Implicit gender-math stereotype and women's susceptibility to stereotype threat and stereotype lift

Abstract

This study explored the effects of implicit gender-math stereotyping on women's math self-efficacy and mathematics performance under stereotype threat and stereotype lift conditions. It was conducted with a sample of female undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory statistics course. Results showed that girls with implicit gender-math stereotype were sensitive to a stereotype threat-lift manipulation, whereas girls with weak implicit stereotype were not. Data suggest that implicit gender-math stereotyping acts as a critical variable in determining women's math self-efficacy and performance. These findings give some suggestions about the improvement of the teaching of math and related disciplines to female students. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.