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Ambient Belonging: How Stereotypical Cues Impact Gender Participation in Computer Science

Authors:
Sapna Cheryan at Washington State University
Sapna Cheryan
Victoria C. Plaut
Victoria C. Plaut
Victoria C. Plaut
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Paul G. Davies
Paul G. Davies
Paul G. Davies
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
Claude M Steele at Stanford University
Claude M Steele
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Abstract and Figures

People can make decisions to join a group based solely on exposure to that group's physical environment. Four studies demonstrate that the gender difference in interest in computer science is influenced by exposure to environments associated with computer scientists. In Study 1, simply changing the objects in a computer science classroom from those considered stereotypical of computer science (e.g., Star Trek poster, video games) to objects not considered stereotypical of computer science (e.g., nature poster, phone books) was sufficient to boost female undergraduates' interest in computer science to the level of their male peers. Further investigation revealed that the stereotypical broadcast a masculine stereotype that discouraged women's sense of ambient belonging and subsequent interest in the environment (Studies 2, 3, and 4) but had no similar effect on men (Studies 3, 4). This masculine stereotype prevented women's interest from developing even in environments entirely populated by other women (Study 2). Objects can thus come to broadcast stereotypes of a group, which in turn can deter people who do not identify with these stereotypes from joining that group.
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... Holding these stereotypes has repeatedly been shown to be harmful to the development of STEM identity, belonging, interest, and self-efficacy for students in groups that are stereotyped to be "bad at STEM" (Cundiff et al., 2013;Starr, 2018;Lytle and Shin, 2020;Luo et al., 2021;Nguyen and Riegle-Crumb, 2021). That can contribute to deterioration of student interest and feelings of belonging in STEM (Seymour and Hewitt, 1997;Cheryan et al., 2009;PCAST, 2012;Master et al., 2016). Research on identity and belonging has identified that these feelings of not belonging in STEM are particularly widespread among students from minoritized backgrounds (Cheryan et al., 2009;PCAST, 2012). ...
... That can contribute to deterioration of student interest and feelings of belonging in STEM (Seymour and Hewitt, 1997;Cheryan et al., 2009;PCAST, 2012;Master et al., 2016). Research on identity and belonging has identified that these feelings of not belonging in STEM are particularly widespread among students from minoritized backgrounds (Cheryan et al., 2009;PCAST, 2012). In contrast, in multicultural STEM education, instructors can provide examples of counterstereotypical individuals in STEM (Casto, 2022), which can shift student perceptions of what type of people do science and promote greater willingness to pursue STEM fields (Oyserman et al., 2002;Cheryan et al., 2013). ...
... Different studies highlighted different scientists and aspects of their stories and were conducted in very different institutions and in classes with different demographic mixes taught by different educators. Given how sensitive the development of science identity and belonging is to even subtle cues (Cheryan et al., 2009), it is not surprising to see different results in different classrooms. However, according to the framework of mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors, it makes sense that students from many different backgrounds are able to gain some value from these diverse stories, but not all students feel the same impacts. ...
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... Ambient belonging is built on the idea that the objects in an environment act as ambient identity cues that send messages about who does and who does not belong in that environment (Cheryan, Plaut, Davies, & Steele, 2009). The original studies on ambient belonging found that women had lower interest in taking a computer science course than men after being exposed to classrooms containing stereotypical objects, and higher interest than men after being exposed to nonstereotypical classrooms (Cheryan et al., 2009). ...
... Ambient belonging is built on the idea that the objects in an environment act as ambient identity cues that send messages about who does and who does not belong in that environment (Cheryan, Plaut, Davies, & Steele, 2009). The original studies on ambient belonging found that women had lower interest in taking a computer science course than men after being exposed to classrooms containing stereotypical objects, and higher interest than men after being exposed to nonstereotypical classrooms (Cheryan et al., 2009). The same effect has been found in virtual classrooms (Cheryan, Meltzoff, & Kim, 2011) and when viewing photographs and reading descriptions of classrooms (Master, Cheryan, & Meltzoff, 2016). ...
... Four questions were asked about the students' sense of belonging in each course based on previously validated measures (Cheryan et al., 2009). Each set of four questions was averaged to create a single measure for sense of belonging in the Flora course and sense of belonging in the Metro course. ...
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Conference Paper
Full-text available
  • Jan 2020
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... Students also described stereotypical exposure to scientists arising from the media. This supports research that provides evidence of portrayals of scientists across websites and classroom decorations/visual icons that diminished the interest of women and individuals from diverse racial backgrounds in STEM disciplines (Cheryan et al., 2009(Cheryan et al., , 2013Steinke et al., 2009). Across several studies conducted by colleagues (2009, 2013), researchers found that undergraduate women students were more interested in computer science when media articles and classroom decorations highlighted nonstereotypical computer scientists (Women of Color, etc.). ...
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... Public opinion remains popular that working in engineering/technical industries is not a woman's business. There are several well-known expressions, such as "women lack ability in spatial thinking" and "female logic," which represent stereotypes about the impossibility of the entire presence of women in STEM (Alfrey & Twine, 2017;Beasley & Fischer, 2012;Cheryan et al., 2009;Leslie et al., 2015). Stereotypes play a role in forming self-esteem and developing an interest in STEM when choosing a field of education (Casad et al., 2019). ...
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