In the past thirty years, a national debate had been brewing about the scarcity of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (or STEM), and its grave implications for the American workforce in the 21st century. Starting in middle school and continuing through college, girls and women often perform less well than boys and men on standardized tests in science and mathematics; they feel less confident about their ability in these disciplines and are less likely to pursue them in the future. Although the sex disparity in STEM participation is an undisputed reality, the reasons for this disparity are hotly debated. This research offers a new theoretical model that identifies the conditions under which educational environments, and the people within it, enhance versus constrain female students' intellectual capital. Three research questions emerge from this model. First, does the gender composition of STEM-related educational environments (e.g., the low proportion of female peers, teachers, and experts) create STEM stereotypes such that these disciplines become associated with maleness instead of remaining gender neutral? Second, do individual differences in the acquisition of such stereotypes predict female students' attitudes toward STEM, identification with STEM, performance, and academic choices? Third, can changes in the gender composition of academic environments reduce STEM stereotypes and enhance women's liking for, identification with, and participation in STEM? This research, which necessitates symbiotic relationships among research, education, and teaching, will use multiple methods (e.g., lab, field, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies) and samples (e.g., adolescents and young adults) to provide a comprehensive test of the research questions. The overarching goal of this project is to broaden girls' and women's participation in STEM through research and educational activities described in this proposal. To this end, all of the studies conducted as part of this research involve the participation of girls and women who are typically underrepresented in STEM; these students also serve as research participants and research assistants. Findings that emerge from this project will be disseminated back to the same student population as part of their science education. The PI has forged collaborations with a middle school, teacher training program, and two organizations that bring together STEM teachers, students, and administrators. These collaborations will enable the PI to disseminate research findings to teachers, teachers-in-training, school principals, four-year colleges, and community colleges.
In my first year of teaching I met a student in a class I was teaching who was academically much stronger than her peers. As the semester progressed I learned that the student, Jennifer, had started college as an engineering major. Because she was mathematically talented she was recruited by my university which was trying to increase the number of women in engineering. As a first-year student, Jennifer jumped into all her engineering prerequisites with gusto. At first all was well, but she noticed that there were fewer women in her classes than men. As the classes got more advanced, the women dwindled steadily. Pretty soon Jen was one of very few women among a sea of male students in every class. She felt isolated and out of place. She didn’t have many friends in engineering. Most of her friends were in other majors. Although Jen was doing well in engineering, her motivation was rapidly ebbing. Without motivation to fire her up, continuing in engineering became a chore. Jen switched to a psychology major in her junior year. This was when I met her. In hearing her tell the story, it was clear that when she was going through the experience Jen didn’t have the language to understand the broader psychological context that guided her decision. Jen’s example is consistent with stories of many other talented women who drop out of science, technology, engineering, and math (or STEM). What these women experience is called social identity threat – feeling isolated; as if one doesn’t belong in particular community because of one’s group membership (typically one’s gender or race). Social identity threat and a similar phenomenon imposter syndrome are especially likely to affect talented individuals who, despite their objective good performance, secretly feel like imposters as if their success is a fluke. Women who are highly talented in math and science may drop out of STEM because they feel like imposters and don’t think they belong in that world. Observers may assume that these women are "opting out" of STEM out of free choice because they would rather be doing something else. In my research funded by an NSF CAREER award, my primary goal was to identify ways to inoculate talented girls and women against social identity threat and imposter syndrome so that they can identify with STEM, develop confidence in their ability, acquire positive attitudes, and choose academic goals and careers in STEM. My graduate students and I conducted a series of experiments and field studies where we discovered that one simple but powerful solution is exposing students to female scientists and engineers. Meeting female experts in science, math, and engineering has a huge benefit for women. It increases their positive attitudes toward STEM, enhances their identification with STEM, and bolsters their confidence and motivation to pursue careers in science and engineering. My longitudinal study showed that when an important foundational mathematics class was taught by a female professor, female students in sections taught by women benefited greatly in terms of attitudes toward math, identification with math, and confidence compared to female students in sections taught by men. This seemed to occur because female students were more likely to identify with their professor when that individual was a woman. Identifying with one's professor made the path to success seem more attainable for female students because they could imagine following the same academic trajectory as their female professor. An important discovery in my research was the divergence between students’ explicit (conscious) attitudes toward STEM compared to their implicit (unconscious) attitudes. Female students were not aware of the ways in which seeing female vs. male scientists and engineers was affecting their own academic decisions. When asked directly using survey-type questions, these women reported they liked STEM very much regardless of whether they had recently seen female or male scientists and engineers. However, when we measured the same attitudes indirectly using rapid reaction time tasks (Implicit Association Tests), we found female students implicitly liked STEM much more after seeing female scientists and engineers compared to male ones. These studies conducted with NSF funding were published in a top-tier psychology journal (see Stout, Dasgupta, Hunsinger, & McManus, 2011, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). A second theoretical article describing my research and extending it beyond gender to other social groups like race and social class will soon be published in Psychological Inquiry (Dasgupta, in press). In another study that is as-yet-published, I am exploring how the gender of science teachers in middle school influences girls’ vs. boys’ interest and motivation in learning science. This study extends the same ideas I have investigated at the college-level to younger adolescent girls and boys.
