Math Intelligence Is Fixed and Girls Have Less: Mind-Sets, Gender Stereotypes, and Standardized Math Performance

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: Motivation in Education Poster Session 3

Abstract

Two recent areas of research have been shown to impact student performance: intelligence beliefs and stereotype threat. Although the message students receive about these two factors are inextricably linked in society, no studies to date have combined these two factors to determine if they can impact student performance on standardized tests. The present study tests the idea that we can impact standardized test performance by emphasizing a message that primes a fixed view of intelligence and stereotype threat, which are usually linked together in real life. We found that we were able to manipulate intelligence beliefs in both boys and girls, and intelligence beliefs impacted student performance on the hardest test questions.

Authors

• Leigh Ann Mingle, University of Illinois

• Allison M. Ryan, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Katherine E. Ryan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Genevieve Henricks, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign