Understanding the “sex gap”
in science and math
Study focuses on relationship between implicit stereotypes and academic achievement
BY GARY BOAS
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
The assumption that boys are natu- rally drawn to – and inherently skilled at – math and science while
girls are predisposed to the more liberal
arts is deeply embedded in our culture.
And it is continually reinforced and perpetuated by observations that boys do in
fact do better in these areas.
There is evidence, however, that this so-called “sex gap” is shaped by sociocultural
factors. A recent report found, for example, that differences in math performance
have been declining over time. Another revealed correlations between the size of the
gap and national indicators of gender egalitarianism. If aptitude for math and science were somehow intrinsic to boys and
not to girls, we probably would not see
such variability across time and place.
Brian A. Nosek, an associate professor
of psychology at the University of Virginia
in Charlottesville, and colleagues decided
to explore the influence of sociocultural
factors, looking specifically at the role of
implicit, or unconscious, stereotypes about
gender and science. “Stereotypes have
often been implicated in contributing to
the sex gap, but the evidence for self-re-ported stereotypes predicting such outcomes is mixed. We thought that implicit
stereotype measures might be more effective predictors because they do not require
self-awareness of possessing them, and
they can exist in people’s minds even if
they are consciously rejected,” he explained.
Nosek serves as director of Project Implicit, which seeks to uncover the differences between conscious and unconscious
attitudes through administration of Implicit Association Tests (IATs). Visitors to
the Project Implicit Web site (http://im-
plicit.harvard.edu/) can complete tests
covering a range of topics: measuring association strengths, for example, between
gender (male, female) and academics (sci-
ence, liberal arts). Those who participated
in the gender-science component completed the test, a short questionnaire that
measured beliefs and attitudes, and math
and science and demographics questionnaires.
For a study published in the June 30
issue of PNAS, Nosek and a number of
colleagues from across the globe looked at
IAT data collected between May 2000 and
July 2008. More than half a million IATs
were completed during this time. The researchers focused specifically on the
nearly 300,000 tests completed by citizens
of the 34 countries covered by the 2003
Trends in International Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS). This facilitated
comparison with the results of that study,
in which standardized exams of math and
science achievement were administered to
samples of eighth-graders.
They reported three main findings: (1)
The implicit association tests confirmed
the existence of implicit stereotypes associating males with science much more so
than females. (2) The investigators found
that nation-level implicit stereotypes predict nation-level sex differences in
achievement in eighth-grade science and
math. And finally, ( 3) they noted that self-reported (that is, conscious) stereotypes do
not predict differences in achievement.
So what does this tell us? First, on some
unconscious level, many people still assume that males have greater aptitude for
math and science than females – even if
they have convinced themselves that they
believe otherwise. The PNAS study shows
that more than 70 percent of the 500,000+
IAT respondents were more apt to associate males with science and females with
liberal arts than the reverse. That said, the
extent to which people make such assumptions varies considerably, both across individuals and across cultures.
Which brings us to the second take-home lesson: There is a strong correlation
between how well people think males and
females will do in math and science and
how well they actually do, as recorded by
the TIMSS. Nosek and colleagues avoid
the obvious and unanswerable chicken-and-egg question here, but they note that
implicit gender stereotypes and sex gaps
are mutually reinforcing. Because they are
exposed to the stereotypes pretty much
from birth, girls often show less interest
than boys in science and math, and as a result they may not perform as well in these
areas. This serves to reinforce the belief
that boys are more inherently skilled in
math and science. And so on.
While governments around the world
are working to close the sex gap in science
and math, it is not yet clear which interventions have been the most or the least
effective. Researchers and policy makers
will want to know, however. “Those questions are highly important and surely
among the next issues to investigate in this
research,” Nosek said.
