GSE/RES: The missing piece of the STEM puzzle: The role of communion in women's STEM career decisions

智力优势：拟议中的研究将检查假设，妇女？人们认为STEM职业不能实现共同目标，这抑制了他们追求STEM职业的选择。如果STEM职业被认为阻碍了对共同目标的追求，那么STEM职业中的性别差距将继续存在，尽管自我效能发生了变化，数学和科学经验也有所增加。拟议的研究计划旨在以两种方式推进有关动机过程的知识。首先，这些研究应用角色一致性理论的视角来研究扩散角色（即，性别角色）影响目标追求，以及个人如何选择特定角色（即，以促进他们的目标追求。其次，这些研究试图研究社会角色选择（即，职业追求）的影响，有意识和无意识的过程，并随着时间的推移展开。三个层次的研究，提出了前两个实验和最后纵向。 第一部分重点讨论了对公共目标的认可是否能预测与STEM职业选择相关的态度和行为：四项研究通过实验激活或实现公共目标，以研究公共目标对STEM职业态度和行为的因果影响。第2部分探讨了对STEM职业属性的信念如何影响对STEM职业的态度和行为。三项研究实验性地操纵了STEM职业的属性，并测量了职业态度和行为，另一项研究考察了外显信念和内隐关联的变化。最后，一项纵向研究通过调查外显信念、内隐关联和目标实现机会如何交叉影响整个大学期间的STEM职业决策来考察信念和目标的交叉点。本研究的重点是学生在他们的本科年（13-16），这涉及两个关键的选择点。在大学的第一年，学生们决定要追求什么专业，在大学的最后一年，学生们决定他们将追求什么研究生的选择;在每一个点上，他们消除了许多潜在的职业轨道。此外，对本科阶段的关注对于职业选择与当前目标或预期的未来目标有很大关系，而不仅仅是之前的准备这一假设至关重要。更广泛的影响：这些研究提供了一个非常重要但尚未得到充分研究的视角，即女性如何以及为什么选择或不选择STEM职业。此外，无论是个人内部的心理和社会结构的信念被概念化的关键点的变化。关于STEM职业与社区目标之间关系的描述性和实验性证据的积累有助于阐明这一持续存在的社会问题。尤其重要的是，对共同目标进程的关注突出了一个新的变革机会。很简单，如果早期的数学和科学经验不是女性STEM职业选择的全部，那么大学时代提供了改善这些职业中性别平等的潜力。PI将与大学顾问会面，传达调查结果，并将网站向研究人员和更广泛的公众传达调查结果。PI以及本科生和研究生实验室成员将在科学会议上展示研究结果，并将结果提交给同行评审的期刊（包括社会，性别，职业心理学）。此外，进行研究的过程将为代表性不足的小组成员提供机会，通过参与PI的研究小组来参与协作科学。

INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The proposed research will examine the hypothesis that women?s choices to pursue STEM careers are inhibited by the perception that STEM careers do not fulfill communal goals. If STEM careers are perceived as blocking the pursuit of communal goals, then the gender gap in STEM careers will remain, despite changes in self-efficacy or increased experience in math and science. The proposed research program seeks to advance knowledge about motivational processes in two ways. First, these studies apply a role congruity theoretical perspective to examine how diffuse roles (i.e., gender roles) influence goal pursuit, as well as how individuals select specific roles (i.e., occupations) to facilitate their goal pursuit. Second, these studies seek to examine social role selection (i.e., career pursuit) as affected by both conscious and non-conscious processes and unfolding over time.Three levels of studies are proposed; the first two experimental and the last longitudinal. Part 1 focuses on whether endorsement of communal goals predicts attitudes and behaviors related to STEM career choices: Four studies experimentally activate or fulfill communal goals to examine the causal impact of communal goals on STEM career attitudes and behavior. Part 2 examines how beliefs about STEM careers' attributes influence attitudes and behavior toward STEM careers. Three studies experimentally manipulate the attributes of STEM careers and measure career attitudes and behavior, and another study examines change to explicit beliefs as well as implicit associations. Finally, a longitudinal study examines the intersection of beliefs and goals by investigating how explicit beliefs, implicit associations, and goal fulfillment opportunities intersect to influence STEM career decisions throughout the college years. This research focuses on students during their undergraduate years (13-16), which involve two critical choice points. In the first year of college, students decide what majors to pursue, and in the final year of college, students decide what post-graduate options they will pursue; at each point they eliminate many potential career tracks. Moreover, the focus on the undergraduate years is critical to the hypothesis that career choice has a great deal to do with current goals or with anticipated future goals, rather than solely with previous preparation.BROADER IMPACT: These studies offer the potential to add a critically important but understudied perspective on how and why women choose or do not choose to pursue STEM careers. Moreover, both intra-individual psychology and beliefs about the social structure are conceptualized as critical points for change. The accumulation of descriptive and experimental evidence about the relationship between STEM careers and communal goals can help to illuminate this persistent social problem. Especially important is that the focus on communal goal processes highlights a new opportunity for change. Quite simply, if early math and science experience are not the whole story with regard to women's STEM career choices, then the college years offer potential to improve gender equality in these careers.The PI will meet with college advisors to communicate the findings, and a website will communicate findings to researchers as well as the broader public. The PI as well as undergraduate and graduate lab members will present findings at scientific conferences and submit results to peer-reviewed journals (including social, gender, occupational psychology). Moreover, the very process of conducting the research will provide opportunities for underrepresented group members to engage in collaborative science by participation in the PI's research group.