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Closing the Communal Gap: The Importance of Communal Affordances in Science Career Motivation
Abstract
To remain competitive in the global economy, the United States (and other countries) is trying to broaden participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by graduating an additional 1 million people in STEM fields by 2018. Although communion (working with, helping, and caring for others) is a basic human need, STEM careers are often (mis)perceived as being uncommunal. Across three naturalistic studies, we found greater support for the communal affordance hypothesis, that perceiving STEM careers as affording greater communion is associated with greater STEM career interest, than two alternative hypotheses derived from goal congruity theory. Importantly, these findings held regardless of major (Study 1), college enrollment (Study 2), and gender (Studies 1–3). For undergraduate research assistants, mid-semester beliefs that STEM affords communion predicted end of the semester STEM motivation (Study 3). Our data highlight the importance of educational and workplace motivational interventions targeting communal affordances beliefs about STEM.
... Seeing oneself as a science person requires seeing science as containing a possible future self. For many students, especially those historically underserved in science, this means seeing opportunities to achieve communal career goals, centered around working with and helping people (Allen et al., 2015;Brown et al., 2015;Gormally and Marchut, 2017;Gormally and Inghram, 2021). This means careers must offer opportunities to develop interpersonal connections and to help other people or society (Allen et al., 2015;Brown et al., 2015). ...
... For many students, especially those historically underserved in science, this means seeing opportunities to achieve communal career goals, centered around working with and helping people (Allen et al., 2015;Brown et al., 2015;Gormally and Marchut, 2017;Gormally and Inghram, 2021). This means careers must offer opportunities to develop interpersonal connections and to help other people or society (Allen et al., 2015;Brown et al., 2015). ...
... Unfortunately, these stereotypes disproportionately affect students from groups underserved in science, including women, people of color, first-generation college students, and students of low socioeconomic status, who tend to value career goals focused on helping and working with people to give back to one's community. As a result, these stereotypes preclude students' interest in science learning, because science is not perceived as affording these communal career goals (Diekman et al., 2010;Allen et al., 2015;Brown et al., 2015). ...
As college science educators, we must prepare all future college graduates to be engaged, science-literate citizens. Yet data suggest that most college biology classes as currently taught do little to make science truly useful for students' lives and provide few opportunities for students to practice skills needed to be key decision makers in their communities. This is especially important for our non-science majors, as they represent the vast majority (82%) of college students. In this essay, we identify three critical aspects of useful college science education to prepare science literate non-science majors: prioritize local socioscientific issues; highlight communal opportunities in science that impact students' communities; and provide students with opportunities to practice skills necessary to engage with science beyond the classroom.
... Unfortunately, these stereotypes can convey discouraging social messages about who can or cannot do science. As a result, stereotyped perceptions can prevent students from becoming interested in science careers (3,4), thus acting as a barrier to recruitment into science majors. Furthermore, these stereotypes disproportionately affect students from groups underserved in science, including women, people of color, first-generation college students, and students of low socio-economic status. ...
... In these communities, altruistic, communal career goals are often valued as a way to give back. As a result of the scientist stereotypes, students from these groups do not perceive science as affording altruistic career goals (3,5,6). ...
... Altruistic and communal career goals center around working with and helping people, which many people highly value in career choices, especially people who are underserved in science (3,5,6). Altruistic, communal career goals include seeking a career that affords opportunities to develop interpersonal connections and to directly or indirectly help other people or society (5,6). ...
For undergraduate students, feeling an affinity with a science community is a key factor related to interest and persistence in science. Thus, how students perceive scientists can affect their sense of belonging. In this study, we interviewed biology majors and nonscience majors at two institutions, including students who were hearing and deaf, to understand their perceptions of scientists. We used a mixed-methods analytic approach, including coding to classify responses and box plots, to evaluate how endorsement of both positive and negative stereotypes and desire for science to afford altruistic, communal opportunities may differ between student populations. Groups studied include women and men students; biology majors and nonscience majors; hearing and deaf students; and introductory and advanced biology majors. Findings indicate that opportunities to see altruistic and communal qualities of science may be important for women, nonscience majors, and deaf students. Interestingly, the majority of students did not assign gender to an imagined scientist. Implications for challenging stereotypes about scientists and making altruistic and communal opportunities in science more visible are discussed.
... Specifically, we aimed to examine whether the indirect relationship between work demand and work-family conflict varied as a function of communal goal endorsement. Researchers have identified the importance of communal goals to academic and career development (e.g., Brown et al., 2015;Diekman et al., 2011) and the ways in which academic environments interact with communal goal endorsement (e.g., Soto & Deemer, 2018) among undergraduate students, but researchers have yet to examine the role of this goal type among non-undergraduates and in the context of the workfamily interface. The current study also viewed communal goal endorsement as being related to cultural roles that can contribute to role congruity or incongruity, thus extends beyond the primary focus on gender roles in previous role congruity literature. ...
... Postdocs who endorsed high communal goals may also find that their work (e.g., research and teaching), instead of the people at their place of work, affords them opportunities to have their high communal goals met. Brown et al. (2015) identified strengths such as positivity toward research and enhanced STEM motivation that emerged when participants endorsed a stronger communal orientation or perceived science as affording communal goals. This points to the idea that STEM and communal goals can co-exist in a beneficial way. ...
Postdoctoral scholars encounter challenges as they navigate the gap between graduate school and employment positions, one of which includes the challenge of work–family conflict and balance. We used structural equation modeling to test goal endorsement as a possible cultural moderator of the indirect relationship between work demand and work–family conflict. Results revealed that the indirect effect between work demand and work-family conflict was significant at low, but not high, levels of communal goal endorsement. In turn, work–family conflict was found to be a significant negative predictor of work–family balance satisfaction. Results suggest that minoritized postdoctoral scholars’ high value of communion serves as a protective factor in reducing the deleterious effects of challenging work environments on work–family conflict and satisfaction with work–family balance. Empirical and practical implications of the findings are presented.
... Given that judicial roles are stereotypically associated with status and power, we believe that a costless, straightforward, and effective method of increasing interest in judgeship among women, first-generation, and URM lawyers would be to simply highlight the aspects of judgeship that are more communal in nature. Research using similar methodology has been successful in increasing women's interest in majoring in STEM (Brown et al., 2015;Diekman et al., 2011;. After exposing a group of high school students (the majority of whom were young women) to a collaborative lab exercise and communally-oriented lecture, students believed science careers afforded greater communality and reported greater interest in entering a STEM career . ...
... The frequent interaction between lawyers and judges may be detrimental when judgeships are dominated by White men, but interacting with counter-stereotypical judges may increase the likelihood that women, firstgeneration, and URM lawyers view themselves as capable of fulfilling these roles. Thus, mentoring programs could promote greater judicial diversity early in the pipeline by allowing for interactions between underrepresented lawyers and judges that facilitate perceived role-goal alignment and belonging in the judiciary (Brown et al., 2015;Dasgupta & Stout, 2014;. Moreover, the social support scaffolded by mentorship could reduce the attrition of women, first-generation, and URM judges by modeling additional ways to navigate this ostensibly agentic role and alleviating the stress and general career dissatisfaction they may experience due to cultural mismatch (Stephens, Fryberg, et al., 2012;Stephens, Townsend, et al., 2012). ...
White men remain overrepresented in the American judiciary (i.e., the bench) despite increasing demographic diversity among law students and lawyers. Augmenting efforts to tackle systemic barriers, a social cognitive process model integrating Goal Congruity and Cultural Mismatch Theories to partially explain why women, first‐generation, and underrepresented racial minority (URM) lawyers are less likely to pursue and thrive in judicial roles was proposed. The unexplored misalignment between the goals and values typically endorsed by eligible underrepresented judicial candidates and their perceptions of judgeship was addressed. Specifically, women, first‐generation, and URMs tend to endorse primarily communal/interdependent goals and values, while judgeship is viewed as a stereotypically agentic/independent profession. Thus, judicial diversity could be enhanced by (1) highlighting role attributes that are aligned with communal/interdependent values and (2) increasing appreciation for existing judicial communality/interdependence. It was concluded by providing hypothesized interventions to target key psychological mechanisms along the “leaky pipeline” to the judiciary.
... When a student accepts this stereotype, she effectively precludes her potential interest in a STEM career as her self-perception does not align with her perceptions of who scientists are; thus, for her, a STEM career is unimaginable (Losh, 2009). These stereotypes disproportionately affect women, people of color, first-generation students, and students of low socio-economic status, all of whom tend to highly value altruistic career goals, but who do not perceive STEM as affording opportunities to satisfy altruistic goals (Allen et al., 2015;Brown, Thoman, Smith, & Diekman, 2015;Diekman et al., 2010;Thoman, Brown, Mason, Harmsen, & Smith;. Moreover, cultural communities (e.g., Latino and Native ) often encourage the pursuit of altruistic goals that benefit one's community. ...
... We also recommend that faculty emphasize the altruistic goals inherent in STEM in order to change students' often-stereotypical perceptions about STEM careers--stereotypes which often preclude interest in STEM careers (Finson, 2010;Losh 2009). Since some cultural minority groups (e.g., Latino, Native American, and the Deaf community) value careers that afford opportunities to give back to their communities, elaborating on explicit connections between science and these communities may increase interest in STEM careers Allen et al., 2015;Brown et al., 2015;Diekman et al., 2010;Thoman, et al., 2015). More work is needed to challenge students' science identities and improve interest in STEM careers if these types of courses are to increase recruitment into STEM majors. ...
Active learning pedagogies such as inquiry-based learning have the potential not only to improve students’ science literacy but also promote affective learning and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Moreover, a focus on affective learning may be key to improve recruitment in STEM. Yet, we know little about how participation in inquiry-based courses can impact college students’ affective learning. Here, we present results from a comparative analysis of two affective learning outcomes, attitudes toward science and science identity, after participation in inquiry-based laboratory courses. Then, we synthesize what we have learned about successes and limitations to promoting growth in positive attitudes toward science and science identity after participation in these courses. Our work focuses on non-science majors who are deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing signers in bilingual (American Sign Language and written English) inquiry-based biology laboratory courses. We concentrate on the Deaf Community because deaf individuals often face challenges regarding access in STEM education. Our results indicate that participation in inquiry-based laboratory courses has the potential to positively influence students’ attitudes toward science via repeated engagement with hands-on, student-driven experimentation, peer collaboration, and a welcoming classroom environment. However, participation in these classes had a limited impact on students’ science identities. Some students saw themselves as scientists during laboratory classes, however, their science identities beyond the classroom remained unchanged. While inquiry-based laboratories successfully promote one aspect of affective learning, work is needed to improve students’ science identities and increase interest in STEM careers to more effectively recruit students in these courses.
... We surmise that, compared to other STEM fields like astronomy, it may be easier to imagine ways computing could help and care for others (Brown, Thoman, Smith, and Diekman 2015). For many, technology is a visible part of daily life (both on and off campus), and perhaps our participants saw ample, highly visible examples of using their disciplines to help their communities, or the potential for them. ...
