Evava S. Pietri

Using Video to Increase Gender Bias Literacy Toward Women in Science

Despite evidence that gender biases contribute to the persistent underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, interventions that enhance gender bias literacy about these fields remain rare. The current research tested the effectiveness of two theoretically grounded sets of videos at increasing gender bias literacy as characterized by (a) awareness of bias, (b) knowledge of gender inequity, (c) feelings of efficacy at being able to notice bias, and (d) recognition and confrontation of bias across situations. The narrative videos utilized entertaining stories to illustrate gender bias, while the expert interview videos discussed the same bias during an interview with a psychology professor. The narrative videos increased participants’ immersion in the story and identification with characters, whereas the expert interviews promoted logical thinking and perceptions of being knowledgeable about gender bias facts. Compared with control videos, the narrative and expert interview videos increased awareness of bias (Experiments 1 and 2) and influenced knowledge of gender inequity, self-efficacy beliefs, and the recognition of bias in everyday situations (Experiment 2). However, only the expert interview videos affected participants’ intentions to confront unfair treatment. Additional online materials for this article are available to PWQ subscribers on PWQ’s website at http://pwq.sagepub.com/supplemental

Reducing STEM gender bias with VIDS (video interventions for diversity in STEM).

Gender biases contribute to the underrepresentation of women in STEM. In response, the scientific community has called for methods to reduce bias, but few validated interventions exist. Thus, an interdisciplinary group of researchers and filmmakers partnered to create VIDS (Video Interventions for Diversity in STEM), which are short videos that expose participants to empirical findings from published gender bias research in 1 of 3 conditions. One condition illustrated findings using narratives (compelling stories), and the second condition presented the same results using expert interviews (straightforward facts). A hybrid condition included both narrative and expert interview videos. Results of two experiments revealed that relative to controls, VIDS successfully reduced gender bias and increased awareness of gender bias, positive attitudes toward women in STEM, anger, empathy, and intentions to engage in behaviors that promote gender parity in STEM. The narratives were particularly impactful for emotions, while the expert interviews most strongly impacted awareness and attitudes. The hybrid condition reflected the strengths of both the narratives and expert interviews (though effects were sometimes slightly weaker than the other conditions). VIDS produced substantial immediate effects among both men and women in the general population and STEM faculty, and effects largely persisted at follow-up.

Maybe She Is Relatable: Increasing Women’s Awareness of Gender Bias Encourages Their Identification With Women Scientists

In the current research, we explored whether informing women about gender bias in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) would enhance their identification with a female scientist and whether this increased identification would in turn protect women from any adverse effects of gender bias information. We found that, relative to a control information condition, gender bias information promoted beliefs that a successful woman (but not a man) scientist had encountered bias and encouraged identification with that woman scientist. Feelings of empathic concern was an important mechanism underlying this increased identification (Experiments 2 and 3). Moreover, when presented with a man scientist, information about gender bias in STEM decreased female participants’ anticipated belonging and trust in a STEM environment, compared to participants in a control information condition (Experiment 1a and 1b). However, identifying with a woman scientist after learning about sexism in STEM fields alleviated this harmful effect. Finally, compared to those in the control condition, women college students who learned about gender bias reported greater interest in interacting with a woman STEM professor at their university (Experiment 3). Our results suggest that interventions that teach women about gender bias in STEM will help women identify with women scientists. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684317752643.

Increasing the perceived malleability of gender bias using a modified Video Intervention for Diversity in STEM (VIDS)

Scholars are increasingly responding to calls for interventions to address persistent gender disparities in the sciences. Yet, interventions that emphasize the pervasiveness of bias may inadvertently damage efficacy to confront sexism by creating the perception that bias is immutable. We examined this possibility in the context of a successful bias literacy program, Video Interventions for Diversity in STEM (VIDS; Moss-Racusin et al., in press). In two studies with working adults from the general public (N = 343) and science faculty (N = 149), we modified VIDS by developing a module (UNITE) that offers tools for addressing bias and promotes the mindset that bias is malleable. VIDS alone was sufficient to increase awareness of bias, reduce sexism, and improve bias identification. However, UNITE buffered against perceptions that bias is immutable and restored self-efficacy to address bias. We conclude that interventions must aim not only to increase bias literacy but also offer concrete tools and avoid implying that these problems are insurmountable.

Does the future look bright? Processing style determines the impact of valence weighting biases and self-beliefs on expectations.

People regularly form expectations about their future, and whether those expectations are positive or negative can have important consequences. So, what determines the valence of people’s expectations? Research seeking to answer this question by using an individual-differences approach has established that trait biases in optimistic/pessimistic self-beliefs and, more recently, trait biases in behavioral tendencies to weight one’s past positive versus negative experiences more heavily each predict the valence of people’s typical expectations. However, these two biases do not correlate, suggesting limits on a purely individual-differences approach to predicting people’s expectations. We hypothesize that, because these two biases appear to operate via distinct processes (with self-beliefs operating top-down and valence weighting bias operating bottom-up), to predict a person’s expectations on a given occasion, it is also critical to consider situational factors influencing processing style. To test this hypothesis, we investigated how an integral part of future thinking that influences processing style—mental imagery—determines each bias’s influence. Two experiments measured valence weighting biases and optimistic/pessimistic self-beliefs, then manipulated whether participants formed expectations using their own first-person visual perspective (which facilitates bottom-up processes) or an external third-person visual perspective (which facilitates top-down processes). Expectations corresponded more with valence weighting biases from the first-person (vs. third-person) but more with self-beliefs from the third-person (vs. first-person). Two additional experiments manipulated valence weighting bias, demonstrating its causal role in shaping expectations (and behaviors) with first-person, but not third-person, imagery. These results suggest the two biases operate via distinct processes, holding implications for interventions to increase optimism.

Recalibrating valence-weighting tendencies as a means of reducing anticipated discomfort with an interracial interaction:

We utilized a general intervention that affects (through “recalibration”) the way people generalize negative associations when evaluating objects to promote less negative expectations about an interaction with a Black Internet “chat” partner. During this intervention, participants played a game to learn which “beans” varying in shape and speckles increased or decreased their points. Participants later classified game beans and new beans as good or bad. Recalibration condition participants were told whether they classified beans correctly, thus receiving feedback regarding the appropriate weighting of resemblance to a known positive versus negative object. Control participants, who received no feedback, were more likely to classify new beans as negative than recalibration participants. Compared to control, the recalibration condition also anticipated feeling less intergroup anxiety during a chat with a Black partner (Experiments 1 and 2) and this effect was strongest among participants who reported fewer close interactions with Black people (Experiment 2).