Equal opportunities
Targeted identity-safety interventions cause lasting reductions in discipline citations among negatively stereotyped boys
Parker Goyer et al.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
High rates of discipline citations predict adverse life outcomes, a harm disproportionately borne by Black and Latino boys. We hypothesized that these citations arise in part from negative cycles of interaction between students and teachers, which unfold in contexts of social stereotypes. Can targeted interventions to facilitate identity safety -- a sense of belonging, inclusion, and growth -- for students help? Experiment 1 combined social-belonging, values-affirmation, and growth-mindset interventions delivered in several class sessions in 2 middle schools with a large Latino population (N = 669). This treatment reduced citations among negatively stereotyped boys in 7th and 8th grades by 57% as compared with a randomized control condition, 95% CI [−77%, −20%]. A growth-mindset only treatment was also effective (70% reduction, 95% CI [−84%, −43%]). Experiment 2 tested the social-belonging intervention alone, a grade earlier, at a third school with a large Black population and more overall citations (N = 137 sixth-grade students). In 2 class sessions, students reflected on stories from previous 7th-grade students, which represented worries about belonging and relationships with teachers early in middle school as normal and as improving with time. This exercise reduced citations among Black boys through the end of high school by 65%, 95% CI [−85%, −15%], closing the disparity with White boys over 7 years by 75%. Suggesting improved interactions with teachers, longitudinal analyses found that the intervention prevented rises in citations involving subjective judgments (e.g., “insubordination”) within 6th and 7th grades. It also forestalled the emergence of worries about being seen stereotypically by the end of 7th grade. Identity threat can give rise to cycles of interaction that are maladaptive for both teachers and students in school; targeted exercises can interrupt these cycles to improve disciplinary outcomes over years.
Racial disparities in school-based disciplinary actions are associated with county-level rates of racial bias
Travis Riddle & Stacey Sinclair
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
There are substantial gaps in educational outcomes between black and white students in the United States. Recently, increased attention has focused on differences in the rates at which black and white students are disciplined, finding that black students are more likely to be seen as problematic and more likely to be punished than white students are for the same offense. Although these disparities suggest that racial biases are a contributor, no previous research has shown associations with psychological measurements of bias and disciplinary outcomes. We show that county-level estimates of racial bias, as measured using data from approximately 1.6 million visitors to the Project Implicit website, are associated with racial disciplinary disparities across approximately 96,000 schools in the United States, covering around 32 million white and black students. These associations do not extend to sexuality biases, showing the specificity of the effect. These findings suggest that acknowledging that racial biases and racial disparities in education go hand-in-hand may be an important step in resolving both of these social ills.
Gender Differences in Job Entry Decisions: A University-Wide Field Experiment
Anya Samek
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The gender difference in competitiveness has been cited as an important factor driving the gender gap in labor market outcomes. Using a field experiment with more than 35,000 university students, I explore the impact of compensation scheme on willingness to apply for a job. I find that competitive compensation schemes that depend on relative performance disproportionately deter women from applying. I do not find the same deterrence effect under a compensation scheme in which students face uncertain payoffs independent of performance. I also test the impact of describing the job as helping a charity, and this increases the willingness to apply but does not affect the gender gap. My findings are important for managers, who need to understand the impact of different compensation schemes on the share of women recruited for a job posting.
Gender, Learning, and Overconfidence: Why Females Create More Accurate Earnings Estimates
Vineet Bhagwat, Sara Shirley & Jeffrey Stark
George Washington University Working Paper, February 2019
Abstract:
We analyze the underlying source of gender differences in earnings estimates on a crowd-sourcing platform with low barriers to entry. This platform allows us to examine gender differences within earnings estimates among a sample of non-professional analysts in an effort to better understand the development of analyst ability. Estimates made by females are more accurate than those made by males. We eliminate explanations of more talented females joining the platform, an innate ability of females to process information, females utilizing more up-to-date information, superior stock selection among females, and survivorship bias. Rather, our evidence is consistent with females learning faster and males exhibiting greater overconfidence. Our findings provide new insight into the mechanisms behind the increase in accuracy documented among professional female analysts. Finally, we observe a positive market response when females provide more optimistic estimates.
Honorary Whites? Asian American Women and the Dominance Penalty
Justine Tinkler et al.
Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, April 2019
Abstract:
Women face a double bind in positions of leadership; they are expected to display authority in order to appear competent but are judged as socially deficient if they are perceived to be too dominant. This dominance penalty is well documented, but most studies examine reactions only to white women’s leadership displays. The authors use an experimental design to compare evaluations of hypothetical job promotion candidates who are all characterized as extremely accomplished but who differ on their race (Asian American or white American), gender (man or woman), and behavioral style (dominant or communal). Regardless of behavioral style, participants evaluate the white woman as having the worst interpersonal style and the Asian American woman as the least fit for leadership. These findings demonstrate the importance of accounting for intersectionality in documenting the effect of cultural stereotypes on workplace inequality.
The mixed effects of online diversity training
Edward Chang et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 April 2019, Pages 7778-7783
Abstract:
We present results from a large (n = 3,016) field experiment at a global organization testing whether a brief science-based online diversity training can change attitudes and behaviors toward women in the workplace. Our preregistered field experiment included an active placebo control and measured participants’ attitudes and real workplace decisions up to 20 weeks postintervention. Among groups whose average untreated attitudes — whereas still supportive of women — were relatively less supportive of women than other groups, our diversity training successfully produced attitude change but not behavior change. On the other hand, our diversity training successfully generated some behavior change among groups whose average untreated attitudes were already strongly supportive of women before training. This paper extends our knowledge about the pathways to attitude and behavior change in the context of bias reduction. However, the results suggest that the one-off diversity trainings that are commonplace in organizations are unlikely to be stand-alone solutions for promoting equality in the workplace, particularly given their limited efficacy among those groups whose behaviors policymakers are most eager to influence.
Growth messages increase help-seeking and performance for women in STEM
Rebecca Covarrubias, Giselle Laiduc & Ibette Valle
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, April 2019, Pages 434-451
Abstract:
Women leave STEM majors at higher rates than men. This may be due to problematic messaging in gateway courses such as (a) mismatches between students’ cultural norms and those of the learning context and (b) fixed ideas about ability as unchangeable. The current study investigated how culturally relevant growth messages impacted help-seeking behavior and grades in a gateway STEM course. Undergraduate students (168 men, 285 women) were randomly assigned to receive an email invitation to a peer-led tutoring program that included factual information (control), growth messages, or culture-matching growth messages emphasizing effort and interdependence. Tutoring sign-ups, number of sessions attended, and grades were collected. Path analyses showed no impact of messaging on men’s sign-ups. Yet, growth messages increased women’s sign-ups relative to the control, which led to more sessions attended and, subsequently, higher course grades. Unexpectedly, the culture-matching growth condition decreased sign-ups for women. Follow-up exploratory survey data on students from the course (161 men, 268 women) revealed that more women perceived peer interactions as competitive than men, which may shed light on the unexpected findings. Programs should implement growth messages to recruit more women and to improve collaboration in peer-learning settings.
When Making the Grade Isn’t Enough: The Gendered Nature of Premed Science Course Attrition
Eben Witherspoon, Paulette Vincent-Ruz & Christian Schunn
Educational Researcher, forthcoming
Abstract:
Women take qualifying exams and enter medical school at substantially lower levels than predicted by their interest in medical degrees at the end of high school. We examined how science course experiences contribute to gendered attrition in premed using a multicohort data set of 8,253 undergraduates taking the traditional premed sequence of introductory science courses at a public research university between 2008 and 2016. Gendered attrition was not based in academic performance, was specific to high-performing women, and yet was grounded in competency beliefs. The result is that high-performing women often graduate with lower paying, lower status degrees. Motivational interventions in premed science courses will be critical for retaining high-performing women in premed, an important outcome with implications for equity and women’s health.
Risk Preferences of Children and Adolescents in Relation to Gender, Cognitive Skills, Soft Skills, and Executive Functions
James Andreoni et al.
NBER Working Paper, April 2019
Abstract:
We conduct experiments eliciting risk preferences with over 1,400 children and adolescents aged 3-15 years old. We complement our data with an assessment of cognitive and executive function skills. First, we find that adolescent girls display significantly greater risk aversion than adolescent boys. This pattern is not observed among young children, suggesting that the gender gap in risk preferences emerges in early adolescence. Second, we find that at all ages in our study, cognitive skills (specifically math ability) are positively associated with risk taking. Executive functions among children, and soft skills among adolescents, are negatively associated with risk taking. Third, we find that greater risk-tolerance is associated with higher likelihood of disciplinary referrals, which provides evidence that our task is equipped to measure a relevant behavioral outcome. For academics, our research provides a deeper understanding of the developmental origins of risk preferences and highlights the important role of cognitive and executive function skills to better understand the association between risk preferences and cognitive abilities over the studied age range.
Does Gender Affect Work? Evidence from U.S. Patent Examination
Deepak Hegde & Manav Raj
NYU Working Paper, March 2019
Abstract:
We examine the effect of gender on work by leveraging the quasi-random assignment of patent applications to examiners within narrowly defined technological fields at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). We document that female examiners perform higher quality work: they scrutinize patent approvals and rejections more thoroughly, search prior art more diligently, and narrow down patent scope more. Women examiners are less likely to grant patents but the patents they grant are more valuable. Women spend more time scrutinizing each application, examine about five percent fewer applications per quarter, and under the USPTO’s incentive scheme that rewards examination volume are 4.3 percent less likely to be promoted than male examiners. Experienced female examiners and those in departments with more female peers express more strongly their distinct work preferences. Gender-based preferences influence worker effort and career advancement even in the plausible absence of gender discrimination.
The Effect of Economic Vulnerability on Protest Participation in the National Football League
David Niven
Social Science Quarterly, forthcoming
Methods: Protest participation during 2017 was determined for every NFL player, along with several variables pertaining to their performance, compensation, and the political atmosphere of their team.
Results: Bivariate and multivariate tests both reveal that protest participation was far greater among players with large guaranteed contracts and among players who were well regarded for their performance.
Who shines most among the brightest?: A 25-year longitudinal study of elite STEM graduate students
Kira McCabe, David Lubinski & Camilla Benbow
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In 1992, the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) surveyed 714 first- and second-year graduate students (48.5% female) attending U.S. universities ranked in the top-15 by science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field. This study investigated whether individual differences assessed early in their graduate school career were associated with becoming a STEM leader 25 years later (e.g., STEM full professors at research-intensive universities, STEM CEOs, and STEM leaders in government) versus not becoming a STEM leader. We also studied whether there were any important gender differences in relation to STEM leadership. For both men and women, small to medium effect size differences in interests, values, and personality distinguished STEM leaders from nonleaders. Lifestyle and work preferences also distinguished STEM leaders who were more exclusively career-focused and preferred to work — and did work — more hours than nonleaders. Also, there were small to large gender differences in abilities, interests, and lifestyle preferences. Men had more intense interests in STEM and were more career-focused. Women had more diverse educational and occupational interests, and they were more interested in activities outside of work. Early in graduate school, therefore, there are signs that predict who will become a STEM leader — even among elite STEM graduate students. Given the many ways in which STEM leadership can be achieved, the gender differences uncovered within this high-potential sample suggest that men and women are likely to assign different priorities to these opportunities.
Is it in your face?: Exploring the effects of sexual dimorphism on perception of leadership potential
Lisa Korenman et al.
Military Psychology, March/April, Pages 107-116
Abstract:
Perceptions of a leader in a work environment is important from 2 perspectives: the leader themselves and more importantly the external observer. But what information does the observer use when making these judgments of leadership potential? Many studies on role congruity have demonstrated that gender stereotyping and perceived leadership ability is strongly tied to gender role incongruity. The role of facial appearance has been associated with leadership status and potential and becomes essentially relevant in military settings. Thus, the manner in which an individual’s face is perceived and evaluated may impact perceptions of his or her leadership ability and subsequent success. The present study seeks to extend research on how sex and gender characteristics of an individual’s face may possibly influence the perception of leadership abilities in a military service academy. Findings indicated that participants preferred individuals with gender congruent faces, which may reflect a preference for physical prowess and abilities.
Career and Family Decisions: Cohorts Born 1935–1975
Zvi Eckstein, Michael Keane & Osnat Lifshitz
Econometrica, January 2019, Pages 217-253
Abstract:
Comparing the 1935 and 1975 U.S. birth cohorts, wages of married women grew twice as fast as for married men, and the wage gap between married and single women turned from negative to positive. The employment rate of married women also increased sharply, while that of other groups remained quite stable. To better understand these diverse patterns, we develop a life‐cycle model incorporating individual and household decisions about education, employment, marriage/divorce, and fertility. The model provides an excellent fit to wage and employment patterns, along with changes in education, marriage/divorce rates, and fertility. We assume fixed preferences, but allow for four exogenously changing factors: (i) mother's education, health, and taxes/transfers; (ii) marriage market opportunities and divorce costs; (iii) the wage structure and job offers; (iv) contraception technology. We quantify how each factor contributed to changes across cohorts. We find that factor (iii) was the most important force driving the increase in relative wages of married women, but that all four factors are important for explaining the many socio‐economic changes that occurred in the past 50 years. Finally, we use the model to simulate a shift from joint to individual taxation. In a revenue‐neutral simulation, we predict this would increase employment of married women by 9% and the marriage rate by 8.1%.
All Other Things Being Equal: Exploring Racial and Gender Disparities in Medical School Honor Society Induction
Thilan Wijesekera et al.
Academic Medicine, April 2019, Pages 562–569
Purpose: A large body of literature has demonstrated racial and gender disparities in the physician workforce, but limited data are available regarding the potential origins of these disparities. To that end, the authors evaluated the effects of race and gender on Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (AOA) and Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) induction.
Method: In this retrospective cohort study, the authors examined data from 11,781 Electronic Residency Application Service applications from 133 U.S. MD-granting medical schools to 12 residency programs in the 2014–2015 application cycle and to all 15 residency programs in the 2015–2016 cycle at Yale-New Haven Hospital. They estimated the odds of induction into AOA and GHHS using logistic regression models, adjusting for Step 1 score, research publications, citizenship status, training interruptions, and year of application. They used gender- and race-matched samples to account for differences in clerkship grades and to test for bias.
Results: Women were more likely than men to be inducted into GHHS (odds ratio 1.84, P < .001) but did not differ in their likelihood of being inducted into AOA. Black medical students were less likely to be inducted into AOA (odds ratio 0.37, P < .05) but not into GHHS.
Growing STEM: Perceived faculty mindset as an indicator of communal affordances in STEM
Melissa Fuesting et al.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
As students explore science and engineering fields, they receive messages about what competencies are required in a particular field, as well as whether they can reach their goals by entering the field. Faculty members convey information both about whether students might have the ability to succeed in a particular field and also whether students might want to succeed in a particular field — is this career one that serves the values or goals of the student? We hypothesize a novel pathway through which growth versus fixed mindset messages communicated by faculty affect students. Specifically, we explore whether emphasizing the potential for growth, rather than emphasizing fixed abilities, can indicate to students that science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) fields offer opportunities to fulfill their goals. Across 8 studies, we find that perceiving that faculty endorse growth versus fixed mindset beliefs increases beliefs that STEM contexts afford communal and agentic goals; perceived communal affordances more strongly predict people’s interest in pursuing STEM education and careers.
When stereotype threat does not impair performance, self-affirmation can be harmful
Dimitri Voisin et al.
Self and Identity, May 2019, Pages 331-348
Abstract:
When an individual is threatened by a negative stereotype, they are motivated to disconfirm the stereotype to protect self-integrity. When the task is simple and short, this motivation enables threatened individuals to counter the harmful effects of stereotype threat. Two theoretical accounts could explain this effect. First, performance is facilitated by a correct prepotent response according to the mere effort account. Second, the threatened individuals adopt a prevention focus that has a beneficial effect if the task demands few cognitive resources. The present article tested the hypothesis that protecting self-integrity via self-affirmation reduces the motivation to disconfirm the stereotype and could therefore harm performance. Across two experiments, threatened participants performed worse on simple and short math (Study 1) and mental rotations (Study 2) tests when self-affirmed compared to control. When stereotype threat leads to motivated engagement with a task, self-affirmation can reduce that motivation by boosting self-integrity.
Political Protesting, Race, and College Athletics: Why Diversity Among Coaches Matters
James Druckman, Adam Howat & Jacob Rothschild
Social Science Quarterly, forthcoming
Methods: We use a novel survey to study what college coaches think when student athletes participate in various forms of political protests.
Results: We find that African‐American coaches exhibit greater support for protests and are more likely to believe protests reflect concern about the issues, rather than attention‐seeking behavior.
The Gender Gap in Raise Magnitudes of Hourly and Salary Workers
Benjamin Artz & Sarinda Taengnoi
Journal of Labor Research, March 2019, Pages 84–105
Abstract:
The gender gap in promotions literature typically uses survey to survey imputed hourly wage changes to measure the earnings effects of promotions alone. By distinction, we study raises with and without promotions using data within surveys that uniquely identify both the current and most recent wages of hourly workers separate from salary workers. In cross-section estimates we identify a gender gap in raise magnitude favoring men only among hourly workers who achieve promotions, but this result vanishes in fixed effects estimates. No gender gaps emerge in any other instance, including for salary workers and raises absent of promotion. We further contribute to the literature by uniquely controlling for natural ability and risk preferences of the workers, the time passed since earning the raise, and also whether the responsibility of the worker’s job changed with the raise.