1. “I wanna be pretty and smart… but not, like, a scientist or anything”:
Self-objectification and expectancy beliefs about math
Christy Starr, B.A. & Campbell Leaper, Ph.D.
University of California, Santa Cruz
Introduction
Girls and boys achieve similar grades in math through high school. However, girls’ confidence in math starts to wane around puberty, and they are less likely to enroll in advanced math classes in high school (Leaper, 2014; Leaper, 2015).
The decline in confidence, or expectancy-value (e.g., Eccles, 2002) around puberty has led some to wonder if the reason might be self objectification (e.g., Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997).
Studies have found that self-objectification is related to media usage, and that it affects women more prominently than men (Calogero et al., 2011).
Self-objectification may affect math expectancy-value by disrupting working memory (Fredrickson et al., 1998; Hebl et al., 2004), or by reducing self-esteem (Grabe & Hyde, 2009). Additionally, for some girls, self-objectification and appearance goals may be seen as incongruent with “being good at math”, such as viewing women in physical science careers as being unattractive or unfeminine (e.g., Banchefsky et al., 2016).
Research Questions:
1. Do appearance goals moderate the relationship between media consumption and self-objectification?
2. What is the contribution of self-objectification on math expectancy-value among girls, compared to boys?
3. What is the contribution of self-objectification on reading and writing expectancy value beliefs?
Results
Results Continued
Girls and Math Expectancy Beliefs. Results indicate that self-objectification may play a significant role in math expectancy beliefs for girls, above and beyond many other measures such as grades, teacher support, and gender typicality.
Girls and Math Beliefs. We found only marginal support for the hypothesis that self-objectification would be related to math value above and beyond other factors (R2 change = .03).
Instead, Stereotypes about math being “for boys” or masculine significantly contributed to lower math value among girls in our sample. (B = -.33, p = .02, Adj. R2 = .27).
Boys and Math Beliefs. As expected, self objectification was unrelated to boys’ math expectancy and value.
Reading/Writing Expectancy-Value. As predicted, self-objectification was not significantly associated with girls’ or boys’ expectancy-value in reading and writing.
Sobel’s Test
Traditional appearance goals fully mediated the relationship between media consumption and self-objectification (p = .01).
Regression: Predictors of Math Expectations among Girls.
Adj. R2 = .47
Discussion
Self-objectification may play a significant role in math expectancy beliefs for girls.
Additionally, stereotypes about math and STEM fields being “for boys or men” may play a role in devaluing math for girls.
Future Directions…
Investigate more thoroughly reasons why self objectification may be related to math expectancy. Do girls not see appearance goals as congruent with being good at math, and why?
Challenge stereotypes about who a is “good at math” and what they look like to increase ability beliefs among women and girls, as well as other under-represented groups.
Develop and implement media literacy programs and initiatives in general which challenge beauty norms as well as stereotypes about women, math, and STEM present in the media.
Additionally, we plan to conduct a similar study among a larger and more diverse sample.
Girls’ Math Expectancy Beliefs
Self-objectification among girls was negatively related to their expectancy beliefs in math, above and beyond several other measures.
Methods
Participants:
91 girls and boys, grades 4-8, ages 9-14
71% European Am., 9% Latinx Am., 9% Asian Am.
90% had a parent who had gone to college
Measures:
Expectancy Value. e.g., “How well do you think you’ll do in your math class this year?”
Self Objectification. e.g., “I often worry about how I look to other people”.
Stereotyped Beliefs. e.g., “Who do you believe is naturally better at math?”
Academic Social Support. e.g., “How much do your teachers [peers, family] help you feel more confident about learning math?”
Gender Typicality. e.g., “How similar are the things you enjoy doing compared to what most girls [boys] usually enjoy?”
Appearance Goals. e.g., “I would like to look like the women [men] who model clothing”.
Media Consumption. TV, movies, and social media.
Regression: Predictors of Math Expectations among Boys.
Adj. R2 = .36
Boys’ Math Expectancy Beliefs
Self-objectification was not related to boys’ expectancy beliefs. However, stereotyped beliefs about math being “for boys and men” was positively related to math expectancy among boys.
Contact Christy Starr at
Campbell Leaper at