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Gender representation cues labels of hard and soft sciences
Abstract
While women's representation in STEM fields has increased over the past several decades, some fields have seen a greater increase women's participation than others. In the present research, we explore how women's participation in STEM disciplines influences labeling of those disciplines as hard vs. soft sciences. Study 1 found that increasing perceived participation of women in a STEM discipline increased the likelihood that participants would label it a soft science. Study 2 found that among people who did not work in science, this tendency to associate women's participation with soft science was correlated with endorsement of stereotypes about women's STEM competency. And Studies 3A and 3B showed that labeling disciplines as soft sciences led to the fields being devalued, deemed less rigorous, and less worthy of federal funding. These studies show that stereotypes about women's STEM competency can impact perceptions of fields in which women participate, with consequences for how scientific disciplines are perceived.
... O gênero na ciência e na tecnologia é uma linha de estudo estabelecida que surgiu na segunda metade do século XX (Flores-Espínola, 2018) e aborda questões históricas e atuais relacionadas ao acesso, à retenção, à promoção, à visibilidade e às contribuições das mulheres para a ciência (Guillaume;Pochic, 2009;Lekve;Gunnes, 2022;Light;Benson;Diekman, 2022). A ênfase tem sido colocada na análise da segregação horizontal e vertical, a fim de determinar as causas que influenciam a escolha e a continuidade nas carreiras científicas, bem como o papel e os estereótipos de gênero que criam influências e forças sociais que podem servir para perpetuar ou transformar sua posição em diferentes cenários de vida (Adams; Applegarth; Simpson, 2020; Xie, 2006). ...
... O gênero na ciência e na tecnologia é uma linha de estudo estabelecida que surgiu na segunda metade do século XX (Flores-Espínola, 2018) e aborda questões históricas e atuais relacionadas ao acesso, à retenção, à promoção, à visibilidade e às contribuições das mulheres para a ciência (Guillaume;Pochic, 2009;Lekve;Gunnes, 2022;Light;Benson;Diekman, 2022). A ênfase tem sido colocada na análise da segregação horizontal e vertical, a fim de determinar as causas que influenciam a escolha e a continuidade nas carreiras científicas, bem como o papel e os estereótipos de gênero que criam influências e forças sociais que podem servir para perpetuar ou transformar sua posição em diferentes cenários de vida (Adams; Applegarth; Simpson, 2020; Xie, 2006). ...
O estudo da brecha de gênero e das estratégias para a eliminação das desigualdades na ciência e na tecnologia é uma linha de pesquisa complexa que analisa múltiplas dimensões, concentrando-se naquelas com maior poder explicativo, como os estereótipos de gênero, as dinâmicas e os processos que permitem sua superação, a socialização e a construção social da ciência e a necessidade de elaborar estudos teóricos e empíricos inovadores que respondam a esses problemas. Assim sendo, este artigo baseia-se em uma pesquisa qualitativa, e a forma de realizá-la foi por meio de uma revisão bibliográfica e documental com o objetivo de mostrar as barreiras e os tetos de vidro das mulheres na ciência, bem como os dados mais significativos sobre sua promoção, presença e carreira científica na Espanha. Concluiu-se que as transformações observadas podem significar várias coisas. Por um lado, é possível que se esteja presenciando um enfraquecimento de alguns estereótipos de gênero na hora de escolher uma carreira profissional, embora, por outro lado, essas transformações não sejam suficientes para realizar as reformas estruturais, institucionais ou do contexto social e cultural necessárias para a promoção, a liderança e a visibilidade das mulheres, tanto nas carreiras científicas quanto nas instituições.
... They also perceived a job in physics as low on opportunities for working with and helping others, but high on opportunities for agency, as requiring innate brilliance and effort to succeed, and as more difficult (Bruun et al., 2018; see also Leslie et al., 2015;Meyer et al., 2015). Describing a field as dominated by men led to its categorization as a difficult "hard science" (Light et al., 2022). This effect was partly driven by the stereotypical perception of men as more competent than women. ...
... In this vein, among laypeople as well as researchers , educational research was perceived as requiring less brilliance or innate ability for success than other subjects. In general, women-dominated domains have been perceived as requiring compliance rather than, for instance, intelligence for success in comparison with mendominated domains (Verniers & Martinot, 2015), and presenting a domain as dominated by women led to the perception of that domain as a "soft science," as less important, difficult, reliable, and prestigious (Light et al., 2022). Correspondingly, individuals working in women-dominated occupations have been ascribed more communal traits, whereas individuals working in men-dominated occupations have been ascribed more agentic traits (Froehlich et al., 2020). ...
Even in academic fields dominated by women students (e.g., educational research), academic careers are characterized by vertical gender segregation in favor of men. This clashes with the public understanding of educational research as a women's domain that is more strongly associated with warmth (a stereotypically feminine trait) than competence (a stereotypically masculine trait), as revealed in our first study. We thus conducted an experimental vignette study of 189 adults from the general public to explore how women versus men researchers working in educational research versus physics (as a contrasting domain clearly dominated by men) were perceived on several dimensions of competence and warmth. Whereas the female researcher in physics was rated as more competent than the female researcher in educational research, the woman in physics was penalized for her gender stereotype-incongruent domain choice by being perceived as less warm. However, the male researcher in educational research was perceived as both warmer and more competent than his man counterpart in physics, and as smarter than the female researcher in educational research. These findings suggest rewards instead of penalties for men pursuing academic careers in initially women-dominated domains, likely contributing to the increasing gender gap in academic careers in these domains.
... This binary is steeped in a masculinist phallocentric imagination that relies on confounding the credibility of knowledge with the perceived objectivity of the discipline. As Light et al. (2022) have shown earlier, this artificial distinction is also constructed around perceptions of which disciplines have more women practitioners; the more the number of women practitioners, the "softer" the discipline is perceived to be. ...
... Since trans rights continue to be relatively less discussed in the context of equitable science education, legislative-, judicial-and policy-level interventions often interpret the question of access to inclusion of more trans, GNC and GNB people in the Indian science ecosystem. However, as Light et al. (2022) point out in their article, an increased representation is not meaningful unless gendered, casteist and ableist assumptions are shaken out of disciplines and their culture. Thus, it is important that the trans-rights discourse in the context of science education critiques and displaces the patriarchal, Brahminical and ableist nature and culture of science and science education while continuing its fight for the inclusion of trans, GNC and GNB people in the same. ...
This project undertook a large-scale quantitative and qualitative investigation into the lived experiences of transgender, gender non-conforming and gender non-binary persons in the Indian science ecosystem. Towards this goal, the study used four key research methods: (a) applications under the Right to Information Act, 2005 to investigate the status of implementation of the legislative, judicial and policy documents that govern the access of transgender, gender non-conforming and gender non-binary persons to the Indian science ecosystem, (b) a policyscape approach to policy analysis to understand the effectiveness of the legislative, judicial and policy interventions that govern the access of transgender, gender non-conforming and gender non-binary persons to the Indian science ecosystem, (c) qualitative interviews and focus group discussions to understand the ways in which transgender, gender non-conforming and gender non-binary persons negotiate the Indian science ecosystem, and (d) a comparative historiography to understand and explicate the possibilities of political solidarity between different marginalised groups in the context of higher education in science in India, including caste-, gender-, and disability-marginalised groups. In this report, we summarise the key findings of our study.
... There are corollaries in the study of gender and the sciences. Light et al. (2022) found that even the perception of women's participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines increased the likelihood that it would be labeled "soft science" and that this label resulted in a perceived devaluing of the field. Conversely, their study found that respondents perceived "hard science" fields such as engineering and math as male domains requiring more rigor than the so-called soft sciences. ...
Introduction
Infrastructure regularly supports male pursuits more than women’s. Recent transportation scholarship focuses on this inequity by quantifying the daily travel of women and men for everyday care provision, often termed “the mobility of care.” Care trips include dropping off and picking up family members, accompanying young children and old adults to medical appointments, and acquiring household goods. This study analyzes gendered travel behavior in the National Capital Region of the United States, including Washington, D.C.
Methods
The basis of this study’s analysis is data from the 2017/2018 Regional Travel Survey conducted by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board. The survey included records from approximately 16,000 households, 2,000 in Washington, D.C. Our study sample contained 19,274 unique people who made 49,215 trips. Many of these trips were made using the local bus and subway systems. Following an established methodology, the researchers recoded trip purpose data into five broad categories: care, work, shopping, leisure, school, and all other purposes. We then ran descriptive and statistical analyses of travelers aged 18 through 65 to measure the frequencies of household demographic characteristics and person-level trips for all purposes made by five travel modes: walk, bike, car, bus, and subway.
