Stereotype threat and women's performance in engineering
Abstract
Recent research has demonstrated that stereotype threat—the concern that others will judge one negatively due to a stereotype that exists about one's group—interferes with women's performance on standardized math and engineering exams. In the current research we find that when a shortened version of the Fundamental of Engineering Exam is described as a test that is diagnostic of ability (i.e., when stereotype threat is high) women perform worse than men on the test. When stereotype threat is reduced, however (by characterizing the test as non‐diagnostic or as not producing gender differences), women do just as well as men. The implication of these results for improving the engineering education environment is discussed.
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Substantial research has shown that stereotypes impair women's performance on STEM tasks from engineering to math.
“Substantial research has shown the role of stereotypes in impairing the performance of women on STEM tasks from engineering (Bell, Spencer, Iserman, & Logel, 2003;Logel, et al., 2009) to math (Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev, 2000;Schmader, 2002;Spencer, et al., 1999).”
From Managing to clear the air: Stereotype threat, women, and leadership (2016) · cites this paper as Bell, Spencer, Iserman, & Logel, 2003
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Managing to clear the air: Stereotype threat, women, and leadership
Hoyt, C. L., & Murphy, S. E. (2016) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.11.002 · Cited by 454 · see citing works
- Authors
- BELL, A. E., SPENCER, S. J., ISERMAN, E., & LOGEL, C. E. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- University of Waterloo (CA)
- Corresponding author
- BELL, AMY E.
- SPENCER, STEVEN J.
- ISERMAN, EMMA
- Venue
- Journal of Engineering Education
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2003-10
- Volume
- 92
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 307-312
- ISSN
- 1069-4730 (ISSN-L)
- 2168-9830
- OpenAlex
- W2067754632
- Cited by
- 149
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 8.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Engineering Education (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Career Development and Diversity
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- stereotype threat, women in engineering, gender differences in performance, engineering education
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