The Role of Threat in Stereotyping: How Threat Leads to and Results from Stereotyping Steve Spencer University of Waterloo

Role of Threat in Stereotyping Threats to self-esteem lead to stereotyping Fein and Spencer (1997) Cultural Stereotypes can be threatening and undermine performance in school Two Experimental Studies Intervention Can we teach men to show women more respect? Intervention

Fein & Spencer (1997) Participants received bogus positive or negative feedback on a supposed IQ test. We measured their self-esteem. They then read about either Julie Goldberg or Maria De Augustino and rated her potential as a personnel manager.

Self-Image Threat and Negative Evaluation of a Stereotyped Target

Fein & Spencer (1997) Participants received bogus positive or negative feedback on a supposed IQ test. We measured their self-esteem. They then read about either Julie Goldberg or Maria De Augustino and rated her potential as a personnel manager. We measured their self-esteem again.

A Model of Stereotype Threat Effects Cultural Stereotype Stereotype Threat Performance Deficits Avoidance of Stereotyped Domains

Few Women in Engineering Women in engineering: Are numerical minorities (18%) Face a negative stereotype about quantitative ability Lack of fit between feminine qualities and the apparent masculinity of the domain This has not changed over the last two decades

A Chilly Climate for Women in Engineering? Why are their so few women in engineering? There have been many hypotheses Women have less ability not accurate Women don’t want that type of career - it’s a choice some truth to this statement, but why? Impact of stereotypes on women’s achievements and aspirations

How do Cultural Stereotypes Create a Chilly Climate for Women in Engineering We conducted a series of studies that demonstrate that men’s interactions with women create a chilly climate. It is subtle sexist behaviour on the part of men that creates the climate. Study 1 - Do men high in sexism interact with a woman differently than men low in sexism? Study 2 - Does interacting with a man high in sexism undermine women’s performance on an engineering test?

Study 1 Twenty eight male engineers interacted with a female confederate on a collaborative engineering task. Before the task we measured men’s subtle sexism by having them complete several sentences including: Jenny went home to cook dinner __________. The task had the male participants and the female confederate discuss a NY times article on the Hewlett-Packard/Compaq merger. We videotaped this interaction.

Coding of the Sexism Measure We had two students code the responses to the sentences for how sexist they were. For example, for the sentence “Jenny went home to cook dinner ____________.” If it was completed implying that men and women are equal (e.g., because Tim cooked dinner last night) or with women in modern role (e.g., after work) it would have been coded as a 1 in subtle sexism. If the completion portrayed historical roles of women (e.g., for her husband) or women as sex objects (e.g., naked) it was coded as a 5 in subtle sexism.

Coding of the Videotape We coded several features of the interaction, but primarily How close each male participant sat to the female confederate How open each male participant’s posture was Observer’s ratings of each male participant’s dominance and sexual interest How much the female confederate reported that the male participant looked at her body

Results and Implications There was a strong relationship between men’s score on the subtle sexism measure and their sexist behaviour in the interaction with the female confederate. But is this finding that surprising? Does it have any consequences? That is why we turned to Study 2

Study 2 Seventeen female engineers interacted with a male confederate trained to act like the men high or low in subtle sexism from Study 1. Specifically, we hired two male drama students to enact the roles. When acting high in subtle sexism, they sat closer, maintained an open posture, acted more dominant, and sexually motivated than when they were acting low in subtle sexism. After this interaction the women took an important engineering test (The Fundamentals in Engineering Exam).

Results and Implications Women who interacted with the confederate who acted high in subtle sexism did worse on the exam (an average of 11%), than women who interacted with the confederate who acted low in subtle sexism (an average of 22%). We replicated these studies with all naive participants and found the same results. Together these studies demonstrate that men’s subtle sexist behaviour can create a chilly climate for women in engineering.

Overcoming a Chilly Climate for Women in Engineering If women’s underperformance in engineering is caused at least in part by a chilly climate, then giving women tools to cope with the chilly climate should allow them to do better. We created two different interventions to help women cope with the chilly climate. A belonging intervention which was designed to make the climate seem less chilly. An affirmation intervention which was designed to help women cope with the chilly climate.

A Intervention Program Men and Women Engineering students at the University of Waterloo. Two treatment conditions and a control condition Belonging treatment condition Affirmation treatment condition Got there grades at the end of each term.

Belonging Condition Upper-year students talk about doubting their belonging in engineering but, over time, coming to feel that they fit in. Wrote about: How everyone has belonging concerns from time to time But over time, they have come to feel as if they belonged in engineering Designed to reconstrue their experiences See doubts about belonging, and negative experiences, as non-diagnostic of lack of belonging.

Affirmation Condition Upper-year students talk about learning to affirm personally important values at times of stress building value-affirming activities into their daily lives Wrote about how they manage stress by thinking about and doing things that reflect their personal values Put their personal value into an expression that they put on their key chain

Fall Semester Grades (controlling for average grade in major) Majors with Fewer Women C Range B Range Fail A Range

A Model of Stereotype Threat Effects Cultural Stereotype Stereotype Threat Performance Deficits Avoidance of Stereotyped Domains

Study 3 - Intervention Designed to Increase Male Engineers Respect for Their Female Peers Participants male first year engineering students at the University of Waterloo Four Conditions: An intervention that includes self-affirmation and a persuasive appeal for latent ability, plus three sessions in the term that modelled respect toward female colleagues A control condition that just had the persuasive appeal A contact condition that enhanced belonging between men and women and that had three jigsaw exercises A control condition in which men and women did the same exercises without the jigsaw component or enhanced belonging We measured men’s respect for their female colleagues in their group, their female TA, and the respect they showed to a female RA

Study 3 - Time Line Session 1Session 2Session 3Session 4 Persuasion Control RAs collect DVs Persuasion Only ♂ TAs nothing Affirmation + Persuasion RAs collect DVs Affirmation Persuasion ♀ & ♂ TAs Build Bridge ♀ & ♂ TA Model Respect Build Tower ♀ & ♂ TA Model Respect Contact Control RAs collect DVs Collect Back- ground Info ♂TAs Belonging Control Task ♂TAs Control Task ♂TAs Contact RAs collect DVs Collect Back- ground Info ♀ & ♂ TA Belonging Jigsaw Task ♀ & ♂ TA Model Respect Jigsaw Task ♀ & ♂ TA Model Respect

Study 3 Results - Men’s Respect for Women in Their Group

Study 3 - Results Female RA’s Report of How Much Men Treated Her with Respect

Study 3 - Results How Much Did Men Want Their TA to Supervise Their Honours Thesis

Implications Threats to self-esteem can lead to prejudice. Cultural stereotypes about women’s ability in math, science, engineering can undermine their ability to participate in these fields. Men’s subtle sexist behaviours can play a significant role in creating the impact of these cultural stereotypes. Despite the power of these stereotypes, intervention programs can be developed that allow women to succeed. Interventions can also be developed to teach men to show women more respect.