female respondents(40%) than male respondents(28,57%) claim that others consider them to be optimistic

• None of the respondents claim that others consider them to be pessimistic.

• More female respondents(40%) than male respondents(14,28%) claim that others consider them to neither optimistic nor pessimistic

• None of the respondents claim that others consider them to be equally pessimistic and optimistic.

• More than half of all male respondents (57,14%) chose to respond “Don’t know” to the question as opposed to only 20% of all female respondents.

There are notable differences between the way in which both male and female respondents describe themselves as being and the way in which they claim that others consider them to be• 60% of all female respondents & 42,85 % of all male respondents consider themselves

as being optimistic whereas only 40% of all female respondents and 28,57% of all male respondents claim that others consider them to be optimistic

• No respondent considers himself/herself as being pessimistic. No respondent claims that others consider him/her to be pessimistic -> the only perfectly consistent answer

• 10% of all female respondents & 0% of all male respondents consider themselves as being neither pessimistic nor optimistic whereas 40% of all female respondents and 14,28% of all male respondents claim that others consider them to be neither pessimistic nor optimistic

• 30% of all female respondents & 42,85% of all male respondents consider themselves as being equally pessimistic and optimistic whereas no respondent claims that others consider them to be equally pessimistic and optimistic.

• 0% of all female respondents & 14,28% of all male respondents don’t know how to describe themselves as being (with respect to optimism) whereas 20% of all female respondents and 57,14% of all male respondents don’t know how others see themselves (with respect to optimism)

• Ethical issues - Since the questionnaires were anonymous, no ethical issues where encountered during the research.

• Shortcomings & further research - 18 respondents (all from the same geographical region) – not a large enough sample for a highly general claim

• Only age and gender were taken into consideration, whereas adding more criteria with respect to personal data could bring to light potentially interesting results

• Sampling was done as randomly as possible given the difficulty of finding respondents, but a different sampling process should be found should the study take place on a larger scale.

• A wider variety of question types could have been used, and might have led to more complex and varied results.

• Further research should be conducted in order to explore the inconsistencies encountered between the way in which both male and female respondents describe themselves as being and the way in which they claim that others consider them to be.

• Further research should also be conducted in order to explore the reason why there was 1 single question where men stood out as being substantially more optimistic than women – the one referring to competitive spirit.

Conclusion• As a result of applying a

survey to a sample of 17 respondents (7 men and 10 women) from Brasov with ages ranging from 18-26 we can state that the female respondents came across as more optimistic than the male ones, thus validating the initial hypothesis.

• However, a large-scale study should be conducted in order to obtain a more general result.