Reducing adolescent girls’ concerns about SteM …

1 RIPS / IRSP, 27 (3-4), 79-102 2014, Presses universitaires de Grenoble Reducing adolescent girls' concerns about stem stereotypes : When do female teachers matter? R duire la crainte des adolescentes li e aux st r otypes en sciences : quand le r le des femmes enseignantes est-il d terminant ? Allison Master*. Sapna Cheryan**. Andrew N. Meltzoff**. Abstract R sum Key-words Adolescents, In two experiments, we examined Dans deux exp riences, nous avons stereotype threat, how teacher gender and stereotype examin comment le sexe des ensei- stem , stereotypes , threat cues affected adolescents' gnants et la menace du st r otype identity, gender self-reported concerns about being affectaient les craintes rapport es Mots-cl s negatively stereotyped in computer par les adolescents d' tre n gative- CAdolescents, menace du st r otype, stem .

2 Science courses. High-school ment st r otyp s lors de cours en (science, technologie, students (Experiment 1: N = 218; sciences informatiques. Des l ves ing nierie et Experiment 2: N = 193) read about du secondaire (Exp rience 1 : N math matiques), two computer science courses, one = 218 ; Exp rience 2 : N = 193) ont st r otypes, identit , genre with a competent male teacher and lu la description de deux cours de one with a competent female sciences informatiques, l'un dispens . teacher, and were randomly par un enseignant comp tent de assigned to one of three experi- sexe masculin et l'autre par un ensei- mental conditions. In the stereo- gnant comp tent de sexe f minin, type threat condition, they read a et ont t assign s au hasard l'une paragraph that introduced negative des trois conditions exp rimentales stereotypes about girls' perfor- suivantes.

3 Dans la condition de This work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, SMA-0835854 to ANM and DRL-0845110 to SC. We thank the participating teachers and students; C. Handron, M. Vichayapai, and E. Wu for assistance with data collection; and D. Apablasa, D. Bourgin, H. Earle, T. Hendershot, B. Hyland, H. Jin, W. Liu, E. Matskewich, A. Montoya, A. Pena, and N. Soon for assistance with data entry and manuscript preparation. Correspondence concer- ning this article should be addressed to Allison Master, Box 351525, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America, 98195. * Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, Box 351525, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America, 98195. E-mail: ** Department of Psychology, Box 351525, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America, 98195.

4 E-mail: ** Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences and Department of Psychology, Box 357988, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America, 98195. E-mail: Revue internationale de psychologie sociale 2014 n 3-4. 79. 79 16/01/15 17:49. mance; in the no gender difference menace du st r otype, ils lisaient condition, they read a paragraph un paragraphe qui d crivait des that countered negative stereo- st r otypes n gatifs sur les perfor- types; and in the baseline control mances des filles ; dans la condition condition, they read neither para- d'absence de diff rence entre les graph. In both experiments, girls sexes, ils lisaient un paragraphe qui reported more concerns about r futait les st r otypes n gatifs ; dans being negatively stereotyped than la condition contr le, ils ne lisaient boys when the teacher was male aucun paragraphe.

5 Dans les deux versus female, and this effect was exp riences, les filles ont rapport . specifically driven by significant plus de crainte que les gar ons d' tre differences in the stereotype threat st r otyp es n gativement lorsque condition. When situational cues l'enseignant tait un homme plut t are threatening, female teachers qu'une femme, et cet effet tait (compared to male teachers) sp cifiquement li aux diff rences reduce girls' concerns about being dans la condition de menace du negatively stereotyped, with impli- st r otype. Lorsque la situation est cations for both theories of identity mena ante, les enseignants de sexe and educational practice. f minin r duisent, par rapport aux enseignants de sexe masculin, les craintes des filles d' tre st r otyp es n gativement, ce qui a des implica- tions pour les th ories de l'identit.

6 Et les pratiques ducatives. G ender disparities in stem (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields remain a troubling problem in American education. The presence of female teachers as role models for girls has been suggested as a way to help increase women's participation in stem (Dasgupta, 2011). However, research on this topic has shown mixed results. While some studies demon- strate benefits of female teachers for female students (Asgari, Dasgupta, & Gilbert Cote, 2010; Bettinger & Long, 2005; Stout, Dasgupta, Hunsinger, & McManus, 2011), others show that male teachers can be equally effective (Canes & Rosen, 1995; Dynan &. Rouse, 1997; Gilmartin, Denson, Li, Bryan, & Aschbacher, 2007). In the current work, we investigate the situational factors that influence when female and male teachers have differing conse- quences for girls in stem fields.

7 In two experiments, we examined how teacher gender and stereotype threat cues affected adolescents'. self-reported concerns about being negatively stereotyped in Reducing GIRLS' concerns about stereotypes . 80. 80 16/01/15 17:49. computer science courses. We hypothesize that female teachers may be particularly important compared to male teachers in situ- ations that activate stereotype threat for girls. Stereotype threat and teacher gender Stereotype threat refers to students' concerns about being judged through the lens of a negative stereotype (Steele, 1997). According to a pervasive North American stereotype, females have less ability and interest than males in stem domains (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003). One potential way to reduce the effects of negative stereotypes is to expose women to female role models.

8 Role models are successful experts in the field, ranging from teachers to more advanced peers and other professionals (Lockwood, 2006; Stout et al., 2011). Within contexts in which stereotype threat is salient (such as female math majors about to take a difficult math test), female role models can provide bene- fits over male role models that include improved performance (Marx & Roman, 2002; Marx, Stapel, & Mueller, 2005; McIntyre, Paulson, & Lord, 2003) and more positive attitudes (Lockwood, 2006; Stout et al., 2011). Competent female teachers show that women can overcome these stereotypes and succeed in stem . (Lockwood, 2006), and may also signal to girls that their teacher will be less likely to endorse negative stereotypes about them (Wout, Shih, Jackson, & Sellers, 2009). However, in other situations, studies have found that teacher gender has little effect on high-school girls' motivation and achievement in stem ( , Ehrenberg, Goldhaber, & Brewer, 1995; Martin & Marsh, 2005).

9 Having support from either male or female role models prior to college often influences women to choose stem majors when they reach college (Downing, Crosby, & Blake-Beard, 2005). Similar results have been found during college: College women who viewed their science professors as positive role models were more interested in science careers, regardless of the professor's gender (Young, Rudman, Buettner, & McLean, 2013). A study across many stem and non- stem . departments at three universities found that increases in the proportion of female faculty did not predict subsequent increases Revue internationale de psychologie sociale 2014 n 3-4. 81. 81 16/01/15 17:49. in the proportion of female students recruited to that depart- ment (Canes & Rosen, 1995). The abovementioned research suggests that female teachers may be beneficial for women in comparison to male teachers specifi- cally in situations where stereotype threat is salient.

10 However, there has not yet been a direct experimental manipulation of both stereotype threat and teacher gender within a single study. Some studies have manipulated role model gender but not threat (Lockwood, 2006; Marx & Roman, 2002; Stout et al., 2011); others manipulated threat but not role model gender (Marx et al., 2005;. McIntyre et al., 2003). Thus, we lack direct experimental evidence about how girls respond to female versus male teachers when they are or are not under threat. We suggest that female teachers are particularly helpful for girls compared to male teachers when negative stereotypes are activated, and that this has important implications for identity theory and educational policy and practice. Adolescence as a critical age period for identity Adolescence is a particularly critical age at which to examine issues about academic identity.