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This talk by Toni Schmader, Professor of Psychology at University of British Columbia, is part of "Women and STEM: How stereotypes undermine the interest and success of women in science, technology, engineering, and math," a Faculty Curator Speaker Series organized by Jenessa Shapiro, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at UCLA. This series addresses the question of why women continue to be underrepresented and underperforming in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Rather than focusing on possible biological or socialization factors, this series considers the role of stereotype threat. Speakers will present research demonstrating the emergence of stereotype threat in STEM domains, the mechanism that account for this phenomenon, and the ways in which we can intervene to prevent the deleterious influence of stereotype threat. The UCLA Center for the Study of Women is an internationally recognized center for research on gender, sexuality, and women's issues and the first organized research unit of its kind in the University of California system.

his talk by Joshua Aronson, Professor of Applied Psychology at New York University, is part of "Women and STEM: How stereotypes undermine the interest and success of women in science, technology, engineering, and math," a Faculty Curator Speaker Series organized by Jenessa Shapiro, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at UCLA. This series addresses the question of why women continue to be underrepresented and underperforming in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Rather than focusing on possible biological or socialization factors, this series considers the role of stereotype threat. Speakers will present research demonstrating the emergence of stereotype threat in STEM domains, the mechanism that account for this phenomenon, and the ways in which we can intervene to prevent the deleterious influence of stereotype threat. The UCLA Center for the Study of Women is an internationally recognized center for research on gender, sexuality, and women's issues and the first organized research unit of its kind in the University of California system.

"A 2010 research report by AAUW presents compelling evidence that can help to explain this puzzle. Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) presents in-depth yet accessible profiles of eight key research findings that point to environmental and social barriers - including stereotypes, gender bias, and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities - that continue to block women's progress in STEM. The report also includes up-to-date statistics on girls' and women's achievement and participation in these areas and offers new ideas for what each of us can do to more fully open scientific and engineering fields to girls and women."

"As so many studies have demonstrated, success in math and the hard sciences, far from being a matter of gender, is almost entirely dependent on culture - a culture that teaches girls math isn't cool and no one will date them if they excel in physics; a culture in which professors rarely encourage their female students to continue on for advanced degrees; a culture in which success in graduate school is a matter of isolation, competition and ridiculously long hours in the lab; a culture in which female scientists are hired less frequently than men, earn less money and are allotted fewer resources. And yet, as I listened to these four young women laugh at the stereotypes and fears that had discouraged so many others, I was heartened that even these few had made it this far, that theirs will be the faces the next generation grows up imagining when they think of a female scientist."

It isn't just that fewer women choose to go into fields involving science, engineering, technology and math. Even when they do and are successful, women are more likely than men to quit. Psychological research suggests the gender disparity may be, at least in part, the result of of a vicious psychological cycle.

"My colleagues and I have called such features "stereotype threat"-the threat of being viewed through the lens of a negative stereotype, or the fear of doing something that would inadvertently confirm that stereotype. Everyone experiences stereotype threat. We are all members of some group about which negative stereotypes exist, from white males and Methodists to women and the elderly. And in a situation where one of those stereotypes applies-a man talking to women about pay equity, for example, or an aging faculty member trying to remember a number sequence in the middle of a lecture-we know that we may be judged by it."

Founded in 1943, ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the success of each learner. Our 175,000 members in 119 countries are professional educators from all levels and subject areas--superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.

"If we are serious about closing achievement gaps, we will have to move beyond the simplistic rhetoric of "It's the family," or "It's the schools," or "It's poverty"-or "It's stereotyping," for that matter. " In this article, the author argues that stereotype threat, an invisible factor, negatively impacts the performance of affected students, ranging from African American males to girls in math-oriented domains. It may account for some of the achievement gap. Stereotype threat occurs when others have negative expectations of the student's performance based on some external stereotype. The student then has to overcome the inherent negative threat, thereby facing two potential failures - actually performing poorly and the perception of performing poorly because of the stereotype. Research by the author and a colleague demonstrates that due to this additional stress and pressure, the student does more poorly precisely because he or she tries too hard in a situation in which a more relaxed concentration leads to success, particularly in high-stakes evaluations. Because stereotype threat is partly situational, the author believes that students can be taught to overcome it and that teachers and others can learn to avoid it. (WestEd)

Women taking a math test will perform worse when reminded that women aren't expected to do well in math. Social psychologist Claude Steele calls this an example of the "stereotype threat." In his book, Whistling Vivaldi, he lays out a plan to reshape those expectations. An interview with Claude Steele.

Tiltfactor Laboratory's buffalo is a 20-minute card game for 2-8 players, ages 14 and older. It was created as part of a National Science Foundation-funded project to design and study games to combat implicit bias and stereotype threat against girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

"The summit kicked off with a wonderful keynote by Joshua Aronson who is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Education at New York University (NYU). Aronson studies stereotypes, self-esteem, motivation, and attitudes. He showed some remarkable research results that showed that when people are reminded of their race or gender in a testing situation where there is a negative stereotype, they do worse on the test. This is called Stereotype Threat - which he defined as being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group. The threat causes anxiety, and all kinds of measurable changes - from the brain to heart rate, and also greatly impacts test results. Simply putting a box to mark gender, for example, at the front of a math test significantly changed test scores - for both men and women. Compared to a test where gender was not asked for, if gender was asked for at the beginning of a test, boy's scores went up, girls' scores went down. If gender was asked at the end, boys' scores went down, girls' scores went up."

Science Correspondent Cara Santa Maria summarizes the findings of AAUW's 2010 report, Why So Few?, which explores causes of the gender gap in STEM fields. Cites over 300 experiments illustrate the validity of this research. At puberty the gender gap expands dramatically. Interventions suggested: 1) More female representation in the curriculum 2) Expose the biases.

Provost Claude M. Steele - Lectures on "Identity and Stereotype Threat: Their Nature and What to do About Them at School and Work"

Learned a lot by watching this video. He talks about the research on how white teachers can give effective feedback to black students. He starts with two examples of what does not work and then describes the narrative that promotes success "I have seen your work, and if you work at this it could be really amazing." Acknowledge the stress, see this as normal and project success. His comments about how to make an integrated setting work is important for any institution who desires to become more diverse. (Stereotype threat triggered by various cues are more pronounced in integrated or diverse settings). Stereotype lift or boost is described which shows that it is advantageous to be on the upside of someone else's negative stereotype. In the experiments he describes, not only do women improve, but the men do worse when the playing field is more level. I heard this quote yesterday that seems relevant, "don't make the mistake of thinking that you hit a triple when you were born on third base."