Tallying the Toll of Stereotypes

Stereotypes about gender and race do affect students’ academic performance and choices. That’s the conclusion of a growing body of experiments that show how students’ responses to academic questions change when slight differences in the test situation call attention to areas ripe for stereotyping.

In one set of studies, female college students watched a flashing screen and then were asked whether they prefer the arts or math. The flashes were words, displayed so briefly that the women couldn’t read them, although they absorbed the meaning subliminally. When the words were “doll” and “lipstick,” the young women were more likely to say they prefer the arts over math than when the words were “hammer,” “suit,” or “cigar.”

Researchers also posed the arts-versus-math question after first asking one randomly chosen group of female students about their phone service, and another group about their views on co-ed housing. Those asked the co-ed housing question—calculated to get them thinking about themselves as women—were less likely to prefer math.