Is the Lone Scientist an American Dream? Perceived Communal Opportunities in STEM Offer a Pathway to Closing U.S.–Asia Gaps in Interest and Positivity

Abstract: The United States lags behind many Asian countries in engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). An unexplored factor in these country-level differences may be U.S.–Asia gaps in perceptions of the goal opportunities provided by STEM. Across four studies, U.S. students perceived fewer communal opportunities (working with/helping/relationships with others) in STEM than Asian students; this differential perception contributed to U.S.–Asia gaps in STEM interest. Perceptions of communal opportunities in STEM did not follow from a general orientation to perceive that all careers provided communal opportunities but from communal engagement in STEM. Perceptions about communal opportunities in STEM predicted STEM interest, and communal experience in STEM predicted STEM interest beyond quantity of STEM exposure. Experimentally highlighting the perceived communal opportunities in science closed the cultural gap in positivity toward a scientist career (Study 5). Perceptions of communal opportunities in STEM provide a new vantage point to improve U.S. engagement in STEM

The Effect of Context on the Silver Ceiling: A Role Congruity Perspective on Prejudiced Responses

Three studies examined role incongruity as a source of age bias in hiring decisions. Building upon previous research demonstrating contextual variation in prejudice, we predicted that prejudiced responses emerge particularly in contexts where group stereotypes misalign with the requirements of social roles. Findings indicate that (a) older workers are particularly penalized in occupational contexts that are quickly changing; (b) older workers are perceived as less adaptable than younger workers; and (c) the tendency to prefer younger than older workers more for a dynamic than a stable company is mediated by perceptions of adaptability. Finally, adaptability perceptions better predicted hiring bias than did global evaluations of older people and levels of contact with older people. These experiments provide initial evidence that perceived fit to roles is a determinant of contextual variation in prejudiced responses

Gender as Embedded Social Cognition

We examine gender as a cultural construct enacted through social cognitive processes that are embedded within the self, social interactions, and societal institutions. The embeddedness perspective elaborates how the binary gender categorization can create quite real gendered outcomes and experiences even if gender differences are not biologically essential. These categories take on a reality outside of the mind of perceivers because the meanings attached to gender categories are shared by others in the culture, enacted in social interactions, internalized into self-views, and maintained by social systems. Societal institutions explicitly and implicitly organize around gender, producing gendered norms, roles, and expectations. These norms, roles, and expectations shape the nature of interpersonal interactions both within and across gender lines and an individual’s self-selected experiences. Critically, these social interactions and personