Recently researchers have debated the relevance of stereotype threat to the workplace. Critics have argued that stereotype threat is not relevant in high stakes testing such as in personnel ...selection. We and others argue that stereotype threat is highly relevant in personnel selection, but our review focused on underexplored areas including effects of stereotype threat beyond test performance and the application of brief, low-cost interventions in the workplace. Relevant to the workplace, stereotype threat can reduce domain identification, job engagement, career aspirations, and receptivity to feedback. Stereotype threat has consequences in other relevant domains including leadership, entrepreneurship, negotiations, and competitiveness. Several institutional and individual level intervention strategies that have been field-tested and are easy to implement show promise for practitioners including: addressing environmental cues, valuing diversity, wise feedback, organizational mindsets, reattribution training, reframing the task, values-affirmation, utility-value, belonging, communal goal affordances, interdependent worldviews, and teaching about stereotype threat. This review integrates criticisms and evidence into one accessible source for practitioners and provides recommendations for implementing effective, low-cost interventions in the workplace.
Recently there is widespread interest in women's underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); however, progress toward gender equality in these fields is slow. ...More alarmingly, these gender disparities worsen when examining women's representation within STEM departments in academia. While the number of women receiving postgraduate degrees has increased in recent years, the number of women in STEM faculty positions remains largely unchanged. One explanation for this lack of progress toward gender parity is negative and pervasive gender stereotypes, which may facilitate hiring discrimination and reduce opportunities for women's career advancement. Women in STEM also have lower social capital (e.g., support networks), limiting women's opportunities to earn tenure and learn about grant funding mechanisms. Women faculty in STEM may also perceive their academic climate as unwelcoming and threatening, and report hostility and uncomfortable tensions in their work environments, such as sexual harassment and discrimination. Merely the presence of gender‐biased cues in physical spaces targeted toward men (e.g., “geeky” décor) can foster a sense of not belonging in STEM. We describe the following three factors that likely contribute to gender inequalities and women's departure from academic STEM fields: (a) numeric underrepresentation and stereotypes, (b) lack of supportive social networks, and (c) chilly academic climates. We discuss potential solutions for these problems, focusing on National Science Foundation‐funded ADVANCE organizational change interventions that target (a) recruiting diverse applicants (e.g., training search committees), (b) mentoring, networking, and professional development (e.g., promoting women faculty networks); and (c) improving academic climate (e.g., educating male faculty on gender bias).
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The present study tested a model of threatening academic environments among a vulnerable population: women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Women in STEM are ...underrepresented and more likely to perceive their STEM educational environments as threatening than do men. U.S. Women majoring in STEM fields (
n
= 579) completed a questionnaire measuring each construct of a model of threatening academic environments proposed by Inzlicht et al. (
2009
). Supporting the model, greater gender stigma consciousness predicted greater gender-based rejection sensitivity. Gender rejection sensitivity predicted more negative perceptions of campus climate. More negative climate predicted more experiences of stereotype threat, which in turn predicted lower perceived control. Lower perceived control predicted greater disengagement from STEM domains, which predicted lower self-esteem. Differences also emerged between women in male- compared to female-dominated STEM subfields and between racial minority and majority women. This model describes how experiences of threatening environments may contribute to the underrepresentation of women in STEM. The model provides an overview for researchers, educators, and practitioners to better understand the relations among hostile STEM climates, experiences of identity threat, and academic disengagement. Interventions addressing environmental and individual factors in the model may improve retention and women’s experiences in STEM.
Two studies examined social determinants of adolescents' math anxiety including parents' own math anxiety and children's endorsement of math-gender stereotypes. In Study 1, parent-child dyads were ...surveyed and the interaction between parent and child math anxiety was examined, with an eye to same- and other-gender dyads. Results indicate that parent's math anxiety interacts with daughters' and sons' anxiety to predict math self-efficacy, GPA, behavioral intentions, math attitudes, and math devaluing. Parents with lower math anxiety showed a positive relationship to children's math outcomes when children also had lower anxiety. The strongest relationships were found with same-gender dyads, particularly Mother-Daughter dyads. Study 2 showed that endorsement of math-gender stereotypes predicts math anxiety (and not vice versa) for performance beliefs and outcomes (self-efficacy and GPA). Further, math anxiety fully mediated the relationship between gender stereotypes and math self-efficacy for girls and boys, and for boys with GPA. These findings address gaps in the literature on the role of parents' math anxiety in the effects of children's math anxiety and math anxiety as a mechanism affecting performance. Results have implications for interventions on parents' math anxiety and dispelling gender stereotypes in math classrooms.
We sought to demonstrate that individuals who anticipate interacting with a prejudiced cross-race/ethnicity partner show an exacerbated stress response, as measured through both self-report and ...hemodynamic and vascular responses, compared with individuals anticipating interacting with a nonprejudiced cross-race/ethnicity partner.
Through a questionnaire exchange with a White interaction partner (a confederate) Latina participants learned that their partner had racial/ethnic biased or egalitarian attitudes. Latina participants reported their cognitive and emotional states, and cardiovascular responses were measured while participants prepared and delivered a speech to the White confederate.
Participants who believed that their interaction partner held prejudiced attitudes reported greater concern and more threat emotions before the interaction, and more stress after the interaction, and showed greater cardiovascular response than did participants who believed that their partner had egalitarian attitudes.
This study shows that merely anticipating prejudice leads to both psychological and cardiovascular stress responses. These results are consistent with the conceptualization of anticipated discrimination as a stressor and suggest that vigilance for prejudice may be a contributing factor to racial/ethnic health disparities in the United States.
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There is a national interest in United States women's underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); however, gender inequality in the social sciences has not ...received similar attention. Although women increasingly earn postgraduate degrees in the social sciences, women faculty still experience gender inequities. Consistent gender inequities include slower career advancement, blunted salaries, unequal workloads, work-life conflict, systemic gender biases, underrepresentation in positions of power, and hostile work environments. Cultural biases suggest that once women have achieved parity, gender bias no longer exists. This review challenges that notion by providing evidence from social science domains in which women are well-represented but continue to face systemic gender biases. We examine cultural influences on gender representation and career advancement in psychology, economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology. We make interdisciplinary comparisons of career trajectories and salaries using national data, documenting patterns across the social sciences. For example, women economists face gendered standards in publishing, and women political scientists are less likely to have their work cited than men. Furthermore, data show that salaries become stagnant as the representation of women in these fields increases. These disparities reflect cultural biases in perceptions of women's competence stemming from social role theory. We discuss best practices to address these problems, focusing on the ADVANCE organizational change programs funded by the National Science Foundation that target (a) improving academic climate, (b) providing professional development, and (c) fostering social networking. Federally supported interventions can reveal systemic gender biases in academia and reduce gender disparities for women academics in the social sciences.
The present research examined how risk-taking protects against consequences of negative gender stereotypes among women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In Study 1, ...undergraduate women and men in STEM (N = 1013) took an online survey assessing risk-taking, academic outcomes, and vulnerability to stereotype threat. Risk-taking predicted positive academic outcomes, regardless of gender. However, a significant interaction between gender and risk-taking emerged, indicating women with higher risk-taking reported lower vulnerability to stereotype threat. In Study 2, undergraduate women in STEM (N = 140) participated in an experiment designed to elicit stereotype threat through the framing of a test (math performance versus problem solving skills) while cardiovascular reactivity was assessed. Hierarchical regression revealed women higher in risk-taking experiencing stereotype threat exhibited adaptive cardiovascular reactivity, accounting for improved math performance. Findings suggest risk-taking may buffer consequences of gender stereotypes. Interventions may bolster risk-taking among women in STEM to improve academic performance and retention.
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8.
Stereotype Threat Among Girls Casad, Bettina J.; Hale, Patricia; Wachs, Faye L.
Psychology of women quarterly,
12/2017, Volume:
41, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Effects of stereotype threat on math performance have been well-documented among college women; however, the prevalence among adolescent girls is less well-known. Further, the moderating role of ...gender identity and effects of stereotype threat on high achieving girls in math is unknown. This study tested the effects of a stereotype threat condition (vs. control group) among middle school girls in standard and honors math classes and examined gender identity as a moderator. Students (N = 498) completed pre- and post-questionnaires and a math test as part of a stereotype threat experiment. Gender identity moderated effects of stereotype threat on math discounting, disengagement, attitudes, and performance, but whether gender identity was a protective or risk factor differed by math education context (honors math and standard math classes). Gender identity was protective for girls in honors math for attitudes, discounting, and disengagement but was a risk factor for math performance. Gender identity was a risk factor for disengagement and math attitudes among girls in standard math classes, but was a buffer for math performance. Results suggest the need to examine protective and risk properties of gender identity importance for adolescent girls and the need to examine stereotype threat within educational contexts. Stereotype threat can be reduced through interventions; thus, educators and practitioners can collaborate with social scientists to implement widespread interventions in K–12 schools. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684317711412. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/page/pwq/suppl/index
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More Than Meets the ERN Petzel, Zachary W.; Casad, Bettina J.
Social psychology (Göttingen, Germany),
07/2023, Volume:
54, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Women may suppress behavior and emotions during sexism,
impairing subsequent self-control. However, suppression likely depends on social
reprisal versus benefit of confronting (i.e., social cost). ...Experiment 1
(N = 56) found behavioral self-control (i.e., Stroop
task performance) was unaffected by sexism. Yet, sexism led to exaggerated
amplitudes of the error-related negativity (ERN). Experiment 2
(N = 114) examined the role of confrontation in
response to sexism, with women instructed to suppress confrontation during a
sexist interaction exhibiting longer reaction times and lower ERN amplitudes.
Conversely, women encouraged to confront sexism exhibited heightened ERN
amplitudes, as found in Experiment 1, which were mediated by negative affect.
The findings suggest sexism reduces women's self-control, but only within
environments that may suppress confrontation.
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