This paper focuses on the undergraduate experiences in computer sciences (CS) disciplines of eight Native women and two-spirit undergraduates and how their values and experiences around the communal goal of giving back enable them to persist in computing. The paper draws from a one-year study that included participants across the U.S.A from predominantly White institutions, Native serving institutions, and tribal colleges. Utilizing the decolonizing and participant-centered methods of photo elicitation, our interviews used photographs taken by participants as starting points for conversations. This method resulted in deep understandings of participants’ experiences of the supports and barriers in their CS programs, and of the importance of giving back for persistence. We adapt Page-Reeves and colleagues’ 2019 framework for giving back and Native students in STEM—particularly the concepts of giving back as a Native value and giving back in the context of CS education—to illuminate the ways in which participants persisted and navigated their identities as Native students and emergent computer scientists. We also introduce a new concept, culturally connected giving back, to describe the ways in which Native undergraduates in computing contributed, or planned to contribute, towards technology sovereignty and cultural preservation. CS, like many STEM fields, is typically viewed as highly individualistic and not aligned with communal goals of helping others. However, Native participants in this study identified computing as having the potential for giving back. They incorporated a broad range of giving back actions into their computing professional identities through teaching, mentoring, serving as role models, creating counterspaces, or preserving their cultures using their computing skills. Through giving back, participants fulfilled a sense of obligation to their communities or counteracted negative stereotypes about Native learners. Beneficiaries of these acts of giving back included Native and other minoritized peers, younger students, home communities, and other Native communities. Importantly, opportunities to give back served as strong motivators to persist in CS in spite of challenges. We discuss the implications of these findings for policy and practice and also explore the implications for how institutions and CS departments can support Native student recruitment, retention, and success.
... The science center we evaluated employed both men and women as instructors, which may have contributed to the positive effect that the visit had on young women. To further boost young women's interest in technology, science centers may also want to consider stressing how technology can be used to help people and benefit society, as women tend to have stronger such "communal" career goals (e.g., Brown et al., 2015;Diekman et al., 2011Diekman et al., , 2016Rundgren et al., 2019;Shoffner & Dockery, 2015;Tellhed et al., 2018). ...
Unlabelled:
To increase engagement with science and technology, young people around the world are encouraged to attend activities at science centers. But how effective are these activities? Since women have weaker ability beliefs and interest in technology than men, it is especially important to learn how science center visits affect them. In this study, we tested if programming exercises offered to middle school students by a Swedish science center would increase ability beliefs and interest in programming. Students in grades 8 and 9 (n = 506) completed a survey before and after visiting the science center, and their ratings were compared to a wait-list control group (n = 169). The students participated in block-based, text-based, and robot programming exercises developed by the science center. The results showed that programming ability beliefs increased for women, but not men, and that interest in programming decreased for men, but not women. The effects persisted at a follow-up (2-3 months). The young men reported stronger ability beliefs and interest than the young women at all timepoints. The results imply that science center activities can make programming feel less hard, but adaptations may be needed to also increase interest.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41979-023-00094-w.
... Scholars in this tradition also have extended the concept of utility value (the perception of the usefulness of a task or career to fulfill a short-or long-term goal) beyond the way it has been conceptualized by Expectancy-Value theorists (Eccles et al., 1983;Eccles & Wigfield, 1995)-to include opportunities to use STEM knowledge for communal benefit: working with, helping, and/or building relationships with others (Brown, Thoman, Smith, Allen, & Muragishi, 2015b;Starr et al., 2022/this issue). Findings consistently support the idea that communal affordances predict students' motivations to learn STEM content and to pursue STEM majors and careers (Brown, Thoman, Smith, & Diekman, 2015a;Fuesting et al., 2017;, particularly to help others (Brown, Thoman, Smith, Allen, & Muragishi, 2015b). ...
In this article, we introduce the umbrella construct of “we-ness” to unite a broad array of researchers seeking to design motivationally supportive learning environments for Black students. Drawing from a variety of culturally informed perspectives both inside and outside of the psychology discipline, we outline the cultural significance of (1) Freedom Dreaming (2) Stressing the Communal “Why,” (3) Re-membering, and (4) Steering and Voicing. We explain how these motivationally influential practices are essential for acknowledging and leveraging students’ cultural assets in learning contexts, and for supporting students’ development as community leaders and change agents. We propose questions for future research on we-ness in educational psychology and suggest communally engaged methodological approaches that are crucial for advancing school-based partnerships that focus on the we-ness experiences of historically marginalized populations. We end by situating the study of we-ness in a broader set of assumptions that can guide future equity-focused research inquiry on motivation and social processes.
... The obtained results referred to in the literature highlight the importance of analyzing how women perceive a given sector as allowing them to realize their career goals. The Goal Congruence Theory (Diekman et al., 2010;Brown et al., 2015;Steinberg and Diekman, 2017) focuses on two categories of people's goals: communal (i.e. working with others, helping others or cooperation) and agentic (i.e. ...
Lack of gender balance within STEM fields is caused by many complex factors, some of which are related to the fact that women do not perceive certain occupations as congruent with their career and personal goals. Although there is a large body of research regarding women in STEM, there is a gap concerning perception of occupations within different STEM industries. IT is a domain where skilled employees are constantly in demand. Even though the overall female representation in STEM fields is rising and that the IT industry is undertaking numerous interventions to attract women to careers in IT, the representation of women in this domain is still disappointingly low. Therefore, the goal of our study was to examine the possible differences among male and female IT and non-IT students and employees in terms of their perception of IT and other key factors influencing the feeling of aptness of IT as a potential sector one's career: goal congruence, sense of belonging and self-efficacy. In this paper we present the results of a study conducted in Poland among working IT professionals ( N = 205) and IT students ( N = 127) that we compare with individuals from non-IT sectors ( N = 222 employees, 107 students). Our results showed significant gender differences between IT students and IT professionals. We found that communal goals are more important for IT employees than for IT students (both male and female) and that a sense of social belonging is stronger among female IT employees than among male IT employees and IT students. Women employed in IT also had the same level of sense of social belonging as women in non-IT group. These findings suggest that after entering IT positions, women's perception of the domain might become potentially more favorable and attuned with their needs. We also found that female IT students value agentic goals more than communal goals which was not the case for female IT employees. The results highlight the importance of investigating women's perception of the IT sector at different levels of career in terms of their goals and other work-related variables. Such lines of research will help develop more effective interventions in attracting women to enter the IT field.
... However, much of the existing research appears to indicate the difficulty of attracting and retaining employees with feminine values to the engineering profession (Beddoes & Borrego, 2011;Cannady, Greenwald & Harris, 2014;Cook & Glass, 2014;Jones, Ruff & Paretti, 2013;Kerr, 2010;Menches & Abraham, 2007;Schafer, 2006;Wang & Degol, 2017). For this reason, it is a timely requirement to identify possible mechanisms to implement a workplace culture that embraces employees with feminine-communal competencies (Brown et al., 2015). In this regard, engineering organizations need to take on board appropriate cultural norms and values to build an environment that supports the career progression of women and marginalized groups (Rao et al., 2013). ...
As the social and environmental demands evolve, business
organizations specializing in engineering are required to reconsider
their gender policies and practices to retain competitive advantage. This conceptual article highlights that the movement towards sustainability could encourage organisations to achieve critical constructs of workplace gender inclusion. This article uses the Sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM) framework and Ethics of Care approach as the theoretical foundation to create a conceptual model on inclusion. The model specifically helps to understand how the assumptions and beliefs of internal organizational stakeholders contribute toward adopting care-based values to promote gender inclusivity in engineering workplaces. In conclusion, the article highlights the need for more empirical research on the Sustainable HRM approach and how it can help to foster an inclusive workplace.
... et al., 2012). That said, other research shows that communal pedagogy practices sometimes benefit all students, including first-generation students, White students, and men (Brown et al., 2015;Dasgupta et al., in, press;Harackiewicz et al., 2016). ...
Although the United States population is growing increasingly diverse, the diversity within higher education is not keeping pace. Contributing to the underrepresentation of students from historically marginalized groups are a variety of interconnected systemic barriers that prevent students from entering college, from thriving while there, and from persisting through to graduation. Here, we use the stereotype inoculation model as a guiding framework not only to identify these barriers and their psychological effects on students but also to highlight evidence‐based solutions that colleges and universities can implement to lower these barriers. As a function of our chosen model, we focus on features of educational environments that signal a lack of psychological fit among students from historically marginalized groups. Furthermore, we highlight interventions that can be implemented at the institutional level to change the educational environment and make higher education settings more inclusive and equitable.
... This is consistent with prior research on longer-term student outcomes (Barker, 2009;Lehman et al., 2016). For example, adding to the literature on communal value orientations in STEM fields more broadly (e.g., Brown et al., 2015;Diekman & Steinberg, 2013), we document that students whose future career goals are communally oriented are less likely to indicate interest in a computing career. ...
Computing career opportunities are increasing across all sectors of the U.S. economy, yet there remains a serious shortage of college graduates to fill these jobs. This problem has fueled a nationwide effort to expand and diversify the computing career pipeline. Guided by social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this study used logistic regression to examine college students’ interest in a computing career and how that changes over time. Drawing from a multi-institutional, longitudinal sample of introductory computing course students, this study extends prior literature by examining a broad group of potential computing career aspirants (i.e., computing and non-computing majors). Results indicate that, two years after the introductory course, 53.5% of students indicated an interest in a computing career. Notably, this interest changed significantly over time, and our findings indicate that students in this sample were more likely to leave the computing career pipeline than to be recruited to it. Positive predictors of computing career interest include initial computing career interest, family support, and time spent in computing-related student groups. Additional positive predictors such as sense of belonging in computing and computing self-efficacy underscore the importance of psychosocial attributes in shaping this career interest. Beyond individual characteristics, this study reveals key areas where faculty and institutions can better address elements of the college experience to bolster students’ interest and confidence in pursuing computing careers. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.
... We also encourage future researchers to consider how communality may be reframed for addressing sexual orientation-based disparities in certain fields (e.g., STEM); that is, can the perceived communality of a field be expanded in ways that are of interest to LGBTQ+ people? Past research has focused on leveraging the idea of communal affordances to encourage participation across gender identities in fields that tend to be male-dominated and traditionally viewed as noncommunal (e.g., Brown et al., 2015). Our findings suggest that this work may also be applicable to a different identity dimension, sexual orientation. ...
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) represent a highly valued academic discipline and career path in the 21st century; yet some individuals are excluded or discouraged from pursuing STEM because of their social group membership. Despite decades of research on social identity and fit within STEM (e.g., by gender and race), the psychological literature on issues within STEM based on sexual orientation is scant. We draw on notions of false dichotomies (i.e., social versus technical, personal versus professional, and subjectivity and interpretivism versus objectivity and positivism) to theorize how gender and sexual orientation influence perceived congruity with STEM as well as the Humanities. In the current study, we randomly assigned heterosexual participants (N = 318, Mage = 40, 52% women, 74% White) to rate one of five target groups (lesbian women, gay men, heterosexual women, heterosexual men, scientists) in terms of their perceived overlap with STEM and Humanities. We also assessed differences between target groups in terms of being rated as communal, agentic, and scientific. Results indicated that participants perceived lesbian women and gay men as less close to STEM than heterosexual men because they perceived lesbian and gay people as less agentic. In contrast, participants perceived lesbian women and gay men as closer to the Humanities than heterosexual men because they perceived lesbian and gay people as more communal. Drawing from these findings, we emphasize the profound implications of academic exclusion for lesbian and gay individuals.
... Yet, studies note "trouble with the notion of makerspaces as an implicit panacea to equity and access issues in STEM" (Barton et al. 2017) unless we include "a broader range of identities, practices and environments" that represents "a bold step toward equity in education" (Vossoughi et al. 2016). Therefore, we must explore areas of connected, interest-powered, and communal utility value learning (Brown et al. 2015a(Brown et al. , 2015b in the context of culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris 2012). ...
The goal of our i4’s Toward Tomorrow Program is to enrich the future workforce with STEM by providing students with an early, inspirational, interdisciplinary experience fostering inclusive excellence. We attempt to open the eyes of students who never realized how much their voice is urgently needed by providing an opportunity for involvement, imagination, invention, and innovation. Students see how what they are learning, designing, and building matters to their own life, community, and society. Our program embodies convergence by obliterating artificially created, disciplinary boundaries to go far beyond STEM or even STEAM by including artists, designers, social scientists, and entrepreneurs collaborating in diverse teams using scientific discoveries to create inventions that could shape our future. Our program connects two recent revolutions by amplifying Bioinspired Design with the Maker Movement and its democratizing effects empowering anyone to innovate and change the world. Our course is founded in original discovery. We explain the process of biological discovery and the importance of scaling, constraints, and complexity in selecting systems for bioinspired design. By spotlighting scientific writing and publishing, students become more science literate, learn how to decompose a biology research paper, extract the principles, and then propose a novel design by analogy. Using careful, early scaffolding of individual design efforts, students build the confidence to interact in teams. Team building exercises increase self-efficacy and reveal the advantages of a diverse set of minds. Final team video and poster project designs are presented in a public showcase. Our program forms a student-centered creative action community comprised of a large-scale course, student-led classes, and a student-created university organization. The program structure facilitates a community of learners that shifts the students' role from passive knowledge recipients to active co-constructors of knowledge being responsible for their own learning, discovery, and inventions. Students build their own shared database of discoveries, classes, organizations, research openings, internships, and public service options. Students find next step opportunities so they can see future careers. Description of our program here provides the necessary context for our future publications on assessment that examine 21st century skills, persistence in STEM, and creativity.
... Eccles (1987Eccles ( , 1994Eccles ( , 2011 has argued that a richer understanding of this concept is essential for understanding gender difference in career patterns. Consistent with this view, a growing body of evidence arising from investigations of the gender gap in STEM fields and political office suggests that CURTAILED LEADERSHIP ASPIRATIONS 37 communal climates that frame work as contributing to others or the greater good are significantly more attractive to women than climates that lack this framing or, alternatively, that are characterized by competition, aggressiveness, and self-aggrandizement (e.g., Brown, Thoman, Smith, & Diekman, 2015;Diekman, Clark, Johnston, Brown, & Steinberg, 2011;Diekman, Weisgram, & Belanger, 2015;McCarty, Monteith, & Kaiser, 2014;Schneider, Holman, Diekman, & McAndrew, 2016;Su & Rounds, 2015;Thomson, Wurtzburg, & Centifanti, 2015). ...
Many efforts to close the persistent gender gap in corporate American’s leadership have approached women as deficient men in need of fixing. Taking a different approach, this paper seeks to shed light on how features of male-dominated work cultures—which remain common in corporate America—may deflate women’s motivation to strive for leadership roles. The inquiry is guided by social cognitive career theory (SCCT), which is a vocational psychology theory founded on the expectancy-value model of motivation. Consistent with that model, SCCT proposes that people will not pursue career goals (such as leadership) that they perceive as unfeasible. Perceptions of feasibility are shaped by work culture. And the most dominate transmitter of workplace culture is other people, including leaders, supervisors, mentors, and colleagues. Such social agents of the work culture can powerfully impact women’s expectancies about leadership through at least three social psychology-based mechanisms: relational efficacy beliefs, expectations states, and social identity threat. The review examines how these mechanisms operate through four common features of male-dominated work cultures (prevalent gender bias, an all-male leadership tier, failure to identify and develop women as leaders, and inadequate mentors and sponsors) to negatively impact women’s beliefs about the feasibility of achieving leadership positions. The result of such lowered expectancies is that women may refrain from even trying for leadership positions, if not leave their organizations altogether. The review concludes by offering potential next steps for research and intervention-development.
... A further contrast with previous studies was evident in students' social utility motivations: their desire to work with, care for, and help others. More in line with meeting basic human needs for community, social utility motivation is far less prevalent in career advice discussions with aspiring STEM students in secondary schools (Brown et al., 2015), and yet over 10% of STEM(M) students (n ¼ 271) included the phrase "help people" when documenting their reason for choosing a STEM(M) major. ...
This study investigated why university students choose to major in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine/health (STEM(M)) disciplines, and how their study and career-related confidence compares with that of their peers. The study engaged 12,576 students enrolled at Australian universities. The findings suggest that STEM(M) students' career decision making is guided by their interest in the subject and their intentions to help people. Within the STEM(M) cohort, students in medicine and health were more confident in their career decision making than either their STEM or non-STEM(M) peers. Of interest, they were less aware of alternative career pathways and less prepared to reorient their careers should this be necessary. Female students reported greater confidence than male students in their career decision making, career identity, and career commitment. Implications include the need for career narratives beyond the STEM industries and for career development initiatives that are mindful of disciplinary and gendered differences.
... In this regard, experimental evidence suggests that students who believe that science provides opportunities for communal behaviors (e.g. curing heart diseases/cancer) are more likely to consider a STEM career (Brown et al., 2015). ...
Warmth and competence are two fundamental dimensions of social judgments that shape stereotypes of social groups/professions. In perceiving others, people assess their intentions (warmth) and their abilities to act upon those intentions (competence). As stereotyping can influence attitudes and subsequent behaviors, pre-existing stereotypes of scientists as ‘cold’ may undermine trust in science and interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. How, then, can scientists portray interpersonal warmth? Drawing on the stereotype content model’s warmth-competence literature, this study aimed to communicate scientists’ interpersonal warmth using the morality and emotional aspects of the warmth dimension in the context of a College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) as a test case of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) colleges. We used two, 3 (message type: control, prosocial, emotional-prosocial) × 2 (gender: women, men) between-subjects experimental design (n = 849) to examine the effect of message type and participant’s gender on perceptions of scientists’ interpersonal warmth. Results suggest that the combination of prosocial behaviors and emotional appeals were associated with perceived warmth of scientists. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between message type and gender (Experiment 1) and a significant main effect of gender on perceived warmth (Experiment 2). These findings suggest further exploration of the morality and sociability aspects associated with warmth to reduce unflattering stereotypes of scientists.
... This transcends through low to high status jobs ranging from nurses and teachers to doctors and lawyers (Lippa et al., 2014). It can be said that STEM subjects do not accommodate the communal values that women tend to carry, and that in general many of the roles do not have the opportunity for individuals to exercise their need for interpersonal connections (Brown et al., 2015). Despite the aforementioned point of STEM subjects often working towards communal goals, there is a strong argument to be made that roles within STEM subjects involve less engagement with people and are more 'thing' focused and that insofar as this can be seen as a common perception , could provide some explanation as to why women aren't choosing these careers. ...
The issue of gender imbalance is one that affects almost all industries but is particularly prevalent within technology and engineering. Just 14.4% of the overall science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) workforce in the UK are female (ONS, 2015), and with many years of government efforts having been made to increase the interest of school age girls in STEM subjects, it would be thought that the figures in the workplace would be balancing out. This does not appear to be the case, however. This paper looks into the reasons women are still not choosing engineering and technology careers and the reasons why the women who have broken through into the industry are leaving by examining the opportunities they are offered as well as their motivation at work. The research carried out in this paper acknowledges that psychological differences between men and women mean motivators differ and observes that STEM roles tend not to cater to women’s motivational needs. An example supported in this paper is the notion that women find motivation from a good work life balance and that this is generally not accommodated well within STEM roles. The online questionnaire carried out in this study draws concepts from literature to further investigate the opinions of women who are currently working in STEM roles within the UK. The survey is comprised of seventeen questions and relies upon levels of experience and levels of education to analyse. Overall, ninety-nine women took part in the survey.
... Affordance theory has been used to examine postsecondary STEM educators' instructional decision-making [52], their sensemaking around education improvement initiatives [53], and their adoption of instructional innovations [54]. Researchers have also used affordance theories to frame investigations of instructional innovations on learning, such as the influence of new technologies to support student learning in STEM [55][56][57] and shifts in motivation to pursue science careers [58]. ...
In the last decade, postsecondary institutions have seen a notable increase in makerspaces on their campuses and the integration of these spaces into engineering programs. Yet research into the efficacy of university-based makerspaces is sparse. We contribute to this nascent body of research in reporting on findings from a phenomenological study on the perceptions of faculty, staff, and students concerning six university-based makerspaces in the United States. We discuss the findings using a framework of heterogeneous engineering (integration of the social and technical aspects of engineering practice). Various physical, climate, and programmatic features of makerspaces were read as affordances for students’ development of engineering practices and their continued participation and persistence in engineering. We discuss the potential of makerspaces in helping students develop knowledge, skills, and proclivities that may support their attending to especially wicked societal problems, such as issues of sustainability. We offer implications for makerspace administrators, engineering program leaders, faculty, and staff, as well as those developing and delivering professional development for faculty and staff, to better incorporate makerspaces into the university engineering curriculum.
... 64,65,66 Along these lines, female Medical Physicists in administrative and leadership positions with families can make excellent role models for younger physicists, both male and female; although, mentorship may be more effective if backgrounds are shared since majority group mentors may overlook obstacles faced by minority mentees. 67 Matched mentors have often faced similar challenges as their mentees and may offer experiential targeted approaches to overcome these obstacles. 68,69 Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that women who are paired with woman mentors are more motivated and resilient than those without a mentor, or with a man as a mentor. ...
The labor force of Medical Physics is one of the most gender diverse in the field of Physics, as it has attained the proportional achievement of ~30% women worldwide (Tsapaki et al. Phys Medica. 2018;55:33-39). While great strides have been made toward a gender diverse workforce, women still comprise an underrepresented group. Many strategies have been suggested to increase the participation of underrepresented persons by addressing unconscious biases, increasing opportunities, dedicated hiring policies, and providing support networks in science and medicine (Barabino et al. Sci Eng Ethics. 2019; Coe et al. Lancet. 2019), yet the personnel landscape remains largely uniform. Herein, the conditions, strategies, and approaches that facilitated gender diversity in Medical Physics are considered as a means to further the inclusion of other underrepresented groups through exemplars of mentorship, addressing unconscious biases and the implementation of inclusive practices. Furthermore, the potential for gender diversity to act as a catalyst to create an environment that is more accepting of diversity and supports and encourages inclusive practices for the participation and inclusion of other underrepresented groups in Medical Physics is discussed.
... A growing body of literature suggests that when communal messages are integrated into STEM subject areas, students who otherwise are underrepresented in STEM disciplines find them appealing (e.g., Brown, Thoman, Smith, & Diekman, 2015;Clark, Fuesting, & Diekman, 2016;Diekman, Clark, Johnston, Brown, & Steinberg, 2011;Fuesting, Diekman, & Hudiburgh, 2017). The conceptual basis for this research is that communally oriented people are said to perceive a lack of fit in STEM-focused fields when these fields do not afford them the opportunities to fulfill communal goals (Diekman, Steinberg, Brown, Belanger, & Clark, 2017). ...
With the aim of bridging research in educational psychology and teacher education, we designed a research-practice partnership to unpack the concept of relevance from a race-reimaged perspective. Specifically, we employed a mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design to examine associations between the communal learning opportunities afforded to Black and Latinx students, and their engagement patterns during STEM activities. Within a nine-week instructional unit we provided students six opportunities to rate their scholastic activities. High levels of behavioral engagement were sustained over the course of the instructional unit. On weeks when students rated the activities as higher in communal affordances, they also reported more behavioral engagement. Classroom observations facilitated our efforts to create state space grids that show when and how teachers used emancipatory pedagogies to support students’ learning. We used these state space grids, along with teacher interviews and student focus groups, to develop contextualized illustrations of two teachers of color as they successfully provided communal forms of motivational support over the span of six observations per teacher. These strategies differed based on three key factors: where the lesson was placed within the larger instructional unit, the way teachers interpreted and responded to their students’ engagement patterns, and how the demands of the larger school environment impacted classroom dynamics.
... That scientific careers fulfill agentic goals and thus offer a good match for students with agentic goals is widely accepted Ramsey, 2017). What is not well recognized is that students think that STEM careers cannot fulfill their communal goals (Brown et al, 2015a). It is this perception, not the lack of agentic goals, that is thought to result in fewer women in the STEM workforce. ...
In a year-long undergraduate research program, life science majors were paired with majors in the other STEM disciplines of computer science, engineering, mathematics and physical sciences, to work on interdisciplinary life science projects. Typical teams had one undergraduate in a life science and one from another STEM discipline, along with faculty and graduate student mentors from each of those disciplines. In a survey at the end of the program, undergraduates indicated their career plans: 74% staying in STEM, 26% moving to non-STEM, with most of the latter in healthcare. In the summer phase, the average and range of the total number of interactions between undergraduates and all of their mentors was about the same for students in both career groups. However, students differed in whether they tended to interact more frequently with mentors in their own discipline, or to interact with closer to equal frequency with mentors in both disciplines. Binary logistic regression analysis showed this differential frequency of interaction with mentors by discipline to be predictive of students' career decisions, with students in the non-STEM career group interacting much more within their own discipline and the students in the STEM career group tending to interact almost as frequently with mentors in both disciplines. Analysis also showed that, compared to students who planned on non-STEM careers, those who planned on STEM careers self-reported lower ease of communication with team members but higher ratings for their program experience. Consistent with national data, the student's area of study was predictive: 56% of the life science and 91% of the other STEM majors planned for STEM careers. However, inconsistent with the predominance of men in the STEM workforce, in our program where there were almost equal numbers of men and women in both the life sciences and other STEM fields, there was no gender difference in career choice: 72% of the men and 76% of the women indicated their intention to pursue careers in STEM.
... The responsiveness of people to cues of opportunities to work together suggests how attuned we are to these opportunities. Consistent with this work, research finds that emphasizing the communal affordances of careerssuch as opportunities to work with others on collective problemscan motivate people to pursue these paths (Diekman et al., 2011;Diekman & Steinberg, 2013;Brown et al., 2015). ...
We argue that the behavioral challenges posed by climate change are fundamentally problems of social influence. Behaviors that perpetuate climate change are often opaque in their consequences; thus, we look to others to infer how to act. Yet unsustainable behaviors, like driving and eating meat, are often the norm; conformity to such norms is a major hurdle to a more sustainable world. Nonetheless, we argue that social norms can also be a powerful lever for positive change. Drawing on two streams of recent research, we show that well-implemented social norm strategies can motivate positive steps even in the face of a negative current norm and even in individuals’ private behavior absent the judgment of others. First, appeals to dynamic norms – information about change in others or trends in norms over time – can lead people to conform to the change itself, even if this change violates current norms. Second, framing normative appeals in terms of an invitation to work with others toward a common goal can increase the motivation to join in. Despite ubiquitous unsustainable norms, careful theory-based representations of social norms can help us make progress on climate change.
... Although engaging in communal work is a particularly strong goal orientation among women (e.g., Morgan et al., 2001) and underrepresented minorities (URMs; i.e., African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans; e.g., Tyler et al., 2006;Fryberg and Markus, 2007;Gibbs and Griffin, 2013;Smith et al., 2014;Thoman et al., 2015;Jackson et al., 2016), the communal goal congruity logic has also been applied more broadly. These studies have demonstrated positive main effects of communal goals on outcomes such as science topic interest and science career interest (e.g., Brown et al., 2015bBrown et al., , 2018LaMeres et al., 2019). Therefore, stereotypes about the independent, individual achievement-oriented, socially isolated, and esoteric culture of science act as "educational gatekeepers" for women, URMs, and anyone else who seeks to fulfill communal goals (Cheryan et al., 2015, p. 2). ...
The prevalent stereotype that scientific fields do not afford opportunities to fulfill goals of helping others deters student interest and participation in science. We investigated whether introductory college science textbooks that highlight the prosocial utility value of science can be used to change beliefs about the affordances of scientific work. In Study 1, undergraduate students who were randomly assigned to read a science textbook chapter with added prosocial utility value expressed greater beliefs that the science topic afforded prosocial goals and increased interest in the scientific topic, compared to two control conditions. Mediation analysis demonstrated that interest was enhanced through increased beliefs that the topic afforded prosocial opportunities. Multiple group comparison tests indicated that underrepresented minority students (i.e., African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans) might benefit the most from efforts to strengthen prosocial affordance beliefs. In Study 2, we conducted a brief landscape analysis of science textbooks and found that texts are missing opportunities to emphasize the prosocial utility value of science. We discuss recommendations for science educators, curriculum designers, and researchers who want to increase and broaden science participation.
... Previous research has focused on the following factors influencing gender differences in STEM engagement, among others: value-expectancy (Eccles 2009;Wang and Degol 2013), sense of belonging (Good, Rattan and Dweck 2012;Geisinger and Raman 2013), goal congruence (Diekman et al. 2010;Diekman et al. 2013;Brown, Thoman and Diekman 2015), and self-efficacy (Correll 2001;Nagy et al. 2008;Ehrlinger and Dunning 2003;Else-Quest, Hyde and Linn 2010;Spelke 2005;Steffens and Jelenec 2011). These four factors provide useful insights into mechanisms influencing men's and women's attitudes towards pursuing a STEM educational and career path (Eccles 2009;Wang and Degol 2013). ...
Much attention has been directed towards explaining and overcoming the low representation of women in STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields. In this study, we aimed to test gender differences among men
and women on the STEM track: female and male students enrolled in STEM majors. We found that women
(versus men) feel less competent in STEM, value work in STEM less, and have a lower expectancy of succeeding in STEM. When it comes to career goals, women were equally agentic but more communal. We failed
to find any gender differences regarding a sense of belonging to STEM, or in general behavioral intentions to
engage in STEM. To conclude, although we replicated some of the hypothesis about gender differences, we
found preliminary evidence that there may be indeed fewer gender differences among those already engaged
in STEM than we might have expected based on the previous research.
... One barrier involves the misperception of science as an isolated discipline addressing questions of little interest outside the scientific community. Studies have shown that URM students often value communal goals of collaboration and helping people as important factors in their educational and career objectives and are, therefore, dissuaded from STEM careers (19)(20)(21)(22)(23). One potential solution involves the practice of community-engaged learning (CEL), where students participate in community-centered projects prompting them to reflect on the broader economic, social, and political contexts of a problem. ...
Creation of an inclusive environment requires a culture of equity, justice, value and respect for diverse backgrounds, and opportunities for students to engage with communities while addressing issues in science and society. These tasks are particularly challenging for institutions lacking a diverse population. Here, we demonstrate evidence of a successful model for creating an inclusive environment in an interinstitutional course between a large, public, historically black institution and a small, private, primarily white institution. Because many individuals from underrepresented minority groups tend to value communal goals of working together and helping their communities, we incorporated two high-impact practices of community-engaged learning and course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) focused on health disparities research in neighboring communities. Although the research projects varied each semester, they were linked by their impact on and engagement with the community. Students practiced cultural competency skills in both small group projects within the class and engagement activities in the community. We measured the efficacy of CURE components (novel authentic research, scientific process skills, iteration, collaboration, and broader impact) through a combination of direct and indirect assessments, quantitative and qualitative analysis. More than simply scientific skills, students from both institutions developed lasting interest in working with diverse populations as well as respecting and valuing different backgrounds. This inclusive environment, combined with increased interest in research, suggests that this course could potentially serve as a model for interinstitutional collaborations in creating inclusive environments that support the future success of diverse students, eventually changing the STEM research culture.
... Cultural mismatches between students' values and the perceived goals afforded by a career in STEM may also be a challenge to inclusion in STEM (Brown et al. 2015;Diekman et al. 2017;Fuesting et al. 2017;Smith et al. 2014). Careers in STEM are frequently perceived by students as affording individualistic goals such as achievement and power, but not as affording communal goals such as helping others and serving the community. ...
African Americans and other ethnic minorities are severely underrepresented in both graduate education and among the professoriate in ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB). In the present research, we take a social psychological approach to studying inclusion by examining interrelationships among challenges to inclusion, the sense of belonging, and interest in pursuing graduate education in EEB. We conducted a survey of African American (N = 360), Latino/a/Hispanic (N = 313), White (N = 709), and Asian/Asian American (N = 524) college undergraduates majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math fields and used the results to test several interrelated hypotheses derived from our theoretical model. Compared to Whites, ethnic minorities were more likely to experience challenges to inclusion in EEB (e.g., less exposure to ecology, fewer same-race role models, discomfort in outdoor environments). Challenges to inclusion were associated with a decreased sense of belonging in EEB educational contexts. Finally, experiencing a low sense of belonging in EEB educational contexts was associated with lower interest in pursuing graduate education in EEB. Sense of belonging in EEB was especially low among African Americans relative to Whites. We discuss the implications of the study results for educational interventions.
