PostDoctoral Research Fellowship

Aguilar Lauren J, Walnut Creek CA

Investigators

Abstract

Why are women underrepresented at all stages in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) professions? The current research investigates the role of negative stereotypes about women in STEM and how such stereotypes affect patterns of interaction between women and men in STEM in ways that may exclude women. Past research demonstrates that women can experience stereotype threat in STEM--a disruptive concern that one will be seen through the lens of a negative group stereotype. This threat can undermine women's sense of belonging in STEM, intellectual performance, health and well-being. Training and work in STEM is highly social and collaborative, so having the sense that one belongs socially in STEM is crucial. Social belonging--the quality of one's social relationships and the perception that others value, respect, and include one--is a basic human need which, in academic settings, has a tremendous influence on students' motivation, achievement, and on individuals' health and well-being. Yet evidence suggests that women are less included than men in social networks in STEM and experience a weaker sense of belonging in these fields. Stereotype threat is, in large part, a social-relational concern--a worry about whether one will be fully included and valued by others in a setting. As such, even subtle, nonconscious cues embedded in everyday social interactions may affect women's feelings of exclusion from these fields. Yet little research has examined how interpersonal interactions affect women's experience in STEM. To further understand the factors that limit women's representation in STEM, this research examines dyadic interpersonal interactions. In particular, it investigates subtle cues embedded in dyadic interactions between women and men in STEM that signal social inclusion--nonverbal mimicry, an important signal of rapport and inclusion that creates feelings of social connectedness. The research tests how mimicry affects women's feelings of belonging in STEM, and their performance and retention therein. Further, the studies examine psychological strategies to promote more inclusive interactions between STEM women and men. First, the studies (1) examine whether nonverbal mimicry from a male peer can foster a sense of social connectedness among women in STEM and buffers women against stereotype threat, improving performance and reducing stress and (2) examine whether men may mimic women less than other men in STEM and how individual levels of sexism may affect how much men mimic female STEM peers. Second, the research tests social psychological strategies to promote more incliusive interactions between men and women in STEM. Finally the research will extend these studies to the field by analyzing to the role of mimicry-related processes in a professional STEM context. Intellectual Merit. The proposed research takes a new approach to studying the retention of women in STEM by examining how gender stereotypes influence women's experience in everyday dyadic interactions. It is hypothesized that men may unknowingly behave in ways that subtly exclude women in STEM. Social exclusion, even if subtle, may play an important role in whether women in STEM feel included and valued, how they perform on relevant tasks, and whether they persist in STEM fields in the face of challenges and difficulties. This project is intellectually innovative on several levels. First, the studies use cutting edge interdisciplinary methodology to unobtrusively measure nonconscious, nonverbal communication patterns, which are revealing and important for social relational processes. Second, the research uses dyadic methodology that uniquely allow for testing holistic process models of how stereotypes affect women's and men's interpersonal communication, which then may affect downstream processes like sense of belonging, achievement, and persistence in STEM. Third, the research builds on and expands the psychological theory of stereotype threat to encompass real-time dyadic social processes. Finally, the research program translates the work into a real-world strategic model that can be implemented at the institutional level. Broader Impacts. Not only does this research have the potential to expand theoretical approaches to examining diversity both within and beyond STEM, but the proposed project also translates the science into a strategic intervention plan for increasing women's representation at all levels of the STEM pipeline. The work trajectory inherently includes the design, research, and implementation of a social psychological intervention, which is simple, cost-effective, and efficient to scale to the institutional level. Ultimately, the aim is to create a strategic intervention model that can be utilized in schools, universities and businesses. The strategic intervention is targeted at improving women's everyday social experience in STEM, an arena that is seemingly beyond the reach of institutions' influence. Although the strategic intervention will initially be designed to increase the representation of women in STEM, it will also be adapted to increase the representation of minorities who also often have a sense of non-belonging in STEM. The research and corresponding outreach plan has the capacity to make a powerful positive impact on women and minorities' experience and persistence in STEM, thereby increasing the diversity and strength of STEM fields at all levels.