National differences in gender-science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement.
About 70% of more than half a million Implicit Association Tests completed by citizens of 34 countries revealed expected implicit stereotypes associating science with males more than with females. We discovered that nation-level implicit stereotypes predicted nation-level sex differences in 8th-grade science and mathematics achievement. Self-reported stereotypes did not provide additional predictive validity of the achievement gap. We suggest that implicit stereotypes and sex differences in science participation and performance are mutually reinforcing, contributing to the persistent gender gap in science engagement.
Nosek
Brian A
BA
Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400, USA. nosek@virginia.edu.
Smyth
Frederick L
FL
Sriram
N
N
Lindner
Nicole M
NM
Devos
Thierry
T
Ayala
Alfonso
A
Bar-Anan
Yoav
Y
Bergh
Robin
R
Cai
Huajian
H
Gonsalkorale
Karen
K
Kesebir
Selin
S
Maliszewski
Norbert
N
Neto
Félix
F
Olli
Eero
E
Park
Jaihyun
J
Schnabel
Konrad
K
Shiomura
Kimihiro
K
Tulbure
Bogdan Tudor
BT
Wiers
Reinout W
RW
Somogyi
Mónika
M
Akrami
Nazar
N
Ekehammar
Bo
B
Vianello
Michelangelo
M
Banaji
Mahzarin R
MR
Greenwald
Anthony G
AG
D000124:Achievement; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012586:Science; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D013240:Stereotyping