Results
Based on our analysis, trips for work represent the majority of trips (34.7%), followed by shopping (28.2%), care (22.3%), leisure (8.5%), other (4.1%), and school trips (2.3%). Our findings indicate that women make more care-related trips during the day than men (25.1% vs. 18.8%). They also make fewer work-related trips than men (30.3% vs. 40.2%). Regression analyses revealed correlations between care-related travel by all modes and public transportation by age, race, location of residence, and income.
Discussion
The mobility of care, done mostly by women, is one of the primary reasons that people travel in and around Washington, D.C., and its suburbs. However, D.C.’s bus and subway systems are primarily designed to support the mobility of work done mostly by men. As a result, our study identifies the need for improvements in gender-responsive infrastructure, including public transportation policies and programs that explicitly address the mobility of care, improve access to care, and reduce the environmental impact of cars.
... Being good at soft technology and STEM has traditionally been seen as a feminine trait, while being good at or working with hard technology and STEM has been more connected with masculinity (Beaudin, 2008;Light et al., 2022;Ottemo, 2015). Nevertheless, we should recognise the balancing act of hard and soft technology (cf. ...
In Sweden, girls’ non-interest in technology education and technological careers has been a topic of focus for many years, both in general and in politics, and it has influenced how the subject has been taught in schools. The thesis aims to critically examine the ‘problem’ of the (non)technical girl. This is done through four different studies. The first explores girls’ (age 10-17) engagement and interest in technology, according to international scientific literature (Study I). It is followed by studies of girls’ (age 9-14) activities, self-image and performativity in technology education, both in and out of school (Studies II, III). Lastly, the theory and empirical findings on gender, technology, and the technical girl and their implications for technology and STEM education from the first three studies were applied in Study IV. The thesis uses a theoretical framework based on concepts from the philosophy of technology and gender theory, primarily the three gender levels: the symbolic, the structural, and the individual. Data collection includes participant observation and focus group interviews with girls who have participated in technology education and camp activities, and data analysis is carried out using thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis. The findings from the first study confirm the general pattern of girls’ lesser interest in technology and call for the need to add a gender perspective. In contrast, studies II and III highlight the complex inter-action between girls’ activities and self-image in technology. Although girls in study II con-firm prevailing gender norms around technology, the results also show ambiguity and resistance to stereotypes, primarily when they work together and engage in their tasks in technology. Study III shows ambivalence about the “girlification” of technology to suit girls, and emphasises that girls’ interest in technology extends beyond gendered activities. Study IV reveals implications for technology and STEM education, pointing to potential gender pit-falls and stereotypical responses. The discussion contributes new insights into girls’ perceptions of themselves as technical. It advocates for a gender perspective in technology education research to uncover social barriers hindering girls from embracing their technical abilities. The emphasis lies in questioning established ‘problems,’ challenging gender norms, promoting inclusivity, and recognising diverse interests and skills in technology.
... Within male dominated STEM fields, women continue to occupy careers in lower numbers, attend fewer academic conferences, and serve less on editorial boards (Sheltzer and Smith, 2014;Lerback and Hanson, 2017). Light et al. (2022) reported changes in perception of STEM based careers depending on the level of participation by women; STEM fields that garner more participation of women are more likely to be considered "soft" science while more male dominated STEM based careers are seen as "hard" sciences. This change in perception can cause certain STEM fields to be considered less rigorous, less worthy of funding, and having less value. ...
Curriculum standards play an important role in the development of instructional materials considering they are used as a framework by publishing companies to outline textbooks. Therefore, it is imperative that standards and instructional materials integrate relevant interdisciplinary content that fosters the development of scientific literacy, health literacy, environmental literacy, and multicultural awareness. This qualitative research critically examines the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS) biology standards and three commonly adopted biology textbooks to determine the degree of relevancy and inclusion of multicultural content using James A. Banks’ Levels of Integration of Multicultural Content. The researchers found that the inclusion of concepts of relevancy and multiculturalism are absent or minimal from the standards and textbooks and conclude that curricular transformation is needed to prioritize and support relevancy and multicultural teaching and learning in biology classrooms. Opportunities to enrich biology standards and textbooks that fall within the transformative approach and social action approach of Banks’ Levels of Integration of Multicultural Content to promote relevancy and multiculturalism are presented.
... In several European countries, the female model barely reaches 30%, compared to 70% for men [20]. The lack of representation in studies carries over to the labour market [21]. An unequal labour market system encourages horizontal segregation. ...
Besides providing the consulted publication’s findings, the literature review can offer information through metadata. Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) can support visualising bibliometric metadata through RIS files. The usefulness is to provide an interactive image of the reality and actuality of scientific production. This article presents a case study to exemplify how metadata can be analysed and visualised using CAQDAS. The topic for the case study is the gender gap in STEM studies in higher education. The study aims to identify the value and usefulness of data visualisation in representing bibliometric data to support literature review processes. The phenomenon of the gender gap in the STEM education sector is used as a case study. The research questions addressed by the study are: (1) What does CAQDAS contribute to the results obtained?; (2) What are the possible causes of the gender gap? The analysis concludes that the cultural, social, educational, family, and peer group environment generates positive and negative force fields when deciding which studies to pursue; some people follow the patterns expected of them according to their gender. Finally, data visualisation helps understand the scientific evolution of a phenomenon and supports the research on a particular topic.KeywordsGenderSTEM educationStereotypesVisualisationQualitative researchLiterature review
... More generally, practitioners in some academic research areas, such as physics and life sciences, may believe that their work is "hard science" that is more rigorous than "soft science", such as the social sciences (Simonton, 2018;Nature, 2005). These labels have been argued to be sexist (Light et al., 2022) and misleading because the social sciences are "hard" in the sense of complex and difficult to analyse. Researchers in other fields, such as psychology, sometimes aspire for them to be harder in this sense, however (Uher, 2021;Zagaria et al., 2020). ...
Purpose
To assess whether interdisciplinary research evaluation scores vary between fields.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors investigate whether published refereed journal articles were scored differently by expert assessors (two per output, agreeing a score and norm referencing) from multiple subject-based Units of Assessment (UoAs) in the REF2021 UK national research assessment exercise. The primary raw data was 8,015 journal articles published 2014–2020 and evaluated by multiple UoAs, and the agreement rates were compared to the estimated agreement rates for articles multiply-evaluated within a single UoA.
Findings
The authors estimated a 53% agreement rate on a four-point quality scale between UoAs for the same article and a within-UoA agreement rate of 70%. This suggests that quality scores vary more between fields than within fields for interdisciplinary research. There were also some hierarchies between fields, in the sense of UoAs that tended to give higher scores for the same article than others.
Research limitations/implications
The results apply to one country and type of research evaluation. The agreement rate percentage estimates are both based on untested assumptions about the extent of cross-checking scores for the same articles in the REF, so the inferences about the agreement rates are tenuous.
Practical implications
The results underline the importance of choosing relevant fields for any type of research evaluation.
Originality/value
This is the first evaluation of the extent to which a careful peer-review exercise generates different scores for the same articles between disciplines.
... Various and often unseen gendered processes are experienced by women inside and outside of the workplace (National Academies of Sciences, 2020) and inhibit career progression in marine research (Shellock et al., 2022). These can include: unconscious bias, cultural prejudices, stereotyping (Johannesen et al., 2022;Light et al., 2022), and biased expectations, as well as bullying (O'Connell and McKinnon, 2021), and sexual harassment in the office or during conferences, meetings, fieldwork, and research cruises (Women in Ocean Science CIC, 2021). Together, they make it harder for women to move into leadership positions. ...
Diverse and inclusive marine research is paramount to addressing ocean sustainability challenges in the 21st century, as envisioned by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Despite increasing efforts to diversify ocean science, women continue to face barriers at various stages of their career, which inhibits their progression to leadership within academic institutions. In this perspective, we draw on the collective experiences of thirty-four global women leaders, bolstered by a narrative review, to identify practical strategies and actions that will help empower early career women researchers to become the leaders of tomorrow. We propose five strategies: (i) create a more inclusive culture, (ii) ensure early and equitable career development opportunities for women ECRs, (iii) ensure equitable access to funding for women ECRs, (iv) offer mentoring opportunities and, (v) create flexible, family-friendly environments. Transformational, meaningful, and lasting change will only be achieved through commitment and collaborative action across various scales and by multiple stakeholders.