... There is a correlation with students' sense of belonging to a STEM community and college persistence, but deaf college students, among others, may struggle to achieve that sense of belonging. Including model-based activities during class may help D/HH students form connections with their peers (74,75). ...
In the United Arab Emirates, and internationally, great emphasis has been placed upon improving students’ performance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and encouraging STEM careers. However, international studies have shown that even where there are no significant differences in mathematics and science achievement, women still remain less likely to enrol in STEM fields in higher education. Gender stereotyping, self-efficacy and attitudes towards science can potentially influence young women’s (and men’s) aspirations to pursue studies and careers in these fields. The sciences have a long association with ‘masculinity’, and evidence suggests that many children perceive that science, particularly the physical sciences, are ‘for boys’ and that scientists are generally male. However, attitudes towards science appear to be changing, with both male and female students in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region responding favourably to survey questions about liking, feeling confident in and valuing, science. Current strategies to overcome stereotypes; boost STEM self-efficacy, particularly for female students; positively utilise the influence of teachers; and use role models and other supports are discussed, and recommendations for what still can be done are made.
What motivates faculty teaching gateway courses to consider adopting an evidence-based classroom intervention? In this nationally representative study of biology faculty members in the United States (N = 422), we used expectancy-value-cost theory to understand three convergent motivational processes the faculty members' underlying intentions to adopt an exemplar evidence-based classroom intervention: the utility value intervention (UVI). Although the faculty members perceived the intervention as valuable, self-reported intentions to implement it were degraded by concerns about costs and lower expectancies for successful implementation. Structural equation modeling revealed that the faculty members reporting lower intentions to adopt it tended to be White and to identify as male and had many years of teaching or were from a more research-focused university. These personal, departmental, and institutional factors mapped onto value, expectancies, and cost perceptions uniquely, showing that each process was a necessary but insufficient way to inspire intentions to adopt the UVI. Our findings suggest multifaceted, context-responsive appeals to support faculty member motivation to scale up adoption of evidence-based classroom interventions.
An abundance of literature has examined barriers to women’s equitable representation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, with many studies demonstrating that STEM fields are not perceived to afford communal goals, a key component of women’s interest in future careers. Using Goal Congruity Theory as a framework, we tested the longitudinal impact of perceptions of STEM career goal affordances, personal communal and agentic goal endorsements, and their congruity on persistence in science from the second through fourth years of college among women in STEM majors in the United States. We found that women’s intent to persist in science were highest in the fall of their second year, that persistence intentions exhibited a sharp decline, and eventually leveled off by their fourth year of college. This pattern was moderated by perceptions of agentic affordances in STEM, such that women who believe that STEM careers afford the opportunity for achievement and individualism experienced smaller declines. We found that higher perceptions of communal goal affordances in STEM consistently predicted higher persistence intentions indicating women may benefit from perceptions that STEM affords communal goals. Finally, we found women with higher agentic affordances in STEM also had greater intentions to persist, and this relationship was stronger for women with higher agentic goals. We conclude that because STEM fields are stereotyped as affording agentic goals, women who identify interest in a STEM major during their first years of college may be drawn to these fields for this reason and may benefit from perceptions that STEM affords agentic goals.
Misalignment between students' communal values and those expressed in classrooms is an obstacle to academic engagement, especially in mathematics, and especially for racial ethnic minority and female students. Using 10 schools across the United States, we conducted a longitudinal field study in 8th grade mathematics classes to investigate: (a) how perceptions of communally oriented classrooms influence student outcomes in early adolescence, (b) what psychological processes mediate these relations, and (c) whether the influence of perceived communal practices in classrooms have similar or different effects on students with varying social identities based on race, ethnicity, and gender. Results showed that middle school classes that emphasize communality (both social relevance of math and peer collaboration) significantly predicted stronger math self-concept, more behavioral engagement, and better performance in math. These associations were mediated through three psychological processes-belonging, challenge, and self-efficacy. Among racial ethnic minority adolescents, feelings of belonging and challenge in math class were key psychological processes that enhanced math learning outcomes. These processes were activated when classes connected communal values to math. Finally, communal learning contexts benefited girls and boys equally. In sum, communal values practiced by emphasizing social relevance of academic content and using collaborative learning practices engage all students, especially students of color, at a formative period of academic learning in mathematics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Impressions of role leaders provide information about anticipated opportunities in a role, and these perceptions can influence attitudes about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathways. Specifically, the facial structures of role leaders influenced perceived affordances of working with that person, such as the availability of communal and agentic opportunities (e.g., mentorship; achievement). STEM faculty with trustworthy (relative to dominant) faces were seen as valuing communal goals (Studies 1–3), and in turn, perceived as affording both communal and agentic opportunities in their research groups (Studies 2–3b). These heightened goal opportunities aligned with perceptions that trustworthy-faced advisors would enact more group-supportive behaviors (Study 2). Consequently, students anticipated fairer treatment and reported greater interest in labs directed by trustworthy- than dominant-faced leaders (Studies 3a–4a), even when images were accompanied by explicit information about leaders’ collaborative behavior (Study 4b). The faces of leaders can thus function as the “face” of that role and the surrounding culture.
Science can improve life around the world, but public trust in science is at risk. Understanding presumed motives of scientists and science can inform the social psychological underpinnings of public trust in science. Across five independent datasets, perceiving the motives of science and scientists as prosocial promoted public trust in science. In Studies 1 and 2, perceptions that science was more prosocially oriented was associated with greater trust in science. Studies 3 and 4a-b employed experimental methods to establish that perceiving other-oriented motives, versus self-oriented motives, enhanced public trust in science. Respondents recommend greater funding allocations for science subdomains described as prosocially-oriented vs. power-oriented. Emphasizing the prosocial aspects of science can build stronger foundations of public trust in science.
Perceiving roles as fulfilling goals offers motivational benefits to students, and yet the features of individuals or contexts that align with seeing such role opportunities have not been studied systematically. The current research investigated how these goal affordances are related to proactive mindset, or a person’s belief that they can shape their contexts. Three studies examined how variation in proactivity aligns with perceiving more communal and agentic goal opportunities in roles. Study 1 found that highly proactive college students (vs. less proactive students) tended to perceive their future careers as fulfilling communal and agentic goals, which predicted positive career attitudes. Study 2 replicated this association, while ruling out behavioral flexibility as accounting for the proactivity-positivity relationship. Study 3 experimentally tested whether growth-oriented contexts foster proactivity. Proactive mindset aligns with more expansive views of roles as fulfilling fundamental motives. These views, in turn, carry positive implications for one’s future career attitudes.
Science can improve life around the world, but public trust in science is at risk. Understanding the presumed motives of scientists and science can inform the social psychological underpinnings of public trust in science. Across five independent datasets, perceiving the motives of science and scientists as prosocial promoted public trust in science. In Studies 1 and 2, perceptions that science was more prosocially oriented were associated with greater trust in science. Studies 3 and 4a & 4b employed experimental methods to establish that perceiving other-oriented motives, versus self-oriented motives, enhanced public trust in science. Respondents recommend greater funding allocations for science subdomains described as prosocially oriented versus power-oriented. Emphasizing the prosocial aspects of science can build stronger foundations of public trust in science.
Perceiving roles as fulfilling goals offers motivational benefits to students, and yet the features of individuals or contexts that align with seeing such role opportunities have not been studied systematically. The current research investigated how these goal affordances are related to proactive mindset or a person’s belief that they can shape their contexts. Three studies examined how variation in proactivity aligns with perceiving more communal and agentic goal opportunities in roles. Study 1 found that highly proactive college students (vs. less proactive students) tended to perceive their future careers as fulfilling communal and agentic goals, which predicted positive career attitudes. Study 2 replicated this association, while ruling out behavioral flexibility as accounting for the proactivity–positivity relationship. Study 3 experimentally tested whether growth-oriented contexts foster proactivity. Proactive mindset aligns with more expansive views of roles as fulfilling fundamental motives. These views, in turn, carry positive implications for one’s future career attitudes.
There is no doubt that connections with other people motivate behavior; yet science is stereotyped as being lonely work devoid of communal connections. Drawing from self-regulation of motivation and goal congruity theories, we ask, does relationship-building in science foster communal perceptions that then increase women’s persistence in and motivation for science research? In a scientific context designed to simulate a “typical” setting that emphasized gender and the male-dominated nature of STEM, women and men students interacted with a male confederate [Study 1 (N = 245)] or women students interacted with a female confederate [Study 2 (N = 152)]. In both cases, the student-confederate pair completed a series of getting-to-know-you questions to foster a relationship, engaged in a boring “data transcription” task together, and completed measures of communal goal perceptions, science research motivation, and belonging. We also assessed actual persistence on and future motivation for the science task. Across both studies, women’s communal perceptions significantly predicted belonging and science research motivation. In turn, science research motivation led to significantly greater persistence and future motivation and significantly mediated the link between communal perceptions and science persistence (Study 1). Results for belonging were mixed. Study 2 results provided a conceptual replication, extending the model to same-gender peer interactions. Overall results suggest peer relationship-building exercises are one pathway to help women feel a sense of community in science education. Focusing on creative strategies to retain women students in science will enhance science innovation and contribute to a more inclusive teaching and learning environment.
The study addressed the underrepresentation of women in university leadership by focusing on the middle management role of dean. This research set forth two processes that may affect female and male professors' ambition to become a dean: (a) gender bias whereby stakeholders are more likely to recommend men than women for deanships, and (b) self-selection bias whereby men may find deanships more appealing than women do. A multisource, time-lagged study of 278 professors from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland found that both being recommended by stakeholders for a deanship and finding the position appealing related positively to deanship ambitions for female and male professors. In contrast to the gender bias perspective, female and male professors were equally likely to be recommended for deanships, with recommendations reflecting prior administrative leadership experience. Consistent with the self-selection perspective, female professors' perception of more women among deans and their greater endorsement of communal career goals (e.g., serving the community) related to the appeal of the position, which in turn related to their own ambition to become a dean. In contrast, male professors' endorsement of agentic career goals (e.g., receiving recognition) related to the appeal of deanships, which in turn related to their own ambition to become a dean. Overall, these findings suggest that policies to increase the number of women in university deanships should make salient the presence of other women in these roles and also the potential of these roles to fulfill communal career goals.
When selecting a face best resembling a male political candidate, the extent to which selected faces look consistent with positive category stereotypes relates to more favorable candidate evaluations. Because people more positively evaluate feminine versus masculine female faces and also evaluate them as having more stereotypically feminine traits, representing female candidate faces as more feminine may produce a similar relationship. This possibility is examined in the context of the 2020 election in which Kamala Harris became the first woman elected to the Vice Presidency. People evaluated feminine versus masculine representations of Harris's face as reflecting more stereotypically feminine, but fewer stereotypically masculine, traits. People selecting a more feminine representation of Harris's face as best resembling her more favorably evaluated her candidacy even when controlling for explicit evaluations of her gender stereotypicality. This relationship was stronger when Harris's agentic versus communal traits were emphasized. Further, people selecting feminine representations were more ideologically liberal. These findings replicate and extend past work using a real example of a woman on the national political stage. People may have favorably evaluated Kamala Harris in part due to having more feminine representations of her face, thus identifying a novel potential pathway to her historic accomplishment.
Developing student capacity for the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce requires not only better preparation in specific content and skills but also better preparation in understanding the goals that STEM fields can afford. In particular, stereotypic views that STEM fields lack communal opportunities to work with and help others dampen interest in pursuing STEM careers. This research project investigated preservice science teachers' (PST) beliefs about whether science careers afford communal goals, and then employed experimental methodology to assess reactions to science lessons that integrate communal content. PSTs perceived STEM fields as less likely than other fields to fulfill communal goals. Yet lesson plans that integrated communal applications were perceived as more likely to engage students. The communally‐oriented lesson plans were then further developed for dissemination. We discuss the opportunities and obstacles to integrating communal content into science education instruction.
Many social psychological variables, in addition to knowledge‐based factors such as academic preparedness, have been investigated individually as sources of the persistent gender gap in pSTEM (physical science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. The present work tested all of these factors simultaneously and longitudinally, in a sample drawn from an incoming freshman class measured at three timepoints over the course of their first year. One thousand nine hundred and twenty‐nine students completed a survey with items assessing eleven social psychological constructs and were asked for permission to obtain institutional data regarding their academic preparedness and choice of academic major before matriculation, after the first semester, and at the end of freshman year. These social psychological and academic variables were used to predict pSTEM major status. Across multiple timepoints, and over and above academic preparedness, greater Math and Science Self‐Efficacy, rejection of the stereotype that scientist careers are unsociable in nature, having a pSTEM role model in high school, and lower endorsement of communal goals were consistently related to the selection of a pSTEM major. Students who endorsed entity theories of math and science abilities were also less likely to select a pSTEM over life and social sciences major. As a set, the factors accounted for roughly half of the gender difference in pSTEM major selection. Interventions aimed at reducing the gender gap in pSTEM major selection might do well to focus on these more psychological factors as well as academic ones.
Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) mentoring programs typically have the goals of generating interest and excitement in STEM topics and careers and supporting STEM career achievement persistence. These outcomes are fostered through positive and trusting relationships with mentors. Mentors in STEM programs often have extensive subject matter expertise in a STEM content area, but they may lack the knowledge, attitudes, and skills that are important for establishing an effective mentoring relationship with a young person. The purpose of this review is to describe (1) a set of topics recommended for inclusion in STEM mentor training, based on a literature review, and (2) the current state of implementation of these recommended training topics among STEM mentoring programs in the United States. We have identified four major topic areas to include in the training of STEM mentors: (1) knowledge and attitudes regarding disparities in STEM career achievement, (2) mentor roles that promote STEM outcomes, (3) behaviors to promote mentees’ positive attitudes about STEM, and (4) program‐specific topics. Training for mentors should prepare them with the knowledge they need to support their mentee being successful in a STEM education or career while fostering the skills they need to establish an effective mentoring relationship. Mentors in STEM programs often have extensive subject matter expertise in a STEM area, but they may lack the knowledge, attitudes, and skills that are important for establishing an effective mentoring relationship with a young person. This review describes (1) a set of topics recommended for inclusion in STEM mentor training, based on a literature review, and (2) the current state of implementation of these recommended training topics among STEM mentoring programs in the United States.
The affordance-management approach conceptualizes stereotyping, stereotype content, prejudices, and discriminatory inclinations as interlinked cognitive, affective, and behavioral tools used to manage the social opportunities and threats afforded by other people. Presenting research from our labs, we show how the affordance management approach enhances understanding of why people are especially likely to categorize others using certain features (rather than alternative features), what the specific contents of our stereotypes are likely to be (and why this content is more nuanced than typically revealed by existing research), and how and why these stereotypes elicit similarly nuanced and functionally-linked prejudices and discrimination. We focus this discussion of stereotypes and stereotyping on the features of sex, age, home ecology, race, sexual orientation, and body size/shape, and we present novel concepts such as “directed” and “within-group” stereotypes. Then, elaborating on the specific, functional links between stereotypes and prejudices/discrimination, we present a novel distinction between “base” and “affordance” stereotypes, and we highlight the implications of the framework for better understanding sexual prejudices and “invisibility” stigma. We then briefly discuss the implications of our approach for stereotype accuracy and the psychology of those targeted by stereotypes, stereotyping, prejudices, and discrimination. In all, the affordance management approach to stereotyping and stereotypes generates a large number of novel predictions and findings, some of which pose significant challenges to popular traditional approaches to stereotype content, stereotyping, and prejudice.
The premise of the goal congruity perspective is that individuals seek to enter and engage in roles that fulfill their valued goals. Two steps are fundamental: First, the social structure shapes a group's internalized psychology and externalized opportunities, and second, individuals navigate the social structure through their actions. Put simply, individuals seek to enter available roles that they anticipate will serve their goals. Opportunities to pursue goals, or affordances, thus structure individuals' initial decisions to enter or avoid the role, as well as the way in which they engage with the role. We review accumulating evidence that affordances influence role decisions—whether these affordances vary in terms of naturalistic variation, experimental manipulation, or intervention efforts. We examine sources and cues to affordances, as well as moderation by gender and other group differences. Finally, we articulate new research questions emerging from considering actual and perceived affordances of social roles.
A sense of belonging in a particular context is cued not only by the people in the role but by the affordances of the role—that is, the opportunities for goal pursuit. We investigate this role-based belonging in four studies documenting that the perceived affordances of social roles inform sense of belonging and convey known benefits of belonging. Perceiving more communal opportunities in naturalistic science, technology, engineering, and mathematic (STEM) settings was associated with heightened belonging in those roles (Studies 1–2). Experimentally manipulating collaborative activities in a science lab increased anticipated belonging in the lab and fostered interest, particularly among women (Study 3). Finally, mentally simulating communal affordances in a role promoted recovery from belonging threat: Considering communal opportunities in STEM facilitated recovery of STEM-specific belonging after recalling exclusion in STEM (Study 4). Investigations of role-based belonging offer the potential for both theoretical and practical advances.
Academic struggles played a role in the majority of students’ decision to switch out of STEM. They also undermined students’ belief that they had made the right choice in pursuing a STEM major and could succeed in earning a STEM degree. As described in Chap. 7, academic problems were particularly acute for students in gateway courses, but they were not confined to courses taught by “weed out” methods. They could also manifest as difficulties with STEM curricula or as conceptual problems at any point in students’ trajectories. Common problems included encountering STEM content that was “hard”—whether intrinsically or situationally. They also arose as students sought to demonstrate their conceptual understanding in assessments, and could be reflected in the grades and GPA that they earned. These struggles challenged students’ views of their competence and caused them to doubt that they “belonged” in a STEM program. A student’s sense of belonging in a STEM discipline was also shaped by classroom and program climates, most especially by interactions with instructors and peers. This chapter reviews findings about how STEM students experienced these struggles to thrive academically and to develop a sense of belonging. It also highlights particular risks that differentiate switchers from persisters.
Agentic and communal goal orientations are widely used to predict career interests. However, the number of dimensions that underlie measures of goal orientations remains unclear. Across two studies, using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and bifactor confirmatory factor analysis, we found that communal goal orientation was unidimensional. However, agentic goal orientations comprised a single global agentic factor that represents a competence dimension plus two domain-specific factors: dominance and self-direction. Structural equation modeling indicated that gender differences in goal orientations, as well as the indirect effects of gender on career interest via goal orientations, were small. However, goal orientations exhibited sizeable direct effects on career interests, with agentic dominance goals the strongest predictor of organizational fit (Study 1 with 318 U.S. college students) and career interests (Study 2 with 789 U.S. MTurk workers). Future studies should consider the multidimensional structure of agentic goals and examine how dominance goals may help us better understand gender differences, social roles, and career preferences.
This chapter reviews the recent research on motivation, beliefs, values, and goals, focusing on developmental and educational psychology. The authors divide the chapter into four major sections: theories focused on expectancies for success (self-efficacy theory and control theory), theories focused on task value (theories focused on intrinsic motivation, self-determination, flow, interest, and goals), theories that integrate expectancies and values (attribution theory, the expectancy-value models of Eccles et al., Feather, and Heckhausen, and self-worth theory), and theories integrating motivation and cognition (social cognitive theories of self-regulation and motivation, the work by Winne & Marx, Borkowski et al., Pintrich et al., and theories of motivation and volition). The authors end the chapter with a discussion of how to integrate theories of self-regulation and expectancy-value models of motivation and suggest new directions for future research.
In this paper we report on our work to develop hands-on activities for middle school classrooms that clearly reveal how civil engineers make a substantial societal impact. These activities and their accompanying messaging vividly show how, through their work, teams of civil engineers help people around the world have better quality of life in a sustainable way. All activities are easily reproducible with low-cost materials and represent a number of specialization areas within civil engineering - namely, structural, urban and community planning, and water resources. The messaging that is an integral part of the activities uses the latest available research on why girls are underrepresented in civil engineering in particular, and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in general, to highlight the communal goals and values that civil engineers strive for. The results presented in this paper should allow civil engineers to more clearly show how their work enacts communal and altruistic goals that are known to be generally more highly endorsed by women than by men. Preliminary results on the implementation of these strategies in the context of an all-girls middle school show promise in enabling a better connection between the civil engineering profession and female students.
We provide a novel approach to understanding the political ambition gap between men and women by examining perceptions of the role of politician. Across three studies, we find that political careers are viewed as fulfilling power-related goals, such as self-promotion and competition. We connect these goals to a tolerance for interpersonal conflict and both of these factors to political ambition. Women's lack of interest in conflict and power-related activities mediates the relationship between gender and political ambition. In an experiment, we show that framing a political career as fulfilling communal goals—and not power-related goals—reduces the ambition gap.
Motivating students to pursue science careers is a top priority among many science educators. We add
to the growing literature by examining the impact of a utility value intervention to enhance student’s
perceptions that biomedical science affords important utility work values. Using an expectancy-value
perspective, we identified and tested 2 types of utility value: communal (other-oriented) and agentic
(self-oriented). The culture of science is replete with examples emphasizing high levels of agentic value,
but communal values are often (stereotyped as) absent from science. However, people in general want
an occupation that had communal utility. We predicted and found that an intervention emphasizing the
communal utility value of biomedical research increased students’ motivation for biomedical science
(Studies 1–3). We refined whether different types of communal utility value (i.e., working with, helping,
and forming relationships with others) might be more or less important, demonstrating that helping others
was an especially important predictor of student motivation (Study 2). Adding agentic utility value to
biomedical research did not further increase student motivation (Study 3). Furthermore, the communal
value intervention indirectly impacted students’ motivation because students believed that biomedical
research was communal and thus subsequently more important (Studies 1–3). This is key, because
enhancing student communal value beliefs about biomedical research (Studies 1–3) and science (Study
4) was associated both with momentary increases in motivation in experimental settings (Studies 1–3)
and increased motivation over time among students highly identified with biomedicine (Study 4). We
discuss recommendations for science educators, practitioners, and faculty mentors who want to broaden
participation in science.
This article presents an overview of the recent literature on gendered patterns of academic choice in mathematics, science, and technology. It distinguishes in this literature micro-level, macro-level, and institutional explanations. Micro-level explanations focus primarily on psychological constructs, that is, variables at the level of the individual students. Macro-level explanations focus primarily on socioeconomic conditions and cultural understandings of gender roles. Institutional explanations focus on design characteristics of (national) education systems. After a presentation of these perspectives and of recent research progress that has been made, the authors critically discuss the lacunae that still exist in explaining cross-national variety, and provide suggestions for designing future research in this field.
Understanding how cultural values influence undergraduate students’ science research experiences and career interest is important
in efforts to broaden participation and to diversify the biomedical research workforce. The results from our prospective longitudinal
study demonstrated that underrepresented minority student (URM) research assistants who see the altruistic value of conducting
biomedical research feel more psychologically involved with their research over time, which, in turn, enhances their interest
in pursuing a scientific research career. These altruistic motives are uniquely influential to URM students and appear to
play an important role in influencing their interest in scientific research careers. Furthermore, seeing how research can
potentially affect society and help one's community does not replace typical motives for scientific discovery (e.g., passion,
curiosity, achievement), which are important for all students. These findings point to simple strategies for educators, training
directors, and faculty mentors to improve retention among undergraduate URM students in biomedicine and the related sciences.
Many important learning tasks feel uninteresting and tedious to learners. This research proposed that promoting a prosocial, self-transcendent purpose could improve academic self-regulation on such tasks. This proposal was supported in 4 studies with over 2,000 adolescents and young adults. Study 1 documented a correlation between a self-transcendent purpose for learning and self-reported trait measures of academic self-regulation. Those with more of a purpose for learning also persisted longer on a boring task rather than giving in to a tempting alternative and, many months later, were less likely to drop out of college. Study 2 addressed causality. It showed that a brief, one-time psychological intervention promoting a self-transcendent purpose for learning could improve high school science and math grade point average (GPA) over several months. Studies 3 and 4 were short-term experiments that explored possible mechanisms. They showed that the self-transcendent purpose manipulation could increase deeper learning behavior on tedious test review materials (Study 3), and sustain self-regulation over the course of an increasingly boring task (Study 4). More self-oriented motives for learning-such as the desire to have an interesting or enjoyable career-did not, on their own, consistently produce these benefits (Studies 1 and 4). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
Native Americans are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. We examine communal goal incongruence-the mismatch between students' emphasis on communal work goals and the noncommunal culture of STEM-as a possible factor in this underrepresentation. First, we surveyed 80 Native American STEM freshmen and found they more highly endorsed communal goals than individualistic work goals. Next, we surveyed 96 Native American and White American students in STEM and non-STEM majors and confirmed that both Native American men and women in STEM highly endorsed communal goals. In a third study, we conducted a follow-up survey and in-depth interviews with a subset of Native American STEM students in their second semester to assess their experiences of belonging uncertainty, intrinsic motivation, persistence intentions, and perceived performance in STEM as a function of their initial communal work goals. Results demonstrate the prominence of communal goals among incoming Native American freshman (especially compared with White male STEM majors) and the connection between communal goals and feelings of belonging uncertainty, low motivation, and perceived poor performance 1 semester later. The interview data illustrate that these issues are particularly salient for students raised within tribal communities, and that a communal goal orientation is not just a vague desire to "help others," but a commitment to helping their tribal communities. The interviews also highlight the importance of student support programs for fostering feelings of belonging. We end by discussing implications for interventions and institutional changes that may promote Native American student retention in STEM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
Two studies of how elementary school and middle school-aged children's general self-esteem, competence beliefs, and subjective taskvaluesfordifferent activities change overtime are presented. In Study 1, elementaryschool children completed questionnaires once a year for 3 years. Study 2 assessed how the transition to junior high school influenced children's self-beliefs. Children completed questionnaires in the fall and spring of their sixth-grade year in elementary school and the fall and spring of their seventh-grade year in junior high school. Results showed that children's self-esteem did not change during elementary school but decreasedfollowing the junior high transition. Children's competence beliefs and beliefs about the usefulness and importance of different activities generally decreased. Children 's interest in the activities showed a more mixed pattern of change. Boys' and girls' beliefs and values differed in fairly genderstereotypic ways.
This study examined the variables incoming first-year college students believed were most important to their long-term career choice. A sample of 31,731 students were surveyed from 1995 to 2004, and results revealed that men placed a greater emphasis on making money, women placed a greater emphasis on working with people and contributing to society, White students placed a greater emphasis on having independence and intrinsic interest in the field, and African Americans and Asian Americans espoused higher extrinsic work values. Additional analyses revealed significant cohort differences, as over the 10-year period students reported a 10% increase in the selection of intrinsic values, a 5% decrease in selection of extrinsic values, and a 5% decrease in selection of prestige values.
The pattern of gender differences in math and verbal ability may result in females having a wider choice of careers, in both science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM fields, compared with males. The current study tested whether individuals with high math and high verbal ability in 12th grade were more or less likely to choose STEM occupations than those with high math and moderate verbal ability. The 1,490 subjects participated in two waves of a national longitudinal study; one wave was when the subjects were in 12th grade, and the other was when they were 33 years old. Results revealed that mathematically capable individuals who also had high verbal skills were less likely to pursue STEM careers than were individuals who had high math skills but moderate verbal skills. One notable finding was that the group with high math and high verbal ability included more females than males.
Feeling like one exerts more effort than others may influence women's feelings of belonging with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and impede their motivation. In Study 1, women STEM graduate students perceived they exerted more effort than peers to succeed. For women, but not men, this effort expenditure perception predicted a decreased sense of belonging, which in turn decreased motivation. Study 2 tested whether the male-dominated status of a field triggers such effort expectations. We created a fictional "eco-psychology" graduate program, which when depicted as male-dominated resulted in women expecting to exert relatively more effort and decreased their interest in pursuing the field. Study 3 found emphasizing effort as expected (and normal) to achieve success elevated women's feelings of belonging and future motivation. Results suggest effort expenditure perceptions are an indicator women use to assess their fit in STEM. Implications for enhancing women's participation in STEM are discussed.
This study integrates ability, goal setting, self-efficacy, and multiple personality traits into a common framework that explains and predicts individual performance. A mediational model was tested using LISREL 8. Ability, learning goal orientation, and locus of control were positively related to self-efficacy, whereas performance goal orientation was negatively related to self-efficacy on an academic task. Self-efficacy and need for achievement were positively related to goal level, which was positively related to performance in combination with ability and self-efficacy. In addition to showing that personality traits can influence the motivational process at various stages, the results highlight the unique contributions of self-efficacy and goal level to the motivational process after the effects of ability and other individual differences have been identified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Competence-based stereotypes can negatively affect women's performance in math and science (referred to as
stereotype threat), presumably leading to lower motivation. The authors examined the effects of stereotype threat on interest, a motivational path not necessarily mediated by performance. They predicted that working on a computer science task in the context of math-gender stereotypes would negatively affect undergraduate women's task interest, particularly for those higher in achievement motivation who were hypothesized to hold performance-avoidance goals in response to the threat. Compared with when the stereotype was nullified, while under stereotype threat an assigned performance-avoidance (vs. -approach) goal was associated with lower interest for women higher in achievement motivation (Study 1), and women higher (vs. lower) in achievement motivation were more likely to spontaneously adopt performance-avoidance goals (Study 2). The motivational influence of performance-avoidance goals under stereotype threat was primarily mediated by task absorption (Study 3). Implications for the stereotyped task engagement process (Smith, 2004) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The research presented in this article integrates 3 theoretical perspectives in the field of motivation: expectancy-value, achievement goals, and interest. The authors examined the antecedents (initial interest, achievement goals) and consequences (interest, performance) of task value judgments in 2 learning contexts: a college classroom and a high school sports camp. The pattern of findings was consistent across both learning contexts. Initial interest and mastery goals predicted subsequent interest, and task values mediated these relationships. Performance-approach goals and utility value predicted actual performance as indexed by final course grade (classroom) and coach ratings of performance (sports camp). Implications for theories of motivation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Individual interest was examined as a moderator of effects of situational factors designed to catch and hold task interest. In Study 1, 96 college students learned a math technique with materials enhanced with collative features (catch) versus not. Catch promoted motivation among participants with low individual interest in math (IIM) but hampered motivation among those with high IIM. In Study 2 (n = 145), catch was crossed with a hold manipulation, emphasizing utility. Effects of each manipulation depended on IIM. The catch results were similar to those in Study 1. Hold promoted motivation among participants with high IIM and undermined it among participants with low IIM. Discussion centers on the intersection of individual and situational interest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the effects of rewards for pinball competence on subsequent interest in the game in 3 studies with 219 Ss in which 3 components of performance-contingent reward structures—an evaluative contingency established before playing, performance feedback, and the receipt of a reward—were identified. The symbolic cue value of the reward may affect interest independently of evaluation and competence feedback. To isolate its effect, groups receiving a performance-contingent reward were compared with groups that experienced the same evaluative contingency and feedback and with feedback-only controls (Studies 1 and 3). Results show that evaluation reduced intrinsic motivation, compared with controls, whereas reward enhanced intrinsic motivation relative to evaluation. In Study 2, groups receiving rewards for attaining competence but differing in whether the evaluation was anticipated before playing were compared. Results indicate that unexpected performance-contingent rewards enhanced interest, compared with expected rewards. Findings suggest that the 3 reward properties have separate effects on intrinsic motivation. Anticipation of evaluation was responsible for negative reward effects, whereas competence feedback and due value had independent positive effects (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Attempted to tackle a hurdle that continues to plague the research on interest: the lack of an adequate theoretical model. In particular, the tenability of a hypothetical construct of interest as it applies to the secondary mathematics classroom was proposed and empirically assessed. Building on previous theoretical work, the study used qualitative and quantitative methodologies to first develop a model and then assess its construct validity. The results indicate that it is useful to distinguish between personal and situational interest. Furthermore, the results indicate that the structure of situational interest is multifaceted, clarifying 5 subfacets of situational interest in the high school mathematics classroom. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The construct of interpersonal orientation (IO) is proposed as useful for understanding behavior in certain social situations. High IOs are interested in and reactive to other people; low IOs are less interested and responsive to others and more concerned with economic features of relationships. A self-report measure of IO was constructed; questionnaire and interview data generally supported the hypothesized parameters of the construct, with females scoring higher than males and high scorers (regardless of sex) indicating greater interest in and responsiveness to interpersonal features of their environments. Two experiments were conducted to assess the utility of IO in social situations. In Exp I (82 Ss), a factorial combination of sex and IO eliminated a previously demonstrated sex difference in favor of an IO difference: High IOs expressed greater liking than did low IOs for a partner who had self-disclosed to them. In Exp II (56 Ss), males and low IOs whose performance was either superior or inferior to a partner allocated rewards in accordance with equity theory; females and high IOs seemed more concerned with equality than with equity. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The pipeline toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) begins to leak in high school, when some students choose not to take advanced mathematics and science courses. We conducted a field experiment testing whether a theory-based intervention that was designed to help parents convey the importance of mathematics and science courses to their high school-aged children would lead them to take more mathematics and science courses in high school. The three-part intervention consisted of two brochures mailed to parents and a Web site, all highlighting the usefulness of STEM courses. This relatively simple intervention led students whose parents were in the experimental group to take, on average, nearly one semester more of science and mathematics in the last 2 years of high school, compared with the control group. Parents are an untapped resource for increasing STEM motivation in adolescents, and the results demonstrate that motivational theory can be applied to this important pipeline problem.
Mismatch between college students' work goals and perceived goal affordances of physical/mathematical science careers may help explain gender differences in interest and career choice. In Study 1, the desire for interesting work was cited by most students in the sample (89% White, 6% Asian, 5% other). Compared to men, women reported interpersonal work goals more and high pay and status work goals less frequently. In Study 2, students (79% White, 12% Latino, 5% Asian, 4% other, predominantly middle class) perceived physical/mathematical science careers as less likely to afford interpersonal goals and more likely to afford high pay and status goals compared to other careers. Interpersonal goal affordances predicted greater interestingness for all careers, whereas high pay and status goal affordances predicted greater interestingness only for physical/mathematical sciences. Interestingness positively predicted likelihood of career choice.
The goal congruity perspective suggests that students may not enter engineering, in part, because they believe engineering is unlikely to fulfill communal, other-oriented goals. Increasing beliefs that engineering fulfills communal goals can increase engineering interest. We examine how actual and expected communal experiences in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) shape engineering interest. Study 1 demonstrates that past communal STEM experiences predict greater beliefs that engineering fulfills communal goals and positive engineering attitudes. Using experimental methods, studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that including a service-learning project in an engineering course description increases beliefs that the course fulfills communal goals and course interest. These findings suggest that communal STEM experiences, and service learning in particular, can increase interest and participation in engineering.
Citizens complete a survey the day before a major election; a change in the survey items' grammatical structure increases turnout by 11 percentage points. People answer a single question; their romantic relationships improve over several weeks. At-risk students complete a 1-hour reading-and-writing exercise; their grades rise and their health improves for the next 3 years. Each statement may sound outlandishmore science fiction than science. Yet each represents the results of a recent study in psychological science (respectively, Bryan, Walton, Rogers, & Dweck, 2011; Marigold, Holmes, & Ross, 2007, 2010; Walton & Cohen, 2011). These studies have shown, more than one might have thought, that specific psychological processes contribute to major social problems. These processes act as levers in complex systems that give rise to social problems. Precise interventions that alter themwhat I call wise interventionscan produce significant benefits and do so over time. What are wise interventions? How do they work? And how can they help solve social problems?
Despite advances within a wide range of professional roles, women remain a minority in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees and occupations. The gender gap in mathematics and science performance has converged, and so it is important to consider the motivational reasons that might underlie the differential STEM pursuits of women and men. The goal congruity perspective contends that a fundamental cause of gender gaps in STEM pursuits is the gender difference in communal motivation (i.e., an orientation toward others). STEM fields may be particularly likely to deter communally oriented individuals because these fields are thought to impede goals of directly benefitting others, altruism, or collaboration. In this review, we examine how the communal goal perspective might address the challenges of gender gaps in STEM pursuits from childhood through adulthood. We review the logic and evidence for the goal congruity perspective, and we examine two other deterrents to women in STEM—work-family challenges and stereotyping—from the perspective of this framework. We then examine particular recommendations for policy actions that might broaden participation of women and girls, and communally oriented people generally, in STEM.
(Ed.), The following values have no corresponding Zotero field:
ID - 534
In this wonderful new volume, Geneva Gay makes a convincing case for using culturally responsive teaching to improve the school performance of underachieving students of color. Key components of culturally responsive teaching discussed include teacher caring, teacher attitudes and expectations, formal and informal multicultural curriculum, culturally informed classroom discourse, and cultural congruity in teaching and learning strategies. This is an excellent resource for anyone who cares about improving and recognizing the factors that shape culturally responsive teaching and learning.
Our exploration of communal goal processes in decisions about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers integrates research on goal pursuit processes with research on stereotyping and on social role occupancy. Social roles encompass expectations and resources that can originate from group membership in broad social categories, such as gender, ethnicity, or nationality, or from more narrowly focused occupational and family roles. Our review elaborates on three ways in which social roles intersect with goal pursuit processes, with particular attention to how communal goals influence STEM pursuits. First, social roles influence goal selection or what goals are prioritized generally and at a particular time. Second, beliefs about social roles can influence the kinds of roles that people shy away from or seek out. Third, occupying a particular social role can actually facilitate or impede goal progress. With regard to STEM pursuits, we demonstrate that communal goals are valued both generally by people and especially by women, and that consensual stereotypes describe STEM fields as less likely to afford communal goals than other occupational roles. However, emphasizing the communal aspects of STEM fields elicits greater positivity toward these roles. Finally, we explore the ways in which STEM occupational roles are or might be enacted in communally-oriented ways. The goal congruity perspective thus can offer a unifying framework to integrate an understanding of the social structure – that is, roles and contexts – with the social cognition of the individual – that is, critical motivational and cognitive processes.
African American college students tend to obtain lower grades than their White counterparts, even when they enter college with equivalent test scores. Past research suggests that negative stereotypes impugning Black students' intellectual abilities play a role in this underperformance. Awareness of these stereotypes can psychologically threaten African Americans, a phenomenon known as “stereotype threat” (Steele & Aronson, 1995), which can in turn provoke responses that impair both academic performance and psychological engagement with academics. An experiment was performed to test a method of helping students resist these responses to stereotype threat. Specifically, students in the experimental condition of the experiment were encouraged to see intelligence—the object of the stereotype—as a malleable rather than fixed capacity. This mind-set was predicted to make students' performances less vulnerable to stereotype threat and help them maintain their psychological engagement with academics, both of which could help boost their college grades. Results were consistent with predictions. The African American students (and, to some degree, the White students) encouraged to view intelligence as malleable reported greater enjoyment of the academic process, greater academic engagement, and obtained higher grade point averages than their counterparts in two control groups.
American policy makers, educators, and others are concerned that predicted workforce shortages in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields will have a catastrophic impact on the economy. This article takes a realistic look at the “STEM problem,” identifying how community colleges can be a part of the solution. We provide evidence that shortages in STEM workers vary by geographic locale. Furthermore, STEM achievement is not consistent across ethnic groups or between men and women. These gaps may be due to unequal access to STEM degree programs and the shortage of quality STEM teachers.
Two studies explored how and when people abandon commitment to threatened possible selves. First, we predicted that self-doubt, anxiety, and expectancy changes will mediate the effect of threats on possible selves. Specifcally, the rising anxiety evoked by threats transforms initial doubt into the ultimate fall of expectancies supporting commitment to possible selves. Second, we predicted that this general process of downward self-revision would be more likely to occur when threats fully specify the meaning, or implications, of an undesired discrepancy (i. e., into the vivid prospect of an alternative undesired self as more likely than the desired self if the person continues to pursue the desired self). results across both studies support the hypotheses. We close by discussing the conceptual and practical implications of the findings.
Who am I? What am I about? What is my place in my social group? What is important to me? What do I value? What do I want to do with my life? These are all questions related to what psychologists call identity. Many theorists have argued that we are driven to answer these questions, particularly during adolescence. In this article, I summarize an expectancy value perspective on identity and identity formation. Within this framework, identity can be conceptualized in terms of two basic sets of self perceptions: (a) perceptions related to skills, characteristics, and competencies, and (b) perceptions related to personal values and goals. Together these two sets of self perceptions inform both individuals' expectations for success and the importance they attach to becoming involved in a wide range of tasks. Within this perspective, then, I focus on the role personal and collective identities can play on motivated action through their influence on expectations for success and subjective task values. I also discuss briefly how personality and collective identities develop over time.
Two studies examined the roles of altruistic values, egalitarianism, self-efficacy, and perceptions of utility in shaping children's interest in scientific fields. In Study 1, middle school girls attending an intervention program (n=617) heard presentations by female scientists (expected to increase egalitarianism), engaged in hands-on science activities (expected to increase self-efficacy), and received information about scientific careers (expected to increase utility value). In addition, girls heard presentations that either (a) emphasized the altruistic value of scientific careers, or (b) made no specific references to altruism. Comparison girls (n=105) and boys (n=69) attended the same middle schools as intervention attendees, but did not attend the intervention program. Results from Study 1 indicated that girls who believed more strongly in the altruistic value of scientific careers scored higher on the self-efficacy and utility measures than their peers. Further, belief in the altruistic value of science predicted interest in science. Study 2 replicated these findings using a pre- and posttest design.
Two studies examined how the social context may contribute to interest in performing an achievement task. Based on Sansone and Harackiewicz' (1996) model, we predicted that individuals high in interpersonal orientation would be more likely to approach achievement tasks with interpersonal goals. They would be in greater match with the activity when performance takes place in a social context and as a result have greater interest in the activity than when working alone. The first study used Deci and Ryan's (1985b) motivational orientation scale to assess characteristic differences in how individuals who differed in interpersonal orientation would approach problem-solving that involved another person. In Study 2, individuals who differed in interpersonal orientation performed an achievement task in one of three contexts: alone, alongside another person (a confederate) but with independent achievement goals, or with another person (a confederate) with a common achievement goal. Results suggested that individuals high in interpersonal orientation found the activity more interesting and were more likely to engage in similar activities in the future when they worked on the task in the presence of the confederate, with no differences between the two confederate-present conditions. They were also more likely to approach the activity with a tendency to include the other person in the process (both on- and off-task), and their interest was positively predicted by the other person's behaviors. Individuals low in interpersonal orientation had a more mixed set of results. Implications for theoretical models of intrinsic motivation as well as gender applications are discussed.
