CAREER: Bridging the gender gap by investigating and counteracting the influence of gender brilliance stereotypes on girls’ STEM participation

对智力人才需求的增加凸显了对更多女科学家的需求，但女性在STEM领域的代表性一直不足。一种普遍存在的将智力天赋与男性而非女性联系在一起的刻板印象是一种强大的文化信息，它在一定程度上造成了这种性别差距，被称为性别才华刻板印象。这种有害的刻板印象很早就出现了，并立即塑造了孩子们的兴趣。为了从发展根源上解决这种性别差异，本项目将解决三个相互关联的问题：(1)儿童如何内化性别杰出的刻板印象？(2)性别光辉刻板印象如何影响儿童尤其是女孩的学习动机？(3)可以制定哪些策略来促进女孩参与STEM？这项研究的结果将改变对女孩所面临障碍的理解，并为设计干预措施使她们参与STEM奠定坚实的基础。该项目还将支持研究生和本科生进行STEM教育研究，并将开发与此研究相关的课程，作为教育整合计划的一部分。最终，这项工作将有助于减少性别不平等。该研究项目得到了EHR核心研究（ECR）计划的支持，该计划支持推进STEM学习和学习环境基础研究、扩大STEM参与和STEM劳动力发展的工作。本研究以5 ~ 7岁儿童为研究对象，采用实验法和纵向法相结合的方法，对性别杰出刻板印象进行全面调查。具体而言，本研究将探讨影响儿童认同刻板印象的环境因素，重点是父母的做法，并将探讨刻板印象塑造女孩动机的三种心理机制。研究设计包括一系列实验，分析包括相关方法和确定环境来源与性别刻板印象之间的因果关系。年轻的学生和他们的父母将参与一些简短的任务，并回答一些调查问卷，以探究他们对性别在STEM中的作用的潜在假设。此外，研究者将开发一种角色模型干预来缓解刻板印象的负面影响，即早期参与STEM活动的性别失衡。该项目将促进对早期出现的心理过程的了解，这些心理过程是女性在STEM及其他领域代表性不足的基础。它还将为家长、教师和博物馆教育工作者提供有关如何减少性别杰出刻板印象及其负面影响的信息，从而架起研究和教育的桥梁。该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The increased demand for intellectual talent has highlighted the need for more female scientists, yet women are consistently underrepresented in the STEM domain. A pervading stereotype associating intellectual talent with men rather than women is a powerful cultural message that is in part responsible for this gender gap, termed the gender brilliance stereotype. This pernicious stereotype emerges early and immediately shapes children’s interests. To tackle this gender disparity from its developmental roots, this project will address three interrelated questions: (1) How do children internalize the gender brilliance stereotype? (2) How does the gender brilliance stereotype influence children’s, especially girls’, motivation? (3) What strategies can be developed to promote girls’ involvement in STEM? Findings from this research will transform understanding of the barriers posed on girls and lay a solid foundation for devising interventions to engage them in STEM. The project will also support graduate and undergraduate students in STEM education research and a course related to this research will be developed as part of the educational integration plan. Ultimately, this work will contribute to reducing gender inequalities. This research project is supported by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.Integrating experimental and longitudinal approaches, the project will focus on 5- to 7-year-old children and provide a comprehensive investigation of the gender brilliance stereotype. Specifically, this research will investigate the contextual factors contributing to children’s endorsement of the stereotype, with a focus on parenting practices and will explore three psychological mechanisms through which the stereotype shapes girls’ motivation. The research design includes a series of experiments, and analyses include correlational approaches and identifying causal links between environmental sources and gender stereotypes. Young students and their parents will engage in brief tasks and respond to questionnaires that probe their underlying assumptions about the role of gender in STEM. In addition, the researcher will develop a role-model intervention to alleviate the negative consequences of the stereotype, namely, the early gender imbalance in participation in STEM activities. This project will advance the state of knowledge about the early-emerging psychological processes that underpin women’s underrepresentation in STEM and beyond. It will also bridge research and education by yielding information for parents, teachers, and museum educators on how to reduce the gender brilliance stereotype and its negative impacts.This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.