Gender stereotypes: implicit threat to performance or boost for motivational aspects in primary school?
- Based on stereotype threat and stereotype lift theory, this study explores implicit stereotype threat effects of gender stereotypes on the performance of primary school children in mathematics. Moreover, effects of implicit gender stereotypical cues (gender-specific task material) on motivational aspects were explored, which have revealed mixed results in stereotype threat research in the past. N = 151 German primary school children (47.7% female; mean age: M = 9.81, SD = 0.60) calculated either stereotypical or neutral mathematical text problems before motivational aspects were assessed. Contradicting our expectations, results neither revealed a stereotype threat effect on girls’ performance nor a lift effect on the boys. Instead, girls calculating stereotypical tasks outperformed girls in the control group, whereas boys’ performance did not significantly differ compared to the control group. Regarding motivational aspects, only traditional gender differences emerged as girls reported significantly more pressure and tension calculating the mathematical tasks. The discussion focuses on the way in which stereotypes can affect children’s cognitive performance and in turn, their mathematical performance.
Author: | Johanna HermannGND, Regina VollmeyerGND |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-694929 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-022-09693-8 |
ISSN: | 1573-1928 |
Parent Title (English): | Social psychology of education |
Publisher: | Springer Science + Business Media B.V |
Place of publication: | Dordrecht [u.a.] |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2022/04/28 |
Date of first Publication: | 2022/04/28 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Release Date: | 2023/05/11 |
Tag: | Gender-specific task material; Implicit; Mathematics; Motivation; Stereotype threat |
Volume: | 25 |
Issue: | 2-3 |
Page Number: | 21 |
First Page: | 349 |
Last Page: | 369 |
Institutes: | Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie |
3 Sozialwissenschaften / 37 Bildung und Erziehung / 370 Bildung und Erziehung | |
Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |