Implicit Science Stereotypes Mediate the Relationship between Gender and Academic Participation

While the gender gap in mathematics and science has narrowed, men pursue these fields at a higher rate than women. In this study, 165 men and women at a university in the northeastern United States completed implicit and explicit measures of science stereotypes (association between male and science, relative to female and humanities), and gender identity (association between the concept “self” and one’s own gender, relative to the concept “other” and the other gender), and reported plans to pursue science-oriented and humanities-oriented academic programs and careers. Although men were more likely than women to plan to pursue science, this gap in students’ intentions was completely accounted for by implicit stereotypes. Moreover, implicit gender identity moderated the relationship between women’s stereotypes and their academic plans, such that implicit stereotypes only predicted plans for women who strongly implicitly identified as female. These findings illustrate how an understanding of implicit cognitions can illuminate between-group disparities as well as within-group variability in science pursuit.     

When stereotypes disadvantage boys: Strength of stereotypes in mathematics and language arts and their relations with grades

There is growing concern about boys' lagging performance in school, not only in language arts, where the gap is particularly pronounced, but also in mathematics. Stereotypes associating one gender with language arts or with mathematics are likely to contribute to these gaps. Such stereotypes can translate into explicit beliefs such as the extent to which students are aware of societal stereotypes or the extent to which they personally believe stereotypes to be true, but also indirectly into performance following a stereotype threat manipulation. However, few studies have considered these multiple stereotype expressions in both mathematics and language arts to examine their importance in predicting boys' and girls' actual grades in school. To fill this gap, two complementary studies examined high school boys' and girls' awareness and endorsement of stereotypes about both language arts (n = 299) and mathematics (n = 243), as well as whether stereotype threat impaired boys' performance on a spelling test. Although the effect of stereotype threat was not significant overall, our results showed that students were aware of and endorsed strong stereotypes advantaging girls in language arts. In mathematics, students endorsed counter-traditional stereotypes slightly advantaging girls. Our results also showed that these multiple expressions of stereotypes related to students' grades. In doing so, our work provides insights regarding possible targets for interventions to reduce gender gaps disadvantaging boys in school.     

Gender Differences in Persistence and Attributions in Stereotype Relevant Contexts

The present research was designed to examine the effects of gender math stereotypes on performance attributions and persistence. Two experiments tested whether stereotypes guided men’s and women’s reactions to negative or positive feedback on an alleged test of verbal or math ability. In Study 1, attributions to ability were influenced by gender stereotypes: women were more sensitive to feedback on a test that was described as a test of their math ability than when the same test was described as a test of their verbal ability, whereas men showed the opposite pattern. Study 2 replicated these findings for negative feedback and further showed that gender differences in attributions to ability mediated the gender difference in persistence in the math domain following an alleged failure on a math test. The implications of stereotype-consistent attributions for women’s persistence in quantitative fields are discussed.     

Science Anxiety as a Function of Gender and Experience

This study examined the influence of gender and various background factors on science anxiety. Students (50 women, 37 men) took the Science Anxiety Scale (Mallow, 1994), provided information about high school and college academic accomplishments, described gender-role stereotyping in the home, and evaluated their science teachers and science experiences. Most participants were Caucasian and from an upper-middle class background. Women were not uniformly more science anxious and had a relatively similar science background to men, although they had higher science grades in high school and did report less stringent sex-role socialization in the home. However, students with high science anxiety took fewer science courses in college, had lower SAT-Q scores, and reported that their high school science teachers were not helpful. The findings regarding gender- and anxiety-linked differences are discussed in terms of women's and men's differential interpretations of their abilities, the influence of parental gender typing on pursuit of science, and the gender-appropriateness of studying science.     

Math = male,me = female,therefore math not = me

College students, especially women, demonstrated negativity toward math and science relative to arts and language on implicit measures. Group membership (being female), group identity (self = female), and gender stereotypes (math = male) were related to attitudes and identification with mathematics. Stronger implicit math = male stereotypes corresponded with more negative implicit and explicit math attitudes for women but more positive attitudes for men. Associating the self with female and math with male made it difficult for women, even women who had selected math-intensive majors, to associate math with the self. These results point to the opportunities and constraints on personal preferences that derive from membership in social groups.     

Matching Abilities to Careers for Others and Self: Do Gender Stereotypes Matter to Students in Advanced Math and Science Classes?

Interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers falls off more quickly for young women than for young men over adolescence, and gender stereotypes may be partially to blame. Adolescents typically become more stereotypical in their career interests over time, yet they seem to become more flexible in applying stereotypes to others. Models of career interest propose that career decisions result from the alignment of self-perceived abilities with occupation-required skills and that gender stereotypes may influence this process. To investigate the discrepancy between applying stereotypes to self and others, we examined if these models can be applied to perceptions of others. Focusing on students from fifth grade through college enrolled in advanced STEM courses, we investigated how STEM occupational stereotypes, abilities, and efficacy affect expectations for others’ and own career interests. U.S. participants (n = 526) read vignettes describing a hypothetical male or female student who was talented in math/science or language arts/social studies and then rated the student’s interest in occupations requiring some of those academic skills. Participants’ self-efficacy, interest, and stereotypes for STEM occupations were also assessed. Findings suggest that ability beliefs, whether for oneself or another, are powerful predictors of occupational interest, and gender stereotypes play a secondary role. College students were more stereotypical in their ratings of others, but they did not manifest gender differences in their own STEM self-efficacy and occupational interests. Experiences in specialized STEM courses may explain why stereotypes are applied differentially to the self and others.     

Focusing on gender similarities increases female students’ motivation to participate in STEM

Recent analyses highlight women's opting out of STEM fields as an important contributing factor to the gender gap in science. Therefore, it is important to identify the factors influencing women's motivation to participate in STEM. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that the focus on differences between male and female students in STEM, even when those differences are irrelevant to the competence dimension, would decrease the motivation of women to engage in STEM. On the other hand, a belief in gender similarities would increase their motivation to get involved in STEM. We conducted three experiments among female students in STEM majors, in which we manipulated the focus on gender differences versus similarities. The results, which replicated across three studies, showed that when female students focused on similarities between men and women, they were more motivated to engage in STEM‐related activities than when they focused on gender differences. Additionally, we tested whether the gender stereotypes and a perception of gender discrimination mediated that effect but the results of these analyses were inconsistent across studies. Overall, the findings suggest that messaging directed at women in STEM, which highlights similarities between men and women could encourage them to engage in STEM but deactivation of gender stereotypes does not necessarily account for these effects.     

The impact of engineering identification and stereotypes on undergraduate women’s achievement and persistence in engineering

Women almost always comprise a minority in engineering programs and a smaller percentage of women pursue engineering than other science and technology majors. The culture of engineering departments and negative stereotypes of women’s engineering and mathematical ability have been identified as factors that inhibit women’s entry into engineering and cause them to leave the major. Even for women who stay, stereotype threat or the anxiety of confirming a negative stereotype can decrease academic performance. To more fully understand this dynamic, we examined four factors associated with stereotype threat (engineering identification, gender identification, gender stereotype endorsement, and engineering ability perceptions) to determine how they impacted women’s achievement and persistence in engineering at the end of their first year of an engineering program. Participants included 363 first-year general engineering students from a large public university. Students completed a questionnaire near the end of their first year. Results indicated that there were differences between men and women for gender stereotype endorsement and engineering ability perceptions, with men more likely to hold negative stereotypes of women’s engineering abilities and women more likely to report higher perceptions of their engineering abilities. Engineering identification was a significant predictor of persistence in engineering, and engineering ability perceptions were significant predictors of achievement; the relationships were stronger for women than men. The fact that neither gender identification nor gender stereotype endorsement were related to achievement or persistence in engineering indicated that they were less important factors for first-year women engineering students than engineering identification and engineering ability perceptions.     

“How good are you in math?” The effect of gender stereotypes on students’ recollection of their school marks

Two studies examined the effect of gender stereotypes on students’ recollection of their school marks in stereotypically feminine (arts) and masculine (mathematics) domains. As predicted, the results of Study 1 indicated that the more students believed in gender stereotypes prior to recall, the more they biased their reported marks, compared to their actual marks, in a stereotype-consistent way (female students underestimated their marks in mathematics and male students underestimated their marks in arts). Study 2, in which the salience of gender stereotypes was manipulated prior to recall, yielded similar findings. The recall of school marks was more stereotype-consistent in a condition of high salience than in a condition of low salience of gender stereotypes. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.     

Men in pink collars: Stereotype threat and disengagement among male teachers and child protection workers

Male employees are a traditionally advantaged group, but when working in a female‐dominated industry they may be vulnerable to negative gender stereotypes. The current research examined stereotype threat among men in two traditionally feminine jobs. Study 1 measured stereotype threat among primary school teachers and found that men experienced more stereotype threat than women, and that feelings of stereotype threat were related to negative job attitudes for men but not women. Study 2 manipulated the direction of social comparisons to elicit stereotype threat among male child protection workers. For men but not women, upward social comparisons with a successful feminine target elicited stereotype threat. In turn, stereotype threat was associated with intentions to resign and feeling expected to perform stereotypic masculine work tasks. These results suggest that despite their advantaged status, men in pink‐collar jobs are susceptible to workplace stereotype threat.     

Temptation Bias: Can Self-enhancement Limit the Influence of Gender Stereotypes?

Temptation bias is the tendency to see oneself as better than others at resisting temptation. To understand the influence of self-enhancement and gender stereotypes on temptation bias, 215 undergraduates from a university located in the southwest region of the United States compared their ability to resist ten sexually tempting scenarios to that of others in general, and to their romantic partner (Study 1). An additional 151 undergraduates from the same university rated their own or their partner’s ability to resist seven sexually tempting scenarios compared to other men and women (Study 2). Results revealed that temptation bias was present but reduced when romantic partners were the comparison targets; and when comparing themselves to others, women displayed temptation bias regardless of the gender of the referent while men displayed temptation bias only when comparing themselves to men.     

Is School Feminine? Implicit Gender Stereotyping of School as a Predictor of Academic Achievement

One cause proposed for boys’ relatively lower academic achievement is a “feminisation” of schools that might result in a lack of fit between boys’ self-concept and academic engagement. Research so far has investigated math-male and language-female stereotypes, but no school-female stereotypes. Our study tested for implicit gender stereotyping of school and its impact on boys’ achievement in N?=?122 ninth-graders from a large city in Western Germany using the Go/No-go Association Task (GNAT). Gender role self-concept and grades in math (representing an academic domain stereotyped as male) and German (domain stereotyped as female) were assessed using written questionnaires. It was found that, overall, students associated school more strongly with female than with male, and that this association of school with female was related to boys’ academic achievement. The more strongly boys associated school with female and the more they ascribed negative masculine traits to themselves, the lower their grades in German were. Boys’ academic achievement in math was unrelated to the extent to which they perceived school as feminine and themselves as masculine. Girls’ grades in both German and math were unrelated to their gender stereotyping of school. These findings emphasize the importance of fit between a student’s gender, gender role self-concept and gender stereotyping of school for academic achievement. Strategies to improve this fit are discussed.     

Effects of biological and psychological gender,age cohort,and interviewer gender on attitudes toward gender-inclusive/exclusive language

Proposals for gender-inclusive language reforms have been institutionalized by many organizations, but a number of factors may affect individuals' own language behaviors and attitudes in this domain. Previous research has shown the influence of respondents' gender and social affiliations on their willingness to accept gender-inclusive language reforms. Study 1 builds upon those earlier surveys by adapting their questions for use in face-to-face interviews. Factors explored in Study 1 included interviewees' gender and age cohort and the situational variable of interviewer gender. Results showed that women were more concerned about sexist language than men, more likely to evaluate it negatively, and likely to use more gender-inclusive methods to avoid it. Older subjects were more attentive to gender-exclusive language than current college students. Interviewer gender also exerted effects such that female interviewers elicited more negative attitudes toward gender-exclusive language than did male interviewers. Young men interviewed by males reported using fewest gender-inclusive constructions, while older females interviewed by women used the most. Study 2 demonstrated the effect of psychological gender role types on attitudes toward gender-inclusive language. Androgynous individuals reported using more methods to avoid gender-exclusive reference than did either gender-neutral or instrumental (traditionally masculine) participants. Implications for diffusing gender-inclusive language reform are discussed.     

The Gender Gap in Possible Selves: Divergence of Academic Self-Views Among High School and University Students

Two studies were designed to investigate the current and possible academic self-views of university and high school students. In the first study, upper level university students were shown to diverge by gender in their current- and possible-self-views. Women reported more ability for and identification with the arts, communication, and social sciences; men reported more ability for and identification with mathematics, science, technology, and business. Gender differences were greater with respect to possible future selves than to current selves. The second study included lower and upper level university students as well as high school students. Again, a gender divergence appeared among the university students; however, it was not as marked among high school students. Analyses showed that both women and men differed significantly across educational levels in their self-ratings and that, within the masculine-stereotyped academic domains linked to powerful careers, university women endorsed fewer possibilities for themselves that high school women did. These findings suggest that, as they make the transition from high school to university, young women may be actively closing off possibilities for their futures.     

When Civic Virtue isn’t Seen as Virtuous: The Effect of Gender Stereotyping on Civic Virtue Expectations for Women

We examined the extent to which observers’ expectations of target employees’ civic virtue organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) are a function of both observer- (gender stereotype activation, threat) and target-related (gender) influences. Consistent with a role congruity perspective, we proposed that civic virtue (constructive involvement in the political governance process of the organization) will be expected to a lesser extent of women, but only when gender stereotypes are activated. We confirm this hypothesis across two studies. In Study 1, based on a sample of 187 U.S. undergraduate students (101 women, 86 men), we show that less civic virtue is expected of women when observers’ gender stereotypes are experimentally activated (vs. the non-activated condition). Using an additional sample of 197 U.S. undergraduate students (Study 2; 118 women, 79 men), we extend our findings by demonstrating that less civic virtue was expected of women in a high (vs. low) threat (manipulated) condition. Findings for men are included for comparative and general informational purposes only. We observed no significant changes in civic virtue expectations for men due to our study manipulations. Our research extends prior studies by showing that expectations for civic virtue are diminished for women, but only when gender stereotypes and threat are activated.     

Ethnicity and Gender Stereotypes of Emotion

In three studies we investigated gender stereotypes of emotions among four ethnic groups in the U.S., using persons from these groups as informants about their own groups. European Americans’ reports of stereotypes were compared to those of African Americans (Study 1), Hispanic Americans (Study 2), and Asian Americans (Study 3). The examination of group differences was interpreted based on variations across ethnicities in norms concerning emotional expression and gender roles. Overall, gender stereotypes of emotion were evident among all ethnic groups studied, but European Americans’ gender stereotypes were the most gender differentiated. For example, European American stereotypes held that men express more pride than women do, but African Americans’ stereotypes of pride for men and women did not differ. Similarly, whereas among European Americans, women were stereotyped to express much more love than men do, the gender difference was smaller among Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans. These different norms may pose challenges for inter-cultural interactions, and they point to the importance of considering both gender and ethnicity simultaneously in the study of emotions.     

Response Style Theory Revisited: Gender Differences and Stereotypes in Rumination and Distraction

Response Style Theory [S. Nolen-Hoeksema (1987) “Sex Differences in Unipolar Depression: Evidence and Theory,” Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 101, pp. 259–282] suggests that, when depressed, women ruminate on their sad feelings while men distract themselves from theirs. We sought to examine this gender difference in more detail. In Study 1, 155 students provided stereotype ratings or self-reports of responses to depression. The stereotype ratings conformed precisely to Response Style Theory yet exaggerated self-reported gender differences, especially for men. In Study 2, 40 roommate pairs completed a similar set of ratings. Again, other-ratings conformed exactly to Response Style Theory's predictions while self-ratings showed a more moderated pattern. In both studies, women reported ruminating more than did men, yet men and women were equally likely to report distraction. We conclude by examining several hypotheses for the discrepancies between stereotypes and self-reports for men as well as the increased rates of rumination among women.     

Is it emotion or is it stress? Gender stereotypes and the perception of subjective experience

Two studies of college undergraduates (ns = 95 and 92, primarily non-Hispanic whites and Asian Americans) investigated gender stereotypes of stress and emotion, as well as variables that influence the perception of gender-related differences. Study 1 assessed how gender stereotypes differ from the self-reports of men and women. When asked to choose a label for the subjective experience of the average man and the average woman in a series of problematic hypothetical situations, participants generally tended to believe that the average female would feel ‘emotional,” but that the average male would feel “stressed.” By contrast, the label participants chose to describe their own subjective experience was not significantly affected by their gender. In addition, participants believed the average woman and man differed more in the intensity of their emotions than in the intensity of their stress, a belief contradicted by their own self-reports. Results of Study 2 indicated that gender-related differences in estimations of stress and emotion for the self were reduced or eliminated when specific information about experience-eliciting situations was provided. We would like to thank Matthew Dank for his help in preparing the stimulus materials.     

When do Gender Stereotypes Impair Math Performance? A Study of Stereotype Threat Among Ugandan Adolescents

The present study examined the effect of gender-based stereotype threat (ST) on the mathematics performance of high school students in Uganda, East Africa, as moderated by students’ stereotype endorsement and/or their perceptions of stereotypic expectancies by others. Participants were 190 ninth grade students (age 14–15, senior 2, in Uganda) from all-female and coed boarding schools. Only perceived stereotypic expectancies by others significantly moderated ST effects on performance. A reminder of cross-gender comparisons led both young women and young men to underperform if they assumed that the researchers expected their own gender to do worse than the other gender. Importantly, students’ perceptions of the stereotypic expectancies of authority figures (i.e. researchers) mattered more for predicting their math performance than did students’ own endorsement of stereotypes. Collectively, these findings support a basic assumption of ST theory– that knowledge of a cultural stereotype is a prerequisite to the ST experience. Therefore, studies conducted with younger samples and in diverse cultural contexts should establish participants’ awareness of the stereotype in question. Also, regarding gender and math stereotypes, it should not be assumed that males will always be immune from stereotype-based performance deficits on quantitative tasks when tested in different cultures. Finally, results suggest that conveying an expectation that young men and young women have equal ability and potential might be important to preventing ST among younger age groups.