GSE/RES Taking credit for one's success: Reducing stereotypic attributional bias can improve women's science and engineering outcomes

GSE/RES 将成功归功于自己：减少刻板归因偏见可以改善女性的科学和工程成果

• 批准号: 0936434
• 负责人: Denise Sekaquaptewa
• 金额: $ 49.99万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-11-01 至 2014-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0936434&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GSE; RES; Taking; credit; success

Intellectual merit: Women studying in fields non-traditional for women, including science and engineering, are proposed to show a spontaneous pattern of implicit achievement attribution, termed "stereotypic attributional bias" (SAB). SAB is defined as a subtle form of stereotypic bias in which women's science and engineering successes are spontaneously attributed to external causes (such as luck) and their failures spontaneously attributed to internal causes (such as lack of ability). This research explores whether the tendency to engage in SAB is promoted by being in educational environments perceived as unwelcoming to women. Features of unwelcoming environments include having few or no other female colleagues or role models, and witnessing subtle behavioral biases favoring men. It is proposed that female students pursuing science and engineering may come to engage in SAB, independent of their explicitly stated beliefs about women and science, as a result of stereotypic messages encountered in their environments. This research unites three strong theoretical perspectives (gender distinctiveness, implicit stereotyping, and achievement attribution) to advance understanding of women's lower participation in science and engineering compared to men. The SAB concept is a unique contribution based on sound research evidence in social psychology placed in a new theoretical framework, i.e. as an unintended, implicit attributional bias that is increased by stereotypic environmental cues and that influences academic outcomes. This project also promotes both basic experimental and applied intervention approaches to understanding, predicting, and improving academic outcomes among female science students. In seven laboratory studies, the research tests these hypotheses: 1) female students in settings perceived to be unwelcoming to women [e.g., male-dominated settings and/or those in which behavioral biases favoring men exist] will show greater SAB than women in settings more welcoming to women; 2) SAB predicts diminished motivation for and performance in science and engineering among women; 3) female science and engineering students who do not evince SAB show increased academic persistence after success feedback, whereas women who engage in SAB do not; 4) the implications of SAB will be different for White vs. African American women due to differences in the content of stereotypes regarding their race/ethnicity; and 5) an intervention designed to reduce SAB can improve women's science outcomes, as a result of increasing internal attributions for their science and engineering success. Broader impacts: The proposed research advances discovery about factors influencing female science students while promoting teaching, training and learning as undergraduate and graduate students will participate fully as student collaborators in all aspects of the project. Members of underrepresented groups will participate in the proposed research, as this project focuses directly on an important underrepresented population (women in science), and reserves key roles for racial minority and majority male and female students as research assistants as well as respondents. The proposed research will serve to enhance infrastructure for research and education, as computer technologies will be developed and collaborative contacts will be made with the university's Center for Research and Learning on Teaching, the College of Engineering, and related departments, encouraging and facilitating future research collaborations. Broad dissemination of the results of the research will include research presentations and publications, in both psychology and education journals. Moreover, these results will be shared with educational, research, and diversity programs. Finally, this project will offer important and significant benefits to society, as understanding the processes influencing women in science is critical in moving toward the goal of greater representation of women in science and scientific innovation.

智力优点：女性学习领域的非传统的妇女，包括科学和工程，提出了一个自发的模式，内隐成就归因，被称为“定型归因偏见”（SAB）。SAB被定义为一种微妙形式的陈规定型偏见，其中妇女的科学和工程成功自发地归因于外部原因（如运气），而她们的失败自发地归因于内部原因（如缺乏能力）。本研究探讨是否倾向于从事SAB被认为是不欢迎妇女的教育环境中促进。不友好环境的特征包括很少或没有其他女性同事或榜样，以及目睹有利于男性的微妙行为偏见。有人建议，追求科学和工程的女学生可能会来从事SAB，独立于他们明确表示的关于妇女和科学的信念，由于在他们的环境中遇到的陈规定型信息。这项研究结合了三个强有力的理论观点（性别独特性，隐性刻板印象和成就归因），以促进对女性参与科学和工程的程度低于男性的理解。SAB概念是一个独特的贡献，它基于社会心理学中的可靠研究证据，置于一个新的理论框架中，即作为一种非故意的、内隐的归因偏见，这种偏见会因刻板的环境线索而增加，并影响学术成果。该项目还推广基本的实验和应用干预方法，以了解、预测和改善理科女生的学业成绩。在七项实验室研究中，研究测试了这些假设：1）女性学生在被认为不欢迎女性的环境中[例如，男性主导的环境和/或那些有利于男性的行为偏见存在]将显示更大的SAB比女性在更欢迎女性的环境中; 2）SAB预测女性在科学和工程方面的动机和表现减弱; 3）没有表现出SAB的女性科学和工程学生在成功反馈后表现出更高的学术坚持性，而参与SAB的女性则没有; 4）SAB的影响将是不同的白色与非洲裔美国妇女由于其种族/民族的刻板印象的内容的差异;和5）旨在减少SAB的干预措施可以改善妇女的科学成果，作为增加其科学和工程成功的内部归因的结果。更广泛的影响：拟议的研究进展发现影响女理科学生的因素，同时促进教学，培训和学习，本科生和研究生将充分参与该项目的各个方面的学生合作者。代表性不足群体的成员将参加拟议的研究，因为该项目直接关注代表性不足的重要群体（科学界的妇女），并为少数民族和多数民族男女学生保留关键作用，作为研究助理和答卷人。拟议的研究将有助于加强研究和教育的基础设施，因为计算机技术将得到发展，并将与大学的教学研究和学习中心，工程学院和相关部门进行合作，鼓励和促进未来的研究合作。研究结果的广泛传播将包括在心理学和教育期刊上发表研究报告和出版物。此外，这些结果将与教育，研究和多样性计划共享。最后，该项目将为社会提供重要和显著的利益，因为了解影响妇女参与科学的过程对于实现妇女在科学和科学创新中的更大代表性的目标至关重要。