Sense of Belonging and Women's Representation in Mathematics
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Journal of Personality and Social Psychology © 2012 American Psychological Association 2012, Vol. 102, No. 4, 700–717 0022-3514/12/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0026659 Why Do Women Opt Out? Sense of Belonging and Women’s Representation in Mathematics Catherine Good Aneeta Rattan and Carol S. Dweck Baruch College, City University of New York Stanford University Sense of belonging to math—one’s feelings of membership and acceptance in the math domain—was established as a new and an important factor in the representation gap between males and females in math. First, a new scale of sense of belonging to math was created and validated, and was found to predict unique variance in college students’ intent to pursue math in the future (Studies 1–2). Second, in a longitudinal study of calculus students (Study 3), students’ perceptions of 2 factors in their math environment—the message that math ability is a fixed trait and the stereotype that women have less of this ability than men—worked together to erode women’s, but not men’s, sense of belonging in math. Their lowered sense of belonging, in turn, mediated women’s desire to pursue math in the future and their math grades. Interestingly, the message that math ability could be acquired protected women from negative stereotypes, allowing them to maintain a high sense of belonging in math and the intention to pursue math in the future. Keywords: stereotype threat, sense of belonging, math achievement, sex differences Not long ago, it was proposed that Title IX, the law prohibiting can predict their desire to pursue math in the future. However, sexual discrimination in education, should expand its reach beyond different forces may be at work to affect men’s and women’s sense sports to science (Tierney, 2008). This would involve withholding of belonging in math. Therefore, we also tested the hypotheses that federal monies from academic departments with relatively few two messages students may hear in their math environments (the female scientists on the faculty as a means of increasing gender message that math ability is a fixed trait and the stereotype that parity. Critics of the proposal launched an effective counterargu- women have less of this ability than men) may be critical factors ment. They claimed that gender gaps exist, not because of dis- that work together to erode women’s, but not men’s, sense that crimination, but rather because of women’s lack of desire to pursue they belong in math and, hence, their desire to pursue math in the math-based disciplines, such as physics or engineering. This po- future. sition portrays women’s versus men’s desire to pursue certain This issue is important because although the percentage of subjects as an inherent part of their natures that lead inevitably to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) de- gender disparities in representation. However, there is much evi- grees going to women has increased substantially over the past dence within psychology to suggest that the desire to pursue a decade, there is still a sizable gender gap in certain disciplines given course of study can be highly unstable and can be greatly (National Science Foundation, 2006). For example, in 2003 influenced by environmental factors. Thus the question remains: women earned only 24% of doctoral degrees in mathematics and Why might females be less willing to pursue math-based disci- 17% of doctoral degrees in engineering (National Science Foun- plines? dation, 2006). In addition, White men overwhelmingly dominated The purpose of the present research was, first, to test the the professoriate in these fields where, for example, less than 10% hypothesis that both men’s and women’s feelings of membership of the math faculty was female in 2000. and acceptance in the math domain—their sense of belonging— In the present study, we examine students at an elite university who are a very high-achieving group in math. These are the very men and women whom one would expect to be represented at the This article was published Online First January 30, 2012. higher levels of mathematics study and of the mathematics-based Catherine Good, Department of Psychology, Baruch College, City Uni- professions. versity of New York; Aneeta Rattan and Carol S. Dweck, Department of Psychology, Stanford University. Sense of Belonging to an Academic Domain This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant 0813817, awarded to Catherine Good and Carol S. Dweck. Portions of this As we have suggested, a key factor driving students’ intent to research were presented at the National Bureau of Economic Research pursue math should be their personal sense that they belong in conference Diversifying the Science & Engineering Work Force in January mathematics. Sense of belonging to an academic domain likely 2005 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We thank Steven Stroessner for his valuable comments on a previous draft. contains various components, but at its heart it reflects the feeling Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Catherine that one fits in, belongs to, or is a member of the academic Good, Baruch College, CUNY, Vertical Campus Room 8-215, One Ber- community in question. In addition to viewing oneself as being nard Baruch Way, New York, NY 10010. E-mail: Catherine.Good@ inside a discipline rather than on the fringes of it, sense of belong- baruch.cuny.edu ing may also entail a sense of being valued and accepted by fellow 700 SENSE OF BELONGING 701 members of the discipline. Thus, sense of belonging, as we con- women at the upper level of mathematics ability (Summers, 2005). ceptualize it, involves one’s personal belief that one is an accepted As over a decade of research has shown, ability-impugning ste- member of an academic community whose presence and contri- reotypes such as these can trigger psychological processes that can butions are valued. undermine the performance of stereotyped individuals, including When sense of belonging is reduced, individuals may opt out of females in math (Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2006; Good, Aronson, & the domain—even when achievement remains high—to pursue Harder, 2008; Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999; Steele & Aronson, studies and professional goals within a different discipline that 1995), especially on high-stakes tests like the SAT (Danaher & better enables this sense of belonging to take root. Although Crandall, 2008). women’s assumed lack of desire to pursue math may serve as a Negative stereotypes, however, may have the power to disrupt readily available explanation for their departure from the field, it is more than performance; they may also carry a strong message that possible that a lack of desire to remain in math may stem from a certain groups are less valued or accepted. That is, the gender lowered sense of belonging rather than from a natural disinclina- stereotype in math, when made salient, may lead women in par- tion on the part of women. ticular to feel less like accepted members of the math community and thus to have a lower “sense of belonging” to math. Conse- The Importance of Sense of Belonging quently, negative stereotypes may, in fact, influence women’s representation in the math pipeline by means other than underper- As Baumeister and Leary (1995) argued, the need to belong— formance on high-stakes tests. the need to form interpersonal attachments—is a fundamental Although traditional stereotype threat theory primarily accounts human motive (Pickett, Gardner, & Knowles, 2004; Twenge, for underperformance, sense of belonging to math may account for Baumeister, Tice, & Stucke, 2001). Though this past research underparticipation above and beyond what deficits in performance highlights the importance of the need to belong, it leaves important on standardized tests can explain. It is not hard to imagine that questions unanswered. First, past research has largely focused on stereotyped individuals may be less interested in and willing to the implications of belongingness needs in social situations (e.g., pursue a domain of study in which their sense of belonging has Pickett et al., 2004) or one’s social connections in an achievement been undermined, despite their high achievement. Past work has situation (Walton & Cohen, 2007), but leaves unanswered how an discussed the theoretical importance of feeling a sense of belong- “academic” sense of belonging may operate to affect motivation ing to a domain (Steele, 1997) and has begun to examine the ways and achievement. Second, past research addresses the conse- in which cues in the environment (such as the numerical repre- quences of the general need to belong, but not the consequences of sentation of men vs. women) can make stereotypes salient, thereby an individual’s sense of belonging in a specific area. Certainly, lowering both trust within that context (Purdie-Vaughns, Steele, individuals differ in the extent to which their fundamental need to Davies, Ditlmann, & Crosby, 2008) and ambient sense of belong- belong is met through familial relationships, friendships, social ing for members of negatively stereotyped groups (e.g., Cheryan, memberships, and the like. Nevertheless, these general belonging- Plaut, Davies, & Steele, 2009; Murphy, Steele, & Gross, 2007). ness needs may have little to do with one’s sense of belonging to However, research has yet to examine the longer term effects of a particular academic domain: Individuals both high and low in belonging-relevant cues outside of a laboratory environment. general belongingness needs may be equally vulnerable to the potential negative consequences of a low sense of belonging to an Theories of Intelligence and Sense of Belonging academic domain, especially when viable alternatives may lay at the ready. Thus, the purpose of this research was to study sense of Females who, despite the stereotype, find themselves in math- belonging to an academic domain to better understand factors that related disciplines must now face the “culture of talent” pervading might contribute to the representation gaps that exist between the these fields, a culture that may also undermine their sense of sexes and, perhaps by extension, among various ethnic or racial belonging.