Men are believed to be more creative than women, even if they show equal skill.

就算表现出的能力不相上下，人们还是觉得男性的创造力比女性强。

This is according to a series of studies that found most people associate creativity with 'masculine qualities', such as risk-taking and a sense of adventure.

一系列研究结果发现，大多数人都把创造力和男性特质联系起来，比如承担风险的能力或是冒险精神。

The findings provide a clearer insight into why men tend to get promoted faster than women in a range of professions, the researchers say.

研究人员表示，这些研究结果让人们可以更明确地洞悉为什么在职场中男性比女性晋升得更快。

'Our research shows that beliefs about what it takes to 'think creatively' overlap¹ substantially with the unique content of male stereotypes,' says lead researcher Devon Proudfoot at Duke University.

这项研究的领头人、美国杜克大学的德文•普劳德富特说：“我们的研究表明，人们对于‘创造性思维’的认知很大方面都和传统观念的男性特质相重合。”

In an online study, the researchers randomly² assigned 80 participants to read a passage describing a type of creativity.

在第一个实验中，研究人员在网上随机指派80名参与者阅读一篇描述创造力的文章。

They included the ability to 'think outside the box', also known as divergent thinking, or the ability to 'connect the dots', known as convergent³ thinking.

这篇文章所描述的创造力包括“跳出框框思考”，也称作发散性思维，以及“将多个点连在一起”的能力，也叫作聚合思维。

After reading the passage, the participants rated how central 16 different personality traits are to creativity.

读完文章后，参与者对16种不同的人格特质按照他们和创造力的关联大小进行排序。

As expected, participants associated creativity more with stereotypically⁴ masculine traits, including decisiveness, competitiveness, risk-taking, ambition, and daring, than with stereotypically feminine traits like cooperation and understanding.

果不其然，相比传统观念中的女性特质（如合作和理解），参与者挑选出的大多都和典型的男性特质相符，包括坚定果断、争强好胜、勇于冒险、雄心勃勃以及大胆勇敢。

In a second online study, Proudfoot randomly assigned 169 participants to read about either an architect or a fashion designer; some were told the professional was male and others were told that the professional was female.

在第二个在线实验中，普劳德富特随机指派169名参与者阅读关于一个建筑师或一个设计师的资料，一部分人被告知这名专业人士为男性，另一部分人被告知这名专业人士为女性。

The participants viewed three images of the person's work and rated the work on its creativity, originality⁵, and outside-the-box thinking.

参与者通过三张照片了解这位专业人士的作品，并从创造性、原创性和开创性思考三个方面来给作品打分。

The male architect was judged as more creative than the female architect, despite the fact that their creations were identical.

尽管他们的作品大体相同，但人们还是觉得男性建筑师比女性建筑师更加富有创造力。

'This result suggests that gender⁶ bias⁷ in creativity judgments⁸ may affect tangible⁹ economic outcomes for men and women in the workplace,' the researchers write.

普劳德富特写道：“研究结果表明，在判断创造力方面的性别偏见可能会影响男女在职场中实际的经济收入。

'In suggesting that women are less likely than men to have their creative thinking recognized, our research not only points to a unique reason why women may be passed over for corporate¹⁰ leadership positions, but also suggests why women remain largely absent from elite¹¹ circles within creative industries,' says Proudfoot.

“研究显示，女性的创造性思维相比男性更难以得到认可。我们的研究不仅从一个独特的角度解释了女性为什么会与公司高层职位失之交臂，也解释了为什么创意产业的精英圈子里难觅女性的身影。