... social science; Shellock et al., 2022). Labelling social science as a "soft science" and gender stereotyping can lead to power relationships, researchers and disciplines being devalued, and the field to be deemed less rigorous and less worthy of funding (Cassell, 2002;Light et al., 2022). ...
Recent years have seen increasing calls to better document and understand the human dimensions of the marine and coastal environment and to incorporate this knowledge into decision-making. Human dimensions of the marine and coastal environment are best investigated through the application of marine social science. Individuals within marine social science are not solely “pure” social scientists, but rather are a diverse and interdisciplinary community, including many who have moved from the natural sciences to pursue a career in marine social science. This is particularly the case for early career researchers, with many moving from natural to social science earlier in their academic careers than their predecessors, and thus developing stronger interdisciplinary skills than previous generations of social scientists. In this perspective, we draw on our experiences, highlighting our main motivations for moving from natural to social science, the barriers we have faced and our top tips for early career researchers faced with similar opportunities and challenges. The ten tips include: “Work with like-minded researchers,” “Learn from and be inspired by academic heroes,” “Learn about and engage with research philosophy, positionality and reflexivity,” “Value your own skillset and perspective,” and “Be patient and kind to yourself.”
... Using a system's approach, we can apply social context as just one of the layers of the proverbial Swiss Cheese (Reason, 2000). In doing so, we can highlight how multiple factors contribute to the socioeconomic trend of devaluing women at work (e.g., 'soft' sciences; Light et al., 2022). ...
This discussion panel brings together six female human factors professionals from academia and industry as well as from different levels of experience to discuss issues surrounding gender in the human factors field. Dr. Lum will start the discussion panel by highlighting her own experiences as well as facilitating the other panelists’ talks. Dr. Grier will discuss the potential limitations faced and decisions related to having children as a female working professional. Ms. Waldfogle will give her perspective as a female graduate student and tips that have worked for her to exert her voice. Dr. Hancock will focus on her efforts to provide a more inclusive and equitable playing field through her service experiences. Dr. Papautsky will discuss work-life balance as a female parent and a working professional. Lastly, Dr. Hughes will discuss the disparity in production of work and how gender differences and race play a part in job placement and advancement. Then the panel will open the floor to the audience for an informal discussion on ways that we can foster a more inclusive environment for all and potentially applications of the human factors perspective to do so.
Discussion time: 90 minutes.
... Using a system's approach, we can apply social context as just one of the layers of the proverbial Swiss Cheese (Reason, 2000). In doing so, we can highlight how multiple factors contribute to the socioeconomic trend of devaluing women at work (e.g., 'soft' sciences; Light et al., 2022). ...
This discussion panel brings together six female human factors professionals from academia and industry as well as from different levels of experience to discuss issues surrounding gender in the human factors field. Dr. Lum will start the discussion panel by highlighting her own experiences as well as facilitating the other panelists' talks. Dr. Grier will discuss the potential lim itations faced and decisions related to having children as a female working professional. Ms. Waldfogle will give her perspective as a female graduate student and tips that have worked for her to exert her voice. Dr. Hancock will focus on her efforts to provide a more inclusive and equitable playing field through her service experiences. Dr. Papautsky will discuss work-life balance as a female parent and a working professional. Lastly, Dr. Hughes will discuss the disparity in production of work and how gender differences and race play a part in job placement and advancement. Then the panel will open the floor to the audience for an informal discussion on ways that we can foster a more inclusive environment for all and potentially applications of the human factors perspective to do so. Discussion time: 90 minutes.
... Activities that are mon e tized are included on one side of A. C. Pigou's "arbi trary line," while those "ser vices gra tu itously ren dered by women" are not (Pujol 1992: 171). science" rather than "hard science" (Light, BensonGreenwald, and Diekman 2022). The perceived "hardness"-and value-of a given field is a function of the proportion of its practitioners who are male, not a function of the substance of the field alone. ...
Economics reproduces itself as a [white] man's field through resistance to demographic and epistemic diversity. Although some resistance is expressed by anonymous individuals, they are neither the sole nor the primary source. Resistance is internal to the discipline; it is structural. It is present in the vertical organization of the profession, the seemingly neutral forms of evaluation that institutionalize gender bias, and the marginalization of certain topics and critical perspectives. Because resistance is structural, even if individuals do not discriminate, the discipline will remain resistant to diversity.
The conceptualization of work as paid employment alone reflects gender ideology and plays a key role in the devalorization of unpaid work, those who do it, and research about it. Concepts and methods from feminist political economy link the orthodox conceptualization of work, and the value system underpinning it, to the experiences of women economists between 1970 and the present. I find that economics remains a “man's field” through structural resistance to women economists, through interpreting women's economic activities as marginal to the “real business” of economics, and by delegitimizing feminist research about those activities. The delegitimization of feminists' paid work as economists functionally devalues women's unpaid work in economic thought. Because economic thought is influential outside the economics discipline, the delegitimization of feminist economic research devalues women's unpaid work outside the discipline as well.
Efforts to “fix” structural resistance to diversity without addressing the devalorization of the gendered work required to reproduce people are likely to have limited impacts. They may contribute to demographic diversity, but demographic diversity will not automatically translate into theoretical diversity in a discipline that marginalizes critical thought. Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts should ensure that nonwhite and nonmen economists have pathways to advancement with scope for academic freedom. This is especially necessary when their intellectual contributions challenge the value systems and the unequal power relations that economic orthodoxy reinforces.
... In many academic or technological fields, typically competitive activities or areas-such as scientific publications or software development-are more valued than those focused on sharing and cooperation, like community building, teaching, or mentoring. The latter activities are equally, if not more, relevant and challenging, and are usually performed by women, racialized people, people with disabilities, and other minoritized groups [22][23][24]. When planning the program for the conference, consider giving visibility to the whole range of activities and practitioners that contribute to the field by proposing new thematic sessions, broadening the scope of talks, keynotes, and tutorials. ...
Conferences are spaces to meet and network within and across academic and technical fields, learn about new advances, and share our work. They can help define career paths and create long-lasting collaborations and opportunities. However, these opportunities are not equal for all. This article introduces 10 simple rules to host an inclusive conference based on the authors’ recent experience organizing the 2021 edition of the useR! statistical computing conference, which attracted a broad range of participants from academia, industry, government, and the nonprofit sector. Coming from different backgrounds, career stages, and even continents, we embraced the challenge of organizing a high-quality virtual conference in the context of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and making it a kind, inclusive, and accessible experience for as many people as possible. The rules result from our lessons learned before, during, and after the organization of the conference. They have been written mainly for potential organizers and selection committees of conferences and contain multiple practical tips to help a variety of events become more accessible and inclusive. We see this as a starting point for conversations and efforts towards building more inclusive conferences across the world. * Translated versions of the English abstract and the list of rules are available in 10 languages in S1 Text: Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil, and Thai.
... Vamos a detenernos a analizar la violencia simbólica de estas aseveraciones. El hecho de que el sujeto sea una mujer: Se nos pide de alguna forma seguir siendo una anomalía, ya que los campos con demasiadas mujeres se ven como blandos y no tan elitistas (Light, 2022). El trabajo de su marido: ...
En este articulo se abordan las dificultades de las mujeres jóvenes para verse haciendo física, así como las diferencias en la identidad profesional de hombres y mujeres en física, y las violencias simbólicas que nos atraviesan a las mujeres en este campo. Esto nos lleva a interrogarnos sobre la cultura profesional en la que nos desempeñamos, y sobre cómo nos afecta trabajar en un campo tan masculinizado donde, en consecuencia, es más difícil colaborar con otras mujeres. Partiendo de estos análisis valoramos en clave género los cambios que se están dando en los últimos años, en los que la física en España se está volviendo cada vez más neoliberal.
Indian science academia has a dearth of women researchers at all levels. Not only are they under-represented, but they are also under-highlighted, under-mentored and overlooked for awards, grants and other career-advancing steps. To effectively address this problem and devise a solution for the inequity, we need data on the proportion of women faculty across multiple STEM institutions. Such a database, currently, does not exist. To fill this gap, we formed BiasWatchIndia to (1) document the inequities, and (2) provide real-time actionable data as a basis for future remedial steps. Along with collecting data on women representation at the faculty level in Indian STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) academia, BiasWatchIndia also helps highlight the lack of women representation and gender imbalance in Indian STEM talks, conferences, workshops and panels. Based on our findings, we recommend several measures that need to be implemented by universities and institutes to challenge the status quo changes for women in Indian academia.
Academic writers can convey their attitudes and opinions, or stance, through carefully chosen reporting verbs, which introduce and cite sources while expressing author perspectives. Since reporting verbs reflect different authorial intentions, they can be categorized into different stance acts. However, there is limited research on how reporting verb stance varies across disciplines. In this study, we analysed the stance of reporting verbs in the background sections of 270 academic articles from six disciplines in the Academic Journal Registers Corpus (AJRC) (Gray, 2011). Two cluster analyses yielded three clusters of reporting verb patterns based on act type, and five clusters based on stance type. The distribution of these clusters varied across disciplines, with applied linguistics and history as well as physics and political science showing similar patterns.
This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0 .
This article sheds light on the registers of violence through which people from marginalised groups—especially non-normative or minoritised collectivities of gender, sex and religion—are constructed as outsiders in science higher education in India. Further, this article delineates the production and construction of a ‘normal’ sex/gender in a science classroom as distinct from a ‘biological’ sex/gender. Towards these goals, this article uses autobiographical narratives of a Muslim intersex transgender (trans) individual pursuing their masters in a science institution in Bengaluru, India, which it analyses using sociology of science and psychoanalytic lenses to articulate these mechanisms as the construction of the ‘epistemological deviant’ and the employment of ‘epistemic abjection’.
Introduction
Indian science academia has a dearth of women researchers at all levels. Not only are they under-represented, but they are also under-highlighted, under-mentored and overlooked for awards, grants and other career-advancing steps. To effectively address this problem and devise a solution for the inequity, we need data on the proportion of women faculty across multiple STEM institutions. Such a database, currently, does not exist. To fill this gap, we formed BiasWatchIndia to (1) document the inequities, and (2) provide real-time actionable data as a basis for future remedial steps. Along with collecting data on women representation at the faculty level in Indian STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) academia, BiasWatchIndia also helps highlight the lack of women representation and gender imbalance in Indian STEM talks, conferences, workshops and panels. Based on our findings, we recommend several measures that need to be implemented by universities and institutes to challenge the status quo changes for women in Indian academia.
The visibility of female role models in science is vital for engaging and retaining women in scientific fields. In this study, we analyse four senior secondary science courses delivered across the states and territories in Australia: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics. We compared male and female representation within the science courses by examining the mentions of male and female scientists along with the context of their inclusions in the syllabuses. We find a clear gender bias with only one unique mention of a female scientist. We also find a clear Eurocentric focus and narrow representation of scientists. This bias will contribute to the continuing low engagement of women in scientific fields. We outline possible solutions to address this issue, including the accreditation of scientific discoveries to include female scientists and explicit discussion of structural barriers preventing the participation and progression of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)..
This article draws on an ethnographic study of an e-science platform in Sweden to analyse how horizontal gender segregation across sciences plays out in e-science, a borderland in which sciences converge around state-of-the art computational technologies for scientific research. While the convergence of sciences in e-science has the potential to open a non-traditional trajectory to attract women to ICTs, we find that this potential remains untapped. Instead horizontal gender segregation is perpetuated through a) restricted mobility of women from scientific fields with higher gender parity to IT, b) gender friction negatively affecting women in cross-disciplinary e-science, c) a gendered developer/user divide permeating e-science collaborations under ‘the logic of domains,’ and d) perceived self-reliance in computational tool development across sciences acting as ‘gendered boundary work’ to strengthen the gendered hard/soft divide in sciences.
Feminist/queer science offers exciting possibilities for psychology and other fields. In this article, we review a set of dynamic principles for feminist/queer science, based in research with gender, sex, and sexuality (gender/sex/uality). There are potentially surprising ways that queer and science overlap for a queer science, and we focus on four: construction, openness, challenge, and multiplicities. There are also meeting points between feminism and science that support a feminist science, and we again focus on four: bias, truth, objectivity, and empiricism. Yet there are a number of challenges to feminist/queer science, including those that are epistemological, empirical, and methodological. We detail these, articulating how feminist/queer science also provides ways to address, sidestep, and move beyond them. Throughout, we articulate how feminist/queer science provides a dynamic and rigorous way forward for psychological science as well as other fields, and we conclude by articulating how it can lead to more empirical, accurate, and just knowledge.
Feminist teaching methods, informed by the Women’s Liberation Movement, have played an important role in honoring and giving authority to the lived experiences of women under patriarchy. These methods have been particularly useful in the health sciences, which have traditionally been the site of androcentric ideas about health and the trivialization of women’s health concerns. However, in recent decades, women have entered the health sciences in greater numbers and incorporated their lived experiences as women into their “learned experiences” as health professionals. One notable example of the successful merging of women’s lived experiences under patriarchy, and their learned experiences in male-dominated health sciences, is the pedagogy and practice of weight-inclusive health professionals. This chapter discusses the origins of Women’s Studies, its significance to the Women’s Health Movement and its emergence in the health sciences, and the “anti-diet” movement as a contemporary example of women’s lived and learned experiences in improving women’s health. Overall, this chapter concludes by reflecting on the legacy of feminists and fat activists who inspired “anti-diet” health professionals, and on the future of the weight-inclusive health paradigm.
This article analyzes the importance of forensic science in investigation with special focus on narcoanalysis, brain mapping, and polygraph test. With the help of forensic science and its new techniques, crimes can be easily solved. The scope of forensic science is growing day by day. There are several branches of forensic science that are really very helpful in identifying and solving the crime and finding out the perpetrator. This article mainly focuses on the application of scientific tests such as narcoanalysis, brain mapping, and polygraph test in the investigation and detection of crimes and how far it is admissible in the court of law. While going through in-depth reading of this article, a clear picture of the importance of scientific tests and its legal implications will be thoroughly understood.
La falta de mujeres en las disciplinas científico-técnicas tiene no sólo múltiples causas, sino diferentes manifestaciones. En este trabajo, exploramos las temáticas en las que se centran los trabajos de fin de grado de Ingeniería Informática de la Universidade da Coruña como posible indicador de las diferencias en los roles jugados por mujeres y hombres en el mundo de la tecnología. En concreto, la cuantificación de trabajos fin de grado que se asocian con varios ámbitos asociados a los cuidados determina que estas temáticas son poco frecuentes, y el análisis de la autoría y tutorización revela que se registran diferencias entre mujeres y hombres en ambos roles, si bien de diferente magnitud.
Motivation
As governments move in earnest toward a green economy, few countries are considering education policy that can facilitate the development of green skills for such transitions. Where policy discussions are happening, green skills are often conflated with science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) skills, with little attention to the breadth of green skills needed to achieve climate justice.
Purpose
We present a green skills framework to help support policy stakeholders imagine a continuum of green skills for a just transition.
Methods and approach
This article applies a critical feminist lens to understand how green skills have been conceptualized across the gender and adolescence, greening and sustainability, and education fields. It also integrates the perspectives of stakeholders from climate, education, and gender‐focused multilateral, government, and non‐governmental organizations working on green skills.
Findings
The analysis finds that green skills coalesce around three distinct but overlapping paradigms. The first understands green skills through a technical lens as the specific capacities needed for green jobs. The second and third paradigms understand green skills through a sociological lens, seeking to tackle the behaviours and social structures driving the climate crisis. As such, they centre on cross‐cutting generic capacities and transformative capacities, respectively. Taken together, the article offers a new definition of green skills for policy stakeholders.
Policy implications
The three approaches to green skills outlined in this paper constitute the pillars of a new green learning agenda for climate action, climate empowerment, and climate justice. This green learning agenda fills a significant void in both climate policy and education policy, and could help governments address current capacity building needs while setting their populations up for the long‐term social transformations required to achieve a just transition.
Children’s memberships in social groups have profound effects on their motivation. Stereotypes about social groups shape children’s beliefs about what is expected for their group members. These beliefs can influence children’s developing beliefs about themselves (self‐perceptions). In this article, I review research on how gender stereotypes influence children’s motivation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), including ability beliefs and sense of belonging. When children belong to a gender group that is negatively stereotyped in a STEM field, they may doubt their own capabilities and whether they belong in that field, making it harder for them to develop interest over time. Developmentally, the influence of gender stereotypes on motivation begins during preschool and strengthens during late childhood. I also address the consequences of different kinds of stereotypes and why some children are more influenced by stereotypes than others. Understanding this process in childhood will help researchers design effective interventions to remedy educational inequities in STEM.
