Examining the effectiveness of brief interventions to strengthen a positive implicit relation between women and STEM across two timepoints

The current study assessed the impact of three brief interventions aimed at influencing implicit gender bias in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. The reduction of this bias is a key consideration as it remains a major barrier to gender equality in STEM. The interventions (psyc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social psychology of education 2020-10, Vol.23 (5), p.1203-1231
Main Authors: Farrell, Lynn, Nearchou, Finiki, McHugh, Louise
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Barriers
Bias
Control Groups
Education
Educational psychology
Females
Gender Bias
Gender equality
Gender equity
Intervention
Personality and Social Psychology
Perspective Taking
Program Effectiveness
Psychoeducational Methods
Rating Scales
Sex discrimination
Sex Stereotypes
Social Justice
Sociology of Education
STEM Education
Women
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Summary:The current study assessed the impact of three brief interventions aimed at influencing implicit gender bias in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. The reduction of this bias is a key consideration as it remains a major barrier to gender equality in STEM. The interventions (psychoeducation, exposure to positive counter-stereotypical exemplars and perspective-taking) were compared to a control group at two timepoints. Gender-STEM bias was assessed at the implicit level (via the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure; IRAP) and the explicit level (via rating scales). Two hundred and ten adults (58.1% women) completed one of the four study conditions. Results indicated that implicit gender-STEM bias is malleable, at least in the short term. At Time 1, intervention groups showed higher levels of implicit pro-Women-STEM bias and lower levels of pro-Men-STEM bias than the Control group. Psychoeducation appeared most effective, followed by exposure to positive counter-stereotypical exemplars. Results from Time 2 presented a more complex picture of implicit bias change, as the control group exhibited an increased pro-Women-STEM bias that was unexpected. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to refining the interventions, the malleability of gender-STEM bias and the measurement of implicit bias across contexts.
ISSN:1381-2890
1573-1928
DOI:10.1007/s11218-020-09576-w