Chicago IL May 27 th 2012 Removing Stereotype threat Metaanalysis finds removing stereotype threat substantially boosts womens spatial performance Spatial Stereotypes Google women driving ID: 634411
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "David Miller Association for Psychologic..." is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
David MillerAssociation for Psychological ScienceChicago, IL, May 27th, 2012
Removing Stereotype threat
Meta-analysis finds removing stereotype threat substantially boosts women’s spatial performanceSlide2
Spatial Stereotypes?
Google “women driving”
Google “men driving”Slide3
Spatial Gender differences
Samples in the US and Germany perceived men as better at “imaging abstract objects and rotating them mentally in all directions”
(Halpern et al., 2011; Haussmann et al., 2009)
Mental
r
otation
Gender
d
= 0.67
(
Voyer
et
al., 1995)
Spatial perception
Gender
d
= 0.57
(
Collaer
et
al., 2007)Slide4
Stereotype Threat
Stereotype threat (ST)
= concern about confirming a negative stereotype about one’s social group (e.g., gender)
But why focus on the spatial domain?
Stereotypes can harm academic performance
(e.g., Steele & Aronson, 1995)
(not as many; they are more recent)
(many studies here)Slide5
Interest for Spatial thinking
Understand spatial gender differences
Change spatial gender differences
(e.g., Miyake et al., 2010)
Wai
et al. (2009) found that 45% of all STEM PhDs were within the top 4% of spatial skills in high school
Training spatial skills -> improved STEM achievement
(Miller & Halpern, in press;
Sorby
, 2009)
Perhaps not most important questionSlide6
Interest for social Psychology
Role of working memory (confirmatory stage)
(e.g., Beilock et al., 2007)
Role of gender beliefs (exploratory stage)
Recruits
verbal
strategies
Recruits
spatial
strategies
ST activation impaired female performance
No ST activation effect
N
avigation S
Math S
General
Spatial S
Mental rotation gender belief
Spatial ST
How?
?
?
?Slide7
Current Meta-analysis
Practical:
ST removal is most important to education
Theoretical:
ST activation could introduce new effects not found in diagnostic control conditions
Empirical:
ST activation effects did not show consistent effects
ST removal
ST activation
ST activationSlide8
Method
Example
DescriptionExp. conditionControl conditionMoe & Pazzaglia (2006)Refute stereotypeThis test measures spatial abilities. Research showed that men perform better than women in this testThis test measures spatial abilities. Research showed that spatial ability is very important in everyday life Huguet & Regner
(2007)
Make stereotype irrelevant
; diagnostic manipulation
This test measures your ability
in drawingThis test measures your ability in geometryMcGlone & Aronson (2006)Prime a positive stereotype List three reasons why one might attend a private liberal arts collegeList three reasons why one might prefer living in the Northeast to other parts of the U.S.
Search literature databases (e.g.,
PsycINFO
, Google Scholar, PROQUEST) and examine each article’s reference list
Walton and Cohen (2003) argued “refute stereotype” and “make stereotype irrelevant” are conceptually similar Slide9
Included studies
Study
NParticipantsSpatial MeasureBrownlow et al. (2011)96US college studentsMental rotationCampbell & Collaer (2009)124US college studentsSpatial perceptionFancher (2008)32US college students
Mental rotation
& spatial perception
Huguet
&
Regner (2007), study 140French high school studentsSpatial memoryHuguet & Regner (2007), study 2454French high school studentsSpatial memoryHuguet
& Regner (2009)199
French high school students
Spatial memoryMartens et al. (2006)105
US college students
Mental rotationMoe (2009)108
Italian high school studentsMental rotation
McGlone & Aronson (2006)60
US college students
Mental rotationMoe & Pazzaglia (2006)
134
Italian high school studentsMental rotation
Titze et al. (2010)168
German children
Mental rotation
Wraga
et al. (2006)
50
US college students
Perspective
taking
Wraga et al. (2007)30US college studentsPerspective takingTOTAL1,600Slide10
Results
Comparison effect sizes:
Aggregate
d
= 0.52
Effect
d
Reference
ST Removal
- Women
0.52
Here
Spatial Training
0.47
Uttal et al., in press
Gender & Mental
Rotation
0.67Voyer et al., 1995
d
= -0.27
d
= 0.30
Only 3
studies!!Slide11
Broader implicationsSlide12
Limitations & Future Research
Limitations
Recommendations for future research
(Miyake et al., 2010,
Science
)
Publication bias
Longevity of effects
Application to field contexts
Assessments themselves
Focus on threat removal, not activation
More research needed on positive-identity
interventions
Investigate
role of spatial working memory and gender
beliefs
Apply
to field settings and determine longitudinal
effects