Increasing Women's Participation in STEM Fields: The Role of "Experts'" Theories of Abilities

• In Event: 14.044 - Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: 14.044-1 - Claiming a Space: Increasing Paths to Achievement for Women in STEM

Abstract

Two experiments and a field study are reported that explore the impact of expert theories of intelligence on women’s performance in STEM fields. Experiment 1 (n = 37) shows that women’s performance suffers in contexts where experts espouse a “fixed” theory of intelligence. Experiment 2 (n = 243) demonstrates that this effect occurs only in contexts with other stereotype threat cues. A longitudinal experience sampling study in which we followed students (n = 277) over 4 years of college explored these questions out in the world: We hypothesize that women perceived their STEM instructors to hold more fixed (compared to growth) theories of intelligence, women’s (but not men’s) performance and persistence will suffer.

Authors

• Sabrina Zirkel, Mills College

• Mary C. Murphy, Indiana University

• Julie A. Garcia, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo