Denise Sekaquaptewa

Solo status, stereotype threat, and performance expectancies: Their effects on women's performance

Abstract Women working in male-dominated environments may find themselves to be the only woman present, and that negative stereotypes about women persist in the environment. This experiment tested women’s performance in solo status (SS: being the only woman present) and under stereotype threat (ST: when women are stereotyped as poor performers). White male and female participants (157) learned information, then tested on it in an opposite-gender (SS) or same-gender group (nonsolo). In addition, the information was described as being traditional math material (ST) or a type of math information impervious to gender stereotypes (no threat). Women performed more poorly in SS than nonsolos, and under ST than no threat. Experiencing both factors was more detrimental to women’s performance than experiencing one or the other. Men’s performance was the same across all conditions. Performance expectancies partially mediated the effect of SS, but not ST, on performance.

On The Role Of Encoding Processes In Stereotype Maintenance

Publisher Summary The chapter explores the impact that stereotypes have on encoding processes and the role that encoding processes play on stereotype maintenance. The goal of this chapter is to show that across a wide variety of experimental contexts, stereotypes, expectancies, and social schemas play a critical role in encoding. The chapter attempts to highlight research that clearly implicates encoding processes in judgmental and memorial effects. The chapter presents the perceptual processes that are critical at the front end of any encoding operation. The chapter discusses research on the roles played by stereotypes and schemas in perceptual encoding processes, and the way these processes can strengthen the original stereotypes. Various conceptual encoding processes—including elaborative processes, attributional processes, contrast and assimilative processes, attentional processes, and automatic versus controlled processes are discussed. The research on these issues focuses on the ways that these processes influence the conceptual encoding of information and thereby, contribute to a stereotypic view of the world. The chapter examines how the perspective concerning stereotyping and encoding might change the way prejudice and its relationship to stereotypes is viewed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the way our perspective might lead to new hypotheses and methodologies.

The Differential Effects of Solo Status on Members of High- and Low-Status Groups

Individuals experience solo status when they are the only members of their social category (e.g., gender or race) present in a group. Field research indicates that women and racial minorities are more debilitated by solo status than White men. However, lab oratory research indicates that men and women are equally debilitated as solos. We noted that laboratory studies introduced solo status during learning, whereas field research examined solo status at performance. Therefore, we predicted that high and low social status group members would be differentially influenced by solo status experienced during testing. In two laboratory experiments, men and women and African Americans and Whites experienced solo status during an oral examination. In Experiment 1, White women performed more poorly than White men taking the exam before an opposite-sex (but same-race) audience. In Experiment 2, African American women performed more poorly than White women taking the exam before an other-race (but same-gender) audience.

Implicit Stereotypes, Gender Identification, and Math-Related Outcomes A Prospective Study of Female College Students

This study examined the effects of gender identification and implicit and explicit gender stereotyping among undergraduate women enrolled in college-level calculus courses. Womens gender identification and gender stereotyping regarding math aptitude were assessed after the courses first midterm exam. Implicit, but not explicit, stereotyping interacted with gender identification to affect womens performance on their final exams and their desire to pursue math-related careers. Women who showed low gender identification and low implicit gender stereotyping performed best on the final exam, and women with high scores on both factors were the least inclined to pursue math-based careers. Implications for the under-representation of women in math and the hard sciences are discussed.

Stereotypic explanatory bias: Implicit stereotyping as a predictor of discrimination

Abstract Two experiments examined whether a measure of implicit stereotyping based on the tendency to explain Black stereotype-incongruent events more often than Black stereotype-congruent events (Stereotypic Explanatory Bias or SEB) is predictive of behavior toward a partner in an interracial interaction. In Experiment 1 SEB predicted White males’ choice to ask stereotypic questions of a Black female (but not a White male or White female) in an interview. In Experiment 2 the type of explanation (internal or external attribution) made for stereotype-inconsistency was examined. Results showed that White participants who made internal attributions for Black stereotype-incongruent behavior were rated more positively and those who made external attributions were rated more negatively by a Black male confederate. These results point to the potential of implicit stereotyping as an important predictor of behavior in an interracial interaction.

My Fair Physicist? Feminine Math and Science Role Models Demotivate Young Girls:

Women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are labeled unfeminine, a costly social label that may discourage female students from pursuing these fields. Challenges to this stereotype include feminine STEM role models, but their counterstereotypic-yet-feminine success may actually be demotivating, particularly to young girls. Study 1 showed that feminine STEM role models reduced middle school girls’ current math interest, self-rated ability, and success expectations relative to gender-neutral STEM role models and depressed future plans to study math among STEM-disidentified girls. These results did not extend to feminine role models displaying general (not STEM-specific) school success, indicating that feminine cues were not driving negative outcomes. Study 2 suggested that feminine STEM role models’ combination of femininity and success seemed particularly unattainable to STEM-disidentified girls. The results call for a better understanding of feminine STEM figures aimed at motivating young girls.

Solo status and self-construal: being distinctive influences racial self-construal and performance apprehension in African American women.

A preliminary study and main experiment tested the hypothesis that racial solo status (being the only member of ones race in a group) increases racial self-construal among African Americans. The preliminary study showed that African American men and women reported greater collectivist (i.e., group-based) over individualist self-construal under solo compared to nonsolo status, whereas Whites did not. The main experiment showed that the increased collectivism among African American solo women appears to be strongly reflected in racial identity becoming a salient aspect of self-construal. African American participants were also more likely than Whites to perceive that their anticipated performance would be generalized to their race, to feel like representatives of their race, and to show greater performance apprehension (indirectly evidenced by increased self-handicapping) when in racial solo status. The implications of solo status for African Americans in evaluative situations (such as academic testing sessions) are discussed.

Implicit Stereotypes, Gender Identification, and Math-Related Outcomes

This study examined the effects of gender identification and implicit and explicit gender stereotyping among undergraduate women enrolled in college-level calculus courses. Womens gender identification and gender stereotyping regarding math aptitude were assessed after the courses first midterm exam. Implicit, but not explicit, stereotyping interacted with gender identification to affect womens performance on their final exams and their desire to pursue math-related careers. Women who showed low gender identification and low implicit gender stereotyping performed best on the final exam, and women with high scores on both factors were the least inclined to pursue math-based careers. Implications for the under-representation of women in math and the hard sciences are discussed.

Biased processing of stereotype-incongruency is greater for low than high status groups

Two studies assessed whether a stereotypic explanatory bias emerges primarily when members of low (compared to high) social status groups engage in behaviors inconsistent with group stereotypes. A preliminary study showed that male and female participants spontaneously showed more stereotypically biased explanatory processing of female stereotype-inconsistency (i.e., explanation of male-stereotypic behaviors performed by female compared to male actors) than male stereotype-inconsistency (i.e., explanation of female-stereotypic behaviors performed by male compared to female actors). The main experiment provided a manipulation of social status of target groups, and both external (i.e., situational) and internal (i.e., dispositional) explanations for stereotype-inconsistent behaviors were assessed. Results showed that external explanations for female stereotype-inconsistency were greater for targets described as low, not high in socioeconomic status. This research suggests that information processing is biased when members of a low status group engage in stereotype-inconsistent behaviors, whereas members of high status groups can engage in either stereotypic or counter-stereotypic behaviors without instigating biases in information processing.

Stereotype Threat Among Women in Finance Negative Effects on Identity, Workplace Well-Being, and Recruiting

Because women are in the minority in masculine fields like finance and banking, women in these fields may experience stereotype threat or the concern about being negatively stereotyped in their workplace. Research demonstrates that stereotype threat among women in management and accounting leads to negative job attitudes and intentions to quit via its effects on identity separation, or the perception that one’s gender identity is incompatible with one’s work identity. The current work extends this research to related outcomes among women in finance. In this study, 512 women working in finance completed a survey about their work environment, their well-being at work, and whether they would recommend the field of finance to younger women. Results showed that, to the extent women experienced stereotype threat in their work environment, they reported diminished well-being at work and were less likely to recommend their field to other women, and these outcomes were mediated by identity separation. Recruitment and retention of women into fields where they have been historically underrepresented is key to achieving the “critical mass” of women necessary to reduce perceptions of tokenism as well as stereotyping and devaluing of women. The current work sheds light on psychological factors that affect these outcomes.