Narrow Results

The paper discusses the existing theories and measurement tools of self-esteem and self-liking and analyzes certain non-clinical ways for improving them. Statistical modeling is used to confirm the effect of receiving compliments on self-liking. The experimental part of the paper is based on a questionnaire about self-perceived attractiveness completed by a group of young adults, half of whom received a compliment immediately before. The modeling outcomes demonstrate that compliments lead to increased self-perceived attractiveness in both genders.

This paper studied the differences of gender and left/right-handed groups from a neuroscience perspective through task-related power of alpha power changes during the generation of creative ideas. Aiming to investigate the effects of the differences, it will help understand the specific neural processes for different genders and left/right-handed groups. We used B-Alert X10^®; electroencephalography (EEG) system, computed for left and right hemispheres, to determine if EEG metrics differentiated between the gender and left/right-handed groups. This study assessed EEG power spectral density (PSD) while 17 healthy participants worked on the alternative uses (AU) task. The results showed that (1) the creativity level has no relations with the gender; there is no obvious difference between males and females on the process of creative idea generation. (2) The creativity level is high related to the cultivation of innovative ability. There is obvious higher alpha power changes in posterior regions of the right hemisphere compared to the left hemisphere of the brain for high original group, and a stronger task-related alpha synchronization showed in the right hemisphere than that in the left one for the low original group. (3) There is comparatively lower alpha power in parietal region in the left hemisphere than that in the right one for the left-handed participants, and higher alpha power in the frontal region for the left-handed and in parietal region for right-handed participants. The comparison among different genders and left/right-handed participants can help us understand more about the creative thinking manifested in the human brain.

Numerous data in the literature provide evidence for gender differences in spatial orientation. In particular, it has been suggested that spatial representations of large-scale environments are more accurate in terms of metric information in men than in women but are richer in landmark information in women than in men. One explanatory hypothesis is that men and women differ in terms of navigational processes they used in daily life. The present study investigated this hypothesis by distinguishing two navigational processes: spatial updating by self-motion and landmark-based orientation. Subjects were asked to perform a pointing task in three experimental conditions, which differed in terms of reliability of the external landmarks that could be used. Two groups of subjects were distinguished, a mobile group and an immobile group, in which spatial updating of environmental locations did not have the same degree of importance for the correct performance of the pointing task. We found that men readily relied on an internal egocentric representation of where landmarks were expected to be in order to perform the pointing task, a representation that could be updated during self-motion (spatial updating). In contrast, women seemed to take their bearings more readily on the basis of the stable landmarks of the external world. We suggest that this gender difference in spatial orientation is not due to differences in information processing abilities but rather due to the differences in higher level strategies.

Facial attractiveness has been an interesting topic in cognitive psychology due to its key role in human communication and experience. The evaluation of attractiveness is adjusted by many factors including gender differences and cultural biases. In this paper, event-related potential (ERP) activity was recorded in an oddball paradigm from 10 Chinese men and 10 Chinese women who judged attractiveness of faces. Participants were told to detect faces with neutral expression and judge their attractiveness among a train of neutral objects that were presented more frequently than the faces. The ERP analyses showed that there was enhanced detection over early (P1, N170, P2, N300) and late (P3b) components in both genders. This suggests that a biased electrophysiological response to attractive faces compared to unattractive faces could indicate the involvement of emotion and reward pathways in judging facial attractiveness. Specifically, there were delayed P1 and P3b latencies in response to attractive faces with slower response times in men compared to women. From an evolutionary perspective, this may suggest that men attribute more value to facial appearances, especially attractive features, than women do, as evidenced by their cognitive load while processing attractive faces compared to unattractive faces.

This study examines how entrepreneurial relationship variables such as trust, conflict, interpersonal justice (IJ) and satisfaction differ among a group of male and female franchisees. Results suggest differences exist between these two groups in relation to conflict, IJ and trust with their franchisor. These results are consistent with research on feminine gender roles and research that suggests female entrepreneurs are more relationship oriented throughout the entrepreneurial process. The results further make a case for the importance of empirically examining different entrepreneurial relationship variables in future research on gender and entrepreneurship, and illustrate the power of the franchising business model in breaking down potential barriers of gender discrimination for female entrepreneurs.

Based on grounded theory and combined with empirical investigation of self-organized entrepreneurial behavior, we explored the difference between male and female’s cognitive mode, cognitive bias and behavior influence. It is found that the cognitive pattern of self-organized female entrepreneurs is more narrow and obtrusive, but a few outstanding female entrepreneurs show outstanding performance. Self-organized male entrepreneurs show open and divergent structured cognition. On cognitive bias, women of ordinary self-organized entrepreneurs have a greater range of deviations. In terms of behavior influence, self-organized male entrepreneurs are strongly dependent on prior cognition due to their more emphasis on their professional and technological foundation, and their behavior is more persistent.

Entrepreneurship contributes significantly to economic growth and female entrepreneurs are strongly involved because their economic contribution is steadily increasing. However, research also reveals that female entrepreneurs face more financial barriers when compared to their male counterparts. Therefore, it is of prime importance to understand better female entrepreneurs’ behavior regarding financing. The purpose of this research was to explore gender differences related to financing with an intention to uncover why such differences exist. An empirical study involving a sample of 946 entrepreneurs from Canada and the United States was conducted to examine the issue. Results revealed that female entrepreneurs start their ventures with less capital than males, have a lesser tendency than males to obtain a bank loan and have a perception of being more in debt than their male counterparts are. Moreover, both variables depicting the smaller size of female-owned ventures and the intrinsic motivations expressed by female entrepreneurs acted as explanatory factors for the lower proportion of bank loans in the case of female-owned venture startups.

Understanding muscle hemodynamics using near-infrared spectroscopy is increasingly evident in the recent spinal disorders-related literature. However, none of these human studies addressed the issue of physiological limits for the lumbar muscle within the same participants during various exercise modes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate physiological limits for the lumbar muscle during dynamic and static endurance tests. On three separate days, 22 healthy men and women performed three endurance protocols (static prone trunk extension, arm cranking, and pushing–pulling) until volitional exhaustion. For each protocol, minimum and maximum oxygenation and blood volume responses from the right lumbar erector spinae were obtained using a continuous dual wavelength near-infrared spectroscopy (Micro-Runman, NIM Inc., PA, USA). Statistical analysis showed that greatest reduction in oxygenation (minimum) were obtained during dynamic exercises: pushing–pulling (2.1 times) and arm cranking (2.03 times) versus static test (P < 0.05). Physiological change (calculated as the difference between maximum during recovery and minimum at the point of volitional exhaustion) during static test was lower [(66–75% for oxygenation) and (34–46% for blood volume)] than dynamic exercises (P < 0.05). Contrary to the theory that sufficient occlusion of blood flow to the lumbar muscle is possible with static trunk extension, it was concluded that a dynamic protocol until volitional exhaustion might be a good alternative in establishing near-infrared spectroscopy-derived physiological limits to the lumbar muscle. Further research is essential to identify an optimal calibration procedure for establishing true hypoxic values for the human lumbar muscle.

The chapter reviews gender related differences in saving and investment behavior and in debt management, and the major factors that have been identified in previous research as influencing the quality of financial decisions making, such as risk attitudes, financial literacy, confidence in financial knowledge and cognitive style. In addition, we analyze preliminary data from our laboratory studies on men and women’s management ofmultiple debt accounts. Based on our findings,we suggest possible mechanisms that drive gender similarities and differences in behavior.