A Proof of Concept Study on Cortisol Response to Three Different Educational Environs (Alone, Same-Sex, and Mixed-Sex)

doi:10.4236/ce.2013.44A002

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Creative Education

2013. Vol.4, No.4A, 9-10

Published Online April 2013 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ce) DOI:10.4236/ce.2013.44A002

A Proof of Concept Study on Cortisol Response to Three Different

Educational Environs (Alone, Same-Sex, and Mixed-Sex)

Sean A. Forbes1, Svetlana Chesser1, Anthony J. Guarino2

1Educational Psychology, A ub urn University, Auburn, USA

2Biostatistics, MGH Institute of Health, Boston, USA

Email: [email protected]

Received January 7th, 2013; revised February 9th, 2013; a cc ept ed F eb ru ary 23 rd, 2013

Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the

original work is properly cited.

This proof of concept study assessed student cortisol levels under three environs: 1) alone; 2) same-sex

setting; and 3) mixed-sex setting after completing a cognitive task. The results indicated that both males

and females demonstrated increased levels in the same-sex environs compared to the other environs. The

relevant issue for educators is whether this response is adaptive. Implications of these findings are dis-

cussed.

Keywords: Mixed-Sex Setting; Higher Education; Proof of Concept

Introduction

The primary aim of this research was to conduct a “Proof of

Concept” study (POC). POC is a process that attempts to

achieve supporting evidence for the supposition, or concept

under consideration. The concept for this study addressed the

elevated cortisol levels of women performing in mixed-sex

environs. Fecund research studies support the inhibiting per-

formance of women in the presence of men (Niederle & Vest-

erlund, 2010). These studies often conclude with proposing

separate sex higher education environments (Burton, 2010).

Studies such as Hargittai and Shafer (2006), noted the effects of

mixed-sex settings range from women failing to perform well

in competitions, to women shying away from environments in

which they have to compete.

Corston and Colman (1996) report that adult women con-

ducting a computer-based task performed poorer in the pres-

ence of men even after controlling, 1) levels of computer usage;

2) computer-related anxiety; 3) confidence and competence

with computers; and 4) attitudes toward computers and com-

puter users. Other researchers postulate that women may be less

effective than men in competitive environments, even if they

are able to perform similarly in non-competitive environments

(Hargittai & Shafer, 2006). To assess this attenuation, Hargittai

et al. (2006) increased the competitiveness of the environment

in a laboratory experiment, which significantly increased the

performance for men, but not for women. This effect is stronger

when women have to compete against men than in single-sex

competitive env irons.

Invoking the Integrated Model (IM) (Tooby & Cosmides,

1992) may help to explain the differential performances of

subjects in mixed-sex settings. The IM posits that humans are

born with physiological responses to specific stimuli including

mixed sex educational environs (Giamia, Ohlrichsb, Quilliamc,

& Wellingsd, 2006). One hypnotized physiological process

elates to cortisol levels. Cortisol was chosen as an indicator

because it responds to a wide range of physiological, behavioral

and cognitive functions and thus would serve as a reliable indi-

cator of physiological change.

If the sex of the partner is a significant stimulus to elicit a

physiological response, cortisol should be greater in the

mixed-sex setting than in same-sex and the alone settings. If,

however, there are no differences, researchers cannot empiri-

cally conclude that the mixed-sex settings influenced the tasks

under investigations for the individual. In this POC study, the

hypothesis was that women would demonstrate a significantly

greater level of cortisol compared to men in the mixed-sex

educational setting.

Participants

The sample for this POC study was comprised of nine par-

ticipants (5 males and 4 females) from a comprehensive doc-

toral university in the Southeastern United States. Participants

were included if they met the following criteria, enrolled in

good standing at the university, maintained a B (3.0) grade-

point average, obtained junior status, and declared an academic

major. This study was approved by the institution’s IRB. All

selected students signed a consent form that explained the pur-

pose of the study and asked for their permission to use their

data. All participants were given a copy of the completed

manuscript prior to submission to review and confirm the in-

tegrity of the results.

Procedure

All students completed a cognitive task under three environs

in the following sequence: 1) alone; 2) same-sex setting; and 3)

mixed-sex setting. A base line sample was also taken prior to

the study. Saliva samples were extracted from the students after

experiencing each of the environs. ELISA kits were employed

to assess the cortisol levels in the saliva samples.

S. A. FORBES ET AL.

Table 1.

The Means, SEM, and CI95 for Cortisol Levels at each Environs.

95% confidence interval

Time Mean Std. Error

Lower bound Upper bound

Base .877 .058 .740 1.014

Alone .877 .047 .767 .988

Same 1.099 .045 .993 1.204

Mixed 1.024 .061 .881 1.167

Results

A 2 (gender) × 4 (environs: alone, same-sex and mixed-sex)

between/within ANOVA was conducted with cortisol level as

the dependent variable. Statistical significance was set with

alpha of p < 0.10 to enhance power as recommended by Ste-

vens (2002). Results indicated no statistically significant gender

effect or interaction effect. However, there was a statistically

significant environs effect, F(2, 5) = 4.71, p = .012, Eta-

Squared = .37 (a large effect). Pairwise comparisons using the

LSD technique reported that regardless of gender, participants’

cortisol levels in the mixed-sex setting were statistically sig-

nificantly greater than in the alone or same-sex environs. There

were no statistically significant differences between the alone

and the same-sex environs. Descriptive statistics are presented

in Table 1.

Discussion

Although the results of this POC study provide initial phy-

siological evidence that cortisol responds to a wide range of

physiological, behavioral and cognitive functions and did serve

as a reliable indicator of physiological change, the hypothesis

that women would demonstrate greater levels was not sup-

ported. The results indicated that both males and females dem-

onstrated increased levels in the same-sex environs compared to

the other environs. The relevant issue for educators is whether

this response is adaptive or not. Perhaps this increase cortisol

may heighten the arousal level of the subject which could then

either enhance or attenuate performance. Findings such as these

may have beneficial social and educational implications. The

more we discover about how stress-related HPA axis responses

impact sexually dimorphic brain cognitive mechanisms, the

better chance we have to create optimal learning environments.

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