When the outcome is binary, psychologists often use nonlinear modeling strategies such as logit or probit. These strategies are often neither optimal nor justified when the objective is to estimate causal effects of experimental treatments. Researchers need to take extra steps to convert logit and probit coefficients into interpretable quantities, and when they do, these quantities often remain difficult to understand. Odds ratios, for instance, are described as obscure in many textbooks (e.g., Gelman & Hill, 2006, p. 83). I draw on econometric theory and established statistical findings to demonstrate that linear regression is generally the best strategy to estimate causal effects of treatments on binary outcomes. Linear regression coefficients are directly interpretable in terms of probabilities and, when interaction terms or fixed effects are included, linear regression is safer. I review the Neyman-Rubin causal model, which I use to prove analytically that linear regression yields unbiased estimates of treatment effects on binary outcomes. Then, I run simulations and analyze existing data on 24,191 students from 56 middle schools (Paluck, Shepherd, & Aronow, 2013) to illustrate the effectiveness of linear regression. Based on these grounds, I recommend that psychologists use linear regression to estimate treatment effects on binary outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
This meta-analysis integrated 16 nationally representative U.S. public opinion polls on gender stereotypes (N = 30,093 adults), extending from 1946 to 2018, a span of seven decades that brought considerable change in gender relations, especially in women's roles. In polls inquiring about communion (e.g., affectionate, emotional), agency (e.g., ambitious, courageous), and competence (e.g., intelligent, creative), respondents indicated whether each trait is more true of women or men, or equally true of both. Women's relative advantage in communion increased over time, but men's relative advantage in agency showed no change. Belief in competence equality increased over time, along with belief in female superiority among those who indicated a sex difference in competence. Contemporary gender stereotypes thus convey substantial female advantage in communion and a smaller male advantage in agency but also gender equality in competence along with some female advantage. Interpretation emphasizes the origins of gender stereotypes in the social roles of women and men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Stereotype research emphasizes systematic processes over seemingly arbitrary contents, but content also may prove systematic. On the basis of stereotypes' intergroup functions, the stereotype content model hypothesizes that (a) 2 primary dimensions are competence and warmth, (b) frequent mixed clusters combine high warmth with low competence (paternalistic) or high competence with low warmth (envious), and (c) distinct emotions (pity, envy, admiration, contempt) differentiate the 4 competence-warmth combinations. Stereotypically, (d) status predicts high competence, and competition predicts low warmth. Nine varied samples rated gender, ethnicity, race, class, age, and disability out-groups. Contrary to antipathy models, 2 dimensions mattered, and many stereotypes were mixed, either pitying (low competence, high warmth subordinates) or envying (high competence, low warmth competitors). Stereotypically, status predicted competence, and competition predicted low warmth.
Researchers are concerned about whether manipulations have the intended effects. Many journals and reviewers view manipulation checks favorably, and they are widely reported in prestigious journals. However, the prototypical manipulation check is a verbal (rather than behavioral) measure that always appears at the same point in the procedure (rather than its order being varied to assess order effects). Embedding such manipulation checks within an experiment comes with problems. While we conceptualize manipulation checks as measures, they can also act as interventions which initiate new processes that would otherwise not occur. The default assumption that manipulation checks do not affect experimental conclusions is unwarranted. They may amplify, undo, or interact with the effects of a manipulation. Further, the use of manipulation checks in mediational analyses does not rule out confounding variables, as any unmeasured variables that correlate with the manipulation check may still drive the relationship. Alternatives such as non-verbal and behavioral measures as manipulation checks and pilot testing are less problematic. Reviewers should view manipulation checks more critically, and authors should explore alternative methods to ensure the effectiveness of manipulations.
This meta-analysis, spanning 5 decades of Draw-A-Scientist studies, examined U.S. children's gender-science stereotypes linking science with men. These stereotypes should have weakened over time because women's representation in science has risen substantially in the United States, and mass media increasingly depict female scientists. Based on 78 studies (N = 20,860; grades K-12), children's drawings of scientists depicted female scientists more often in later decades, but less often among older children. Children's depictions of scientists therefore have become more gender diverse over time, but children still associate science with men as they grow older. These results may reflect that children observe more male than female scientists in their environments, even though women's representation in science has increased over time.
Women obtain more than half of U.S. undergraduate degrees in biology, chemistry, and mathematics, yet they earn less than 20% of computer science, engineering, and physics undergraduate degrees (National Science Foundation, 2014a). Gender differences in interest in computer science, engineering, and physics appear even before college. Why are women represented in some science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields more than others? We conduct a critical review of the most commonly cited factors explaining gender disparities in STEM participation and investigate whether these factors explain differential gender participation across STEM fields. Math performance and discrimination influence who enters STEM, but there is little evidence to date that these factors explain why women’s underrepresentation is relatively worse in some STEM fields. We introduce a model with three overarching factors to explain the larger gender gaps in participation in computer science, engineering, and physics than in biology, chemistry, and mathematics: (a) masculine cultures that signal a lower sense of belonging to women than men, (b) a lack of sufficient early experience with computer science, engineering, and physics, and (c) gender gaps in self-efficacy. Efforts to increase women’s participation in computer science, engineering, and physics may benefit from changing masculine cultures and providing students with early experiences that signal equally to both girls and boys that they belong and can succeed in these fields.
Women and African Americans—groups targeted by negative stereotypes about their intellectual abilities—may be underrepresented in careers that prize brilliance and genius. A recent nationwide survey of academics provided initial support for this possibility. Fields whose practitioners believed that natural talent is crucial for success had fewer female and African American PhDs. The present study seeks to replicate this initial finding with a different, and arguably more naturalistic, measure of the extent to which brilliance and genius are prized within a field. Specifically, we measured field-by-field variability in the emphasis on these intellectual qualities by tallying—with the use of a recently released online tool—the frequency of the words “brilliant” and “genius” in over 14 million reviews on RateMyProfessors.com, a popular website where students can write anonymous evaluations of their instructors. This simple word count predicted both women’s and African Americans’ representation across the academic spectrum. That is, we found that fields in which the words “brilliant” and “genius” were used more frequently on RateMyProfessors.com also had fewer female and African American PhDs. Looking at an earlier stage in students’ educational careers, we found that brilliance-focused fields also had fewer women and African Americans obtaining bachelor’s degrees. These relationships held even when accounting for field-specific averages on standardized mathematics assessments, as well as several competing hypotheses concerning group differences in representation. The fact that this naturalistic measure of a field’s focus on brilliance predicted the magnitude of its gender and race gaps speaks to the tight link between ability beliefs and diversity.
We conducted two studies whose primary goal was to assess the similarity between stereotypes about women and men and stereotypes about successful scientists. In addition, we examined the degree to which scientists, men, and women are seen as agentic or communal. Results revealed greater similarity between stereotypes about men and stereotypes about scientists than between stereotypes about women and scientists. Men and scientists were seen as highly agentic, women as highly communal, and scientists as less communal than either men or women. The higher the proportion of women in a scientific field, the more similar the stereotypes of scientists in that field were to stereotypes about women. Female participants perceived more similarity between women and scientists and judged women to be more agentic than male participants did. The results are consistent with role-congruity and lack-of-fit theories that report incompatibility of female gender stereotypes with stereotypes about high-status occupational roles. The results demonstrate that women are perceived to lack the qualities needed to be successful scientists, which may contribute to discrimination and prejudice against female scientists.
Women’s underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is a prominent concern in our society and many others. Closer inspection of this phenomenon reveals a more nuanced picture, however, with women achieving parity with men at the Ph.D. level in certain STEM fields, while also being underrepresented in some non-STEM fields. It is important to consider and provide an account of this field-by-field variability. The field-specific ability beliefs (FAB) hypothesis aims to provide such an account, proposing that women are likely to be underrepresented in fields thought to require raw intellectual talent—a sort of talent that women are stereotyped to possess less of than men. In two studies, we provide evidence for the FAB hypothesis, demonstrating that the academic fields believed by laypeople to require brilliance are also the fields with lower female representation. We also found that the FABs of participants with college-level exposure to a field were more predictive of its female representation than those of participants without college exposure, presumably because the former beliefs mirror more closely those of the field’s practitioners (the direct “gatekeepers”). Moreover, the FABs of participants with college exposure to a field predicted the magnitude of the field’s gender gap above and beyond their beliefs about the level of mathematical and verbal skills required. Finally, we found that beliefs about the importance of brilliance to success in a field may predict its female representation in part by fostering the impression that the field demands solitary work and competition with others. These results suggest new solutions for enhancing diversity within STEM and across the academic spectrum.
Expertise is a prerequisite for communicator credibility, entailing the knowledge and ability to be accurate. Trust also is essential to communicator credibility. Audiences view trustworthiness as the motivation to be truthful. Identifying whom to trust follows systematic principles. People decide quickly another's apparent intent: Who is friend or foe, on their side or not, or a cooperator or competitor. Those seemingly on their side are deemed warm (friendly, trustworthy). People then decide whether the other is competent to enact those intents. Perception of scientists, like other social perceptions, involves inferring both their apparent intent (warmth) and capability (competence). To illustrate, we polled adults online about typical American jobs, rated as American society views them, on warmth and competence dimensions, as well as relevant emotions. Ambivalently perceived high-competence but low-warmth, "envied" professions included lawyers, chief executive officers, engineers, accountants, scientists, and researchers. Being seen as competent but cold might not seem problematic until one recalls that communicator credibility requires not just status and expertise but also trustworthiness (warmth). Other research indicates the risk from being enviable. Turning to a case study of scientific communication, another online sample of adults described public attitudes toward climate scientists specifically. Although distrust is low, the apparent motive to gain research money is distrusted. The literature on climate science communicators agrees that the public trusts impartiality, not persuasive agendas. Overall, communicator credibility needs to address both expertise and trustworthiness. Scientists have earned audiences' respect, but not necessarily their trust. Discussing, teaching, and sharing information can earn trust to show scientists' trustworthy intentions.
We integrate two prominent models of social perception dimensionality. In three studies, we demonstrate how the well-established semantic differential dimensions of evaluation and potency relate to the stereotype content model dimensions of warmth and competence. Specifically, using a correlational design (Study 1) and experimental designs (Studies 2 and 3), we found that semantic differential dimensions run diagonally across stereotype content model quadrants. Implications of integrating classic and modern approaches of social perception are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Using data on the number of men and women who received doctorates in all academic fields from 1971 to 2002, the authors examine changes in the sex composition of fields. During this period, the proportion of women who received doctorates increased dramatically from 14 percent to 46 percent. Regression models with fixed effects indicate no evidence that fields with declining relative salaries deter the entry of men, as would be predicted by the queuing theory of Reskin and Roos. Consistent with the devaluation perspective and Schelling’s tipping model, above a certain percentage of women, men are deterred from entering fields by the fields’ further feminization. However, the rank order of fields in the percentage of women changed only slightly over time, implying that, to a large extent, men and women continued to choose fields as before, even when many more women received doctorates. The findings on the effects of feminization on salaries are mixed.
Performed multidimensional scaling on scholars' judgments about the similarities of the subject-matter of different academic areas. 168 university scholars made judgments about 36 areas, and 54 small-college scholars judged similarities among 30 areas. G. A. Miller's method of sorting was used in collecting data. 3 dimensions were common to the solutions of both samples: existence of a paradigm, concern with application, and concern with life systems. It appears that these dimensions are general to the subject-matter of most academic institutions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In 2 studies, paternalistic and envious gender stereotypes were examined. Paternalistic stereotypes portray particular female or male subgroups as warm but not competent, whereas envious stereotypes depict some other female or male subgroups as competent but not warm. A total of 134 women and 82 men, primarily White and middle class, participated in this research. Building on the stereotype content model (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002), Study 1 tested the mixed-stereotypes hypothesis that many gender subgroups are viewed as high on either competence or warmth but low on the other. Study 2 additionally addressed the social-structural hypothesis that status predicts perceived competence and interdependence predicts perceived warmth. The results provided strong support for both hypotheses.
The article argues against the popular belief that linear regression should not be used when the dependent variable is a dichotomy.
The relevance of the statistical arguments against linear analyses, that the tests of significance are inappropriate and that
one risk getting meaningless results, are disputed. Violating the homoscedasticity assumption seems to be of little practical
importance, as an empirical comparison of results shows nearly identical outcomes for the two kinds of significance tests.
When linear analysis of dichotomous dependent variables is seen as acceptable, there in many situations exist compelling arguments
of a substantive nature for preferring this approach to logistic regression. Of special importance is the intuitive meaningfulness
of the linear measures as differences in probabilities, and their applicability in causal (path) analysis, in contrast to
the logistic measures.
“Deep learning” represents student engagement in approaches to learning that emphasize integration, synthesis, and reflection.
Because learning is a shared responsibility between students and faculty, it is important to determine whether faculty members
emphasize deep approaches to learning and to assess how much students employ these approaches. This study examines the effect
of discipline on student use of and faculty members’ emphasis on deep approaches to learning as well as on the relationships
between deep approaches to learning and selected educational outcomes. Using data from over 80,000 seniors and 10,000 faculty
members we found that deep approaches to learning were more prevalent in Biglan’s soft, pure, and life fields compared to
their counterparts. The differences were largest between soft and hard fields. We also found that seniors who engage more
frequently in deep learning behaviors report greater educational gains, higher grades, and greater satisfaction with college,
and that the strength of these relationships is relatively consistent across disciplinary categories.
Emerging evidence has shown that human thought can be embodied within physical sensations and actions. Indeed, abstract concepts such as morality, time, and interpersonal warmth can be based on metaphors that are grounded in bodily experiences (e.g., physical temperature can signal interpersonal warmth). We hypothesized that social-category knowledge is similarly embodied, and we tested this hypothesis by examining a sensory metaphor related to categorical judgments of gender. We chose the dimension of "toughness" (ranging from tough to tender), which is often used to characterize differences between males and females. Across two studies, the proprioceptive experience of toughness (vs. tenderness) was manipulated as participants categorized sex-ambiguous faces as male or female. Two different manipulations of proprioceptive toughness predictably biased the categorization of faces toward "male." These findings suggest that social-category knowledge is at least partially embodied.
The hypothesis of a Hierarchy of the Sciences with physical sciences at the top, social sciences at the bottom, and biological sciences in-between is nearly 200 years old. This order is intuitive and reflected in many features of academic life, but whether it reflects the "hardness" of scientific research--i.e., the extent to which research questions and results are determined by data and theories as opposed to non-cognitive factors--is controversial. This study analysed 2434 papers published in all disciplines and that declared to have tested a hypothesis. It was determined how many papers reported a "positive" (full or partial) or "negative" support for the tested hypothesis. If the hierarchy hypothesis is correct, then researchers in "softer" sciences should have fewer constraints to their conscious and unconscious biases, and therefore report more positive outcomes. Results confirmed the predictions at all levels considered: discipline, domain and methodology broadly defined. Controlling for observed differences between pure and applied disciplines, and between papers testing one or several hypotheses, the odds of reporting a positive result were around 5 times higher among papers in the disciplines of Psychology and Psychiatry and Economics and Business compared to Space Science, 2.3 times higher in the domain of social sciences compared to the physical sciences, and 3.4 times higher in studies applying behavioural and social methodologies on people compared to physical and chemical studies on non-biological material. In all comparisons, biological studies had intermediate values. These results suggest that the nature of hypotheses tested and the logical and methodological rigour employed to test them vary systematically across disciplines and fields, depending on the complexity of the subject matter and possibly other factors (e.g., a field's level of historical and/or intellectual development). On the other hand, these results support the scientific status of the social sciences against claims that they are completely subjective, by showing that, when they adopt a scientific approach to discovery, they differ from the natural sciences only by a matter of degree.
G*Power is a free power analysis program for a variety of statistical tests. We present extensions and improvements of the version introduced by Faul, Erdfelder, Lang, and Buchner (2007) in the domain of correlation and regression analyses. In the new version, we have added procedures to analyze the power of tests based on (1) single-sample tetrachoric correlations, (2) comparisons of dependent correlations, (3) bivariate linear regression, (4) multiple linear regression based on the random predictor model, (5) logistic regression, and (6) Poisson regression. We describe these new features and provide a brief introduction to their scope and handling.
Participants were instructed to organize information about group members either by distinguishing stereotype-consistent from stereotype-inconsistent individuals (subtyping instructions), by dividing the individuals into multiple groups on the basis of similarities and differences (subgrouping instructions), or with no explicit organizing instructions. Participants given the subtyping instructions showed greater perceived stereotypicality and homogeneity and perceived a greater difference in how typical the confirming versus disconfirming group members were, relative to subgroup participants. Study 2 demonstrated natural variation among participants in the perceived atypicality of the disconfirming relative to confirming individuals when learning about a gay activist group. Atypicality predicted perceptions of this group, even when prejudice and strength of stereotyping toward gays as a whole were statistically controlled.
Recent theoretical and methodological innovations suggest a distinction between implicit and explicit evaluations. We applied Campbell and Fiske's (1959) classic multitrait-multimethod design precepts to test the construct validity of implicit attitudes as measured by the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Participants (N = 287) were measured on both self-report and IAT for up to seven attitude domains. Through a sequence of latent-variable structural models, systematic method variance was distinguished from attitude variance, and a correlated two-factors-per-attitude model (implicit and explicit factors) was superior to a single-factor-per-attitude specification. That is, despite sometimes strong relations between implicit and explicit attitude factors, collapsing their indicators into a single attitude factor resulted in relatively inferior model fit. We conclude that these implicit and explicit measures assess related but distinct attitude constructs. This provides a basis for, but does not distinguish between, dual-process and dual-representation theories that account for the distinctions between constructs.
The authors explored how social group cues (e.g., obesity, physical attractiveness) strongly associated with valence affect the formation of attitudes toward individuals. Although explicit attitude formation has been examined in much past research (e.g., S. T. Fiske & S. L. Neuberg, 1990), in the current work, the authors considered how implicit as well as explicit attitudes toward individuals are influenced by these cues. On the basis of a systems of evaluation perspective (e.g., R. J. Rydell & A. R. McConnell, 2006; R. J. Rydell, A. R. McConnell, D. M. Mackie, & L. M. Strain, 2006), the authors anticipated and found that social group cues had a strong impact on implicit attitude formation in all cases and on explicit attitude formation when behavioral information about the target was ambiguous. These findings obtained for cues related to obesity (Experiments 1 and 4) and physical attractiveness (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, parallel findings were observed for race, and participants holding greater implicit racial prejudice against African Americans formed more negative implicit attitudes toward a novel African American target person than did participants with less implicit racial prejudice. Implications for research on attitudes, impression formation, and stigma are discussed.
Members of social categories defined by attributes such as sex, race, and age occupy certain types of social roles much more than members of other social categories do. The qualities that define these roles become associated with the category as a whole, thus forming a stereotype. In a vicious cycle, this stereotype then hinders category members’ movement into roles with different demands because their stereotype portrays them as well matched to their existing roles but not to these new roles. This vicious cycle has important implications for stereotype change. Given the difficulties of producing enduring change by directly attacking stereotypes in the minds of individuals, a more effective strategy consists of policies and programs that change the distributions of category members in roles, thereby changing stereotypes at their source. If the vicious cycle is not interrupted by such social change, observations of category members’ typical social roles continually reinstate existing stereotypes.
The premise of the goal congruity perspective is that individuals seek to enter and engage in roles that fulfill their valued goals. Two steps are fundamental: First, the social structure shapes a group's internalized psychology and externalized opportunities, and second, individuals navigate the social structure through their actions. Put simply, individuals seek to enter available roles that they anticipate will serve their goals. Opportunities to pursue goals, or affordances, thus structure individuals' initial decisions to enter or avoid the role, as well as the way in which they engage with the role. We review accumulating evidence that affordances influence role decisions—whether these affordances vary in terms of naturalistic variation, experimental manipulation, or intervention efforts. We examine sources and cues to affordances, as well as moderation by gender and other group differences. Finally, we articulate new research questions emerging from considering actual and perceived affordances of social roles.
There are many differences between men and women. To some extent, these are captured in the stereotypical images of these groups. Stereotypes about the way men and women think and behave are widely shared, suggesting a kernel of truth. However, stereotypical expectations not only reflect existing differences, but also impact the way men and women define themselves and are treated by others. This article reviews evidence on the nature and content of gender stereotypes and considers how these relate to gender differences in important life outcomes. Empirical studies show that gender stereotypes affect the way people attend to, interpret, and remember information about themselves and others. Considering the cognitive and motivational functions of gender stereotypes helps us understand their impact on implicit beliefs and communications about men and women. Knowledge of the literature on this subject can benefit the fair judgment of individuals in situations where gender stereotypes are likely to play a role. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology Volume 69 is January 4, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Girls lose interest in science by age 9, and researchers have attributed this finding to misrepresentations of female scientists in the media. While television, film, the Internet, textbooks, and biographies have been analyzed for such representations, this study examines the extent to which females and minorities are portrayed over time in science sections of a popular children’s magazine, Highlights for Children. Results indicate that, while males and Whites have outnumbered females and minorities in depictions of science, Highlights has consistently exceeded the number of females and minorities actually employed in scientific fields.
Within higher education systems, different institutions deliver different patterns of disciplines. A simple analysis of the structure of that pattern of disciplines across institutions in one higher education system uncovers a surprising relationship. That is, the key dimensions which describe that structure align nearly perfectly with dimensions discovered in a very different context: the Biglan classification scheme. This paper explains correspondence analysis as a mechanism for uncovering structure in simple contingency tables, shows the accuracy of the fit with Biglan's scheme and demonstrates that the analysis also has a measure of predictive validity in its ability to classify previously unclassified disciplines. The study not only acts as a more accurate validation of Biglan's scheme than those previously undertaken, but indicates that a scheme developed in the USA in the 1970s has current validity in a very different higher education system and suggests disciplines as a core genotype of institutions.
Perceptions of the quality of two kinds of psychological methods—brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cognitive testing—were assessed in response to a scenario in which an expert's opinion rendered a politician incompetent to continue in his elected position. Participants evaluated the quality of MRI evidence more favorably than cognitive testing evidence, an effect that was particularly pronounced among participants motivated to disbelieve the evidence (strong partisans of the same party as the politician). This study is among the first to underscore the potential real-world implications of layperson's perceptions of psychological methods and to highlight that evaluations of “softer” methods may be more malleable than the “harder” ones.
Although many anti-bias interventions try to overcome stereotypes by presenting positive and/or counterstereotypic members of the outgroup, people often subtype these members and refuse to see them as typical of the outgroup. Although subtyping has been shown to be a common phenomenon, it is unclear if preexisting attitudes moderate this process. The current study examined whether preexisting prejudice levels would moderate the subtyping process. Specifically, it was found that although high-prejudiced individuals subtyped a positive racial outgroup member, low-prejudiced individuals demonstrated the opposite pattern and subtyped negative outgroup members as being atypical. This suggests that although the subtyping phenomenon may be universal, its expression is moderated by preexisting intergroup attitudes.
The intent of this study was to investigate characteristics that differentiate between women in soft (social, psychological, and life sciences) and hard (engineering, mathematics, computer science, physical science) science and engineering disciplines. Using the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study: 1996-2001(2002), a descriptive discriminant analysis was performed using a set of variables known to influence educational attainment. Results indicated that women who went into the hard science and engineering fields primarily had higher SAT math scores and, to a lesser degree, had higher high school mathematics grades, higher first-year cumulative grade point average, more contact with faculty, tended to live off campus, were enrolled in public 4-year institutions, and received less parental support.
For 200 years it has been assumed that the sciences are arranged in a hierarchy, with developed natural sciences like physics at the top and social sciences like sociology at the bottom. Sciences at the top of the hierarchy presumably display higher levels of consensus and more rapid rates of advancement than those at the bottom. A distinction is made between two classes of knowledge: the core, or fully evaluated and universally accepted ideas which serve as the starting points for graduate education, and the research frontier, or all research currently being conducted. Data are presented from a set of empirical studies which show that, at the top and at the bottom of the hierarchy in either cognitive consensus or the rate at which new ideas are incorporated. It is concluded that in all sciences knowledge at the research frontier is a loosely woven web characterized by substantial levels of disagreement and difficulty in determining which contributions will turn out to be significant. Even at the research...
G*Power (Erdfelder, Faul, & Buchner, 1996) was designed as a general stand-alone power analysis program for statistical tests commonly used in social and behavioral research. G*Power 3 is a major extension of, and improvement over, the previous versions. It runs on widely used computer platforms (i.e., Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4) and covers many different statistical tests of the t, F, and chi2 test families. In addition, it includes power analyses for z tests and some exact tests. G*Power 3 provides improved effect size calculators and graphic options, supports both distribution-based and design-based input modes, and offers all types of power analyses in which users might be interested. Like its predecessors, G*Power 3 is free.
When stereotypes affect judgment about individuals in the presence of individuating information, they may do so by affecting the construal of that information. Therefore stereotypes may affect judgment even if perceivers subsequently neglect the stereotypes or base rates and base their impressions only on these stereotype-driven construals of the individuating information. Too experiments showed that stereotypes affected judgments about targets in the presence of the same ambiguous individuating information that was open to multiple construals, but not in the presence of the same specific disambiguated construals of that information. A third experiment showed that the effects of stereotypes on target ratings in the presence of ambiguous individuating information were mediated by the construals of this information. Thus all subjects relied predominantly on the individuating information, but when it was ambiguous, it was construed differently, depending on the stereotype.
Two processes of stereotyping, subtyping and subgrouping, are compared. Subtyping occurs when perceivers respond to members of a target group who disconfirm their stereotypes by seeing them as exceptions to the rule and placing them in a separate subcategory apart from members who confirm the stereotype. The more recently defined process of subgrouping refers to the perceiver's organization of information in terms of clusters of individuals based on their similarities and dif - ferences; subgroups can include confirmers and disconfirmers. We consider how subtypes and subgroups are defined, operationalized, and measured, their conse - quences for stereotype change, and the role of typicality. It is concluded that the clearest difference between subtyping and subgrouping is in terms of their conse - quences (subtyping leads to the preservation and subgrouping to differentiation of the stereotype). There are, however, some similarities between the processes, and at- tention is drawn to what future research is required, both to deepen our knowledge of each process and clarify their distinction.
The Draw-A-Scientist Test is an assessment tool devised to explore and measure children's stereotypical views of scientists. We administered this test to a group of 49 undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in a teacher certification program. While this was originally intended as a purely pedagogical exercise, we were struck by the degree to which the drawings so produced resembled, in stereotypical content, those usually produced by children. This suggests that stereotypes of science and scientists formed during childhood, presumably via the influence of the media, remain largely unaffected by the subsequent passage through high school and college, despite the fact that numerous real-life figures of science teachers and scientists are presumably encountered throughout those formative years. We argue that this state of affairs has subtle and far reaching consequences, and is worthy of our collective attention.
This study examines the role of gender stereotypes in justifying the social system by maintaining the division of labor between the sexes. The distribution of the sexes in 80 occupations was predicted from participants’ beliefs that six dimensions of gender-stereotypic attributes contribute to occupational success: masculine physical, feminine physical, masculine personality, feminine personality, masculine cognitive, and feminine cognitive. Findings showed that, to the extent that occupations were female dominated, feminine personality or physical attributes were thought more essential for success; to the extent that occupations were male dominated, masculine personality or physical attributes were thought more essential. Demonstrating the role of gender stereotypes in justifying gender hierarchy, occupations had higher prestige in that participants believed that they required masculine personality or cognitive attributes for success, and they had higher earnings to the extent that they were thought to require masculine personality attributes.
This article examined the specific differences in the salary reward structures of eight clusters of academic disciplines included in Biglan''s three-dimensional model of the academic profession. The sample consisted of 1.320 faculty at a large research university who responded to the Faculty Activity Analysis questionnaire requesting information on the amount of time they devoted each week to eleven categories of professional responsibility. These measures were used to predict faculty salaries in the eight discipline clusters. The results demonstrated wide variation in the reward structures of these discipline clusters.
The Biglan classification scheme provides a valid framework for studying academic diversity within the higher education system. It continues to be a strong construct for classifying faculty as evidenced by its power to discriminate current faculty on a recent faculty data set. Previously unclassified professional disciplines of Dentistry and Nursing were classified as hard-applied-nonlife and soft-applied-life respectively. Difficulty classifying other fields may be the result of diverse, interdisciplinary subject matter, and the stage of academic development of the discipline. An expanded classification system such as the one by Becher may be more inclusive and deserves further study.
Prior research reveals that differential grading patterns exist among the academic disciplines. One explanation may lie in discipline-related differences in teaching goals and beliefs about the meaning grades should convey. This study examined the effects of academic discipline and teaching goals on grading beliefs. A national sample (n = 442) of undergraduate teaching faculty provided responded to a survey measuring the importance of various teaching goals and orientations toward norm-referenced or criterion-referenced grading (Frame of Reference), and beliefs about using grades to sort and select students on the basis of achievement (Gatekeeping). Both teaching goals and academic discipline were significantly related to gatekeeping beliefs, but not to beliefs about frames of reference for grading. Higher gatekeeping scores were associated with faculty in the paradigmatic fields and those who emphasized analytic skills and time management. Lower gatekeeping scores were associated with the preparadigmatic disciplines and teaching goals of synthesis and integration and developing respect for others. Faculty who identified their primary teaching role as subject matter oriented were more gatekeeping than those who identified themselves primarily as being student/personal development oriented.
This paper discusses certain characteristics of graduate students in relation to their chosen areas of study, as defined by the three dimensions developed by Biglan to classify academic departments. The Biglan dimensions are used as dependent variables in three separate linear regression models, and each of the following student characteristics is analyzed for its explanatory impact: age, citizenship, gender, Graduate Record Examination scores, level of degree being pursued, and undergraduate gradepoint average. The amount of variance explained in each dimension ranges from 10% in the pure/applied research dimension to 37% in the hard/soft dimension. The validity of the dimensions is also verified using discriminant function analysis.
The empirical validity of the Biglan model of academic disciplines is supported by the results of this study. Examples are provided to illustrate how the systematic use of this model could enhance the quality of research on university faculty members and the academic administration of institutions of higher learning.
The paper focuses on the implications of the terms "hard" and "soft" as they are used to characterize different branches of science; this is one approach to understanding some of the relations between knowledge and social organization. Given the importance to scientists of having their work evaluated accurately, it can be seen that the more rigorously a body of knowledge is organized, the more readily professional recognition can be appropriately assigned. The degree of rigor seems directly related to the extent to which mathematics is used in a science, and it is this that makes a science "hard." Data are presented in support of the hypothesis that "harder" sciences are characterized by more impersonality in their members' relationships where impersonality is indexed by the frequency that only first initials are used in footnotes. Finally, some parallels between the economic and the scientific sectors of society are suggested, viewing money and professional recognition as "generalized media" and noting certain analogies in science to inflation and deflation in the economic system. Implications for the obsolescence of parts of the literature of science are discussed, and the relevance of this analysis to Kuhn's work on scientific revolutions is briefly noted.
We examined possible explanations for the underrepresentation of women among university faculty, in two different national contexts. In the Netherlands, a sample of doctoral students (N = 132) revealed no gender differences in work commitment or work satisfaction. Faculty members in the same university (N = 179), however, perceived female students to be less committed to their work and female faculty endorsed these gender-stereotypical perceptions most strongly. A second study, in Italy, replicated and extended these findings. Again, no gender differences were obtained in the self-descriptions of male and female doctoral students (N = 80), while especially the female faculty (N = 93) perceived female students as less committed to their work than male students. Additional measures supported an explanation in social identity terms, according to which individual upward mobility (i.e. of female faculty) implies distancing the self from the group stereotype which not only involves perceiving the self as a non-prototypical group member, but may also elicit stereotypical views of other in-group members.
In view of the shortage of students majoring in science, we examined the image of physics in terms of students' implicit, automatic associations with physics.
To describe the specific image of physics that might alienate students (difficulty, masculinity, heteronomy) and test an intervention for altering the image.
In Study 1 the sample consisted of 63 school students (11th grade) and in Study 2 the sample consisted of 71 undergraduates.
Study 1 measured participants' implicit associations between physics (relative to English) and the image dimensions of difficulty, masculinity and heteronomy, implicit attitudes towards and identification with physics using latency data (Implicit Association Test; IAT) and explicit attitudes using a questionnaire. Study 2 was an experimental treatment that required reading a text (treatment group) that emphasized the importance of discourse and creativity for science versus a school textbook for physics (control group). Dependent variables: implicit attitudes (IAT).
Students in Study 1 associated physics (relative to English) more easily with words referring to difficulty (than to ease), to males (than to females), to heteronomy (than to self-realization), to unpleasantness (relative to pleasant words) and to others (relative to words referring to self). The three image aspects of difficulty, masculinity and heteronomy predicted explicit attitudes. Participants in the treatment group in Study 2 showed a significant reduction of the IAT effects compared to the control group.
The findings indicate that students' negative explicit attitudes towards physics coincide with negative implicit associations about physics. An intervention addressing the alteration of implicit associations proved to be fruitful. Implications for science education are discussed.
Notes on women and the undergraduate economics major
- Goldin
Goldin, C. (2013). Notes on women and the undergraduate economics major. CSWEP
Newsletter., 2013(Summer), 4-6.