ICES Seminar in Experimental Economics and Game Theory
Ability Beliefs and Social Acceptability of Real-Effort Tasks
Friday, December 5, 2025 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EST
Vernon Smith Hall (formerly Metropolitan Building), 5183
The ICES Seminar in Experimental Economics and Game Theory of the Fall 2025 semester will feature:
Bucknell University
Ability Beliefs and Social Acceptability of Real-Effort Tasks
Abstract
Real-effort tasks have often been used to study gender-related questions within experimental economic research. Yet, little is known about whether the stereotypes they actually evoke align with the mechanisms these studies aim to test. To date, research using gendered real-effort tasks has largely focused on varying which gender is perceived to have an advantage at the task. However, work in social psychology and sociology distinguishes between stereotypes about ability (descriptive) and social acceptability (pre/proscriptive). We present results from a survey experiment measuring both the descriptive and pre/proscriptive stereotypes of commonly-used real-effort tasks and show that these stereotypes are not necessarily interchangeable. Some commonly used tasks which elicit descriptive stereotypes are largely neutral with respect to pre/proscriptive stereotypes. Additionally, we show that the relationship between descriptive and pre/proscriptive stereotypes is different for men than it is for women.
For more information about the Seminar Series, please visit the Seminar Schedule homepage.
