Gender differences in metacognitive calibration and response confidence

Abstract

Female students are often underrepresented in natural science studies, contributing to the leaky pipeline persistence. Although several factors linked to gender have been shown to influence study choices, such as self-efficacy and a sense of belonging, there is a lack of research on gender-related differences in metacognitive calibration. In the present investigation, we examined gender differences in natural science undergraduate students’ metacognitive calibration and response confidence when solving a test battery covering fundamental concepts in biology. We found no gender-related differences concerning their overall metacognitive calibration. However, female students demonstrated significantly higher underconfidence ratings than their male colleagues (F(1, 153) = 11.74, p < .001, d = 0.57, 95% CI = [0.24, 0.91]). Essentially, they were more prone to judge their provided answers to be wrong despite being correct. These results suggest a subconscious tendency to underestimate their own abilities, potentially influencing study choice early on and further dampening academic performance. Future work could focus on exploring methods to enhance students' metacognitive calibration and, ultimately, contribute to efforts aimed at addressing the gender gap and promoting female students in STEM subjects.