Volunteering for a high-demand, low-reward project: sex differences.

Summary Seventy-six college students were tested and given the opportunity to participate in a high-demand, low-reward project. A stepwise discriminant analysis involving volunteers and non-volunteers of both sexes (MV, FV, MN, FN) produced a linear combination of eight variables which correctly classified 67% of MV, 75% of FV, 67% of MN, and 74% of FN. V showed greater concern for self-understanding and less aversion to auditory stimuli than did N. However, MV were more self-assertive, more attracted to glamorous pursuits, had stronger agreeing tendencies, and were more authoritarian than were FV. Results caution against generalizing from volunteers of one sex to volunteers of the other.