Scientists Aren't Sexy: Do Stereotypes That STEM Workers Are Unattractive Negatively Relate to Girls' Motivation?

• In Event: Understanding the Antecedents of Gender and Ethnic Underrepresentation in STEM: Stereotypes, Motivation, and Belonging

Abstract

Introduction. Women are underrepresented in physical sciences, technology, engineering, and math (pSTEM), and girls on average hold less confidence and interest in these domains than boys. A partial explanation for this gender gap may be that stereotypes about people who work in pSTEM are perceived as incongruent with being sexually attractive. Girls face pressure to look attractive to men from an early age (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), and many girls strive to be attractive (Moradi & Varnes, 2017). Meanwhile, professionals in pSTEM are often stereotyped as physically unattractive (Cheryan et al., 2013; Starr, 2018). These stereotypes may demotivate girls from pursuing pSTEM (Starr & Leaper, 2019). However, they may also enhance motivation among boys who view themselves as fitting the stereotype. Based on balanced identity theory and the expectancy-value framework, we investigated the effect of trait-based stereotypes about people in pSTEM among high school students. Adolescence is an important developmental period to investigate how stereotypes affect pSTEM motivation because youths are exploring their own identities (Lauermann, Tsai, & Eccles, 2017).

Methods. In a sample of 310 high school students (Mage = 16 yrs; 50% girls; 51% Asian-heritage), we examined their endorsement of the stereotype that people in pSTEM are unattractive as well the student’s own appearance self-concepts and goals. As outcomes, we investigated pSTEM identity, pSTEM expectancy and value beliefs, and pSTEM career motivation (referred to collectively in the results as “pSTEM motivation”).

Results. In a path model, believing that people in pSTEM are unattractive was negatively related to the pSTEM motivation among girls with an incongruent self-concept; in contrast, endorsing the same stereotype was positively related to the pSTEM motivation among boys with a congruent self-concept. (A significant interaction was not found for attractive goals.) The results also indicated direct effects. Merely having the goal or self-concept of being attractive were each negatively related to pSTEM motivation for girls (but not boys). Additionally, stereotyping people in pSTEM as unattractive was negatively related to pSTEM motivation among girls (but not boys).

Discussion. Our results suggest that the concordance between students’ trait-based stereotypes about pSTEM and self-concepts may help explain current gender gaps in pSTEM. These stereotypes may especially affect girls over boys for two reasons. First, holding attractiveness goals and self-concepts may be seen as incongruent with pSTEM because people in pSTEM are often stereotyped as being unattractive, while girls are often socially expected to be attractive (Calegero et al., 2011). Second, these self-concepts and goals may be seen as incongruent with pSTEM because sexually attractive women are often not viewed as intelligent (Daniels & Zurbriggen, 2016; Stone et al., 2015). To curb the negative effects of these stereotypes, teachers and parents might explicitly address stereotypes about people in pSTEM as well as pressures that girls face to be attractive.

Authors

• Christy R. Starr, University of California - Irvine

• Campbell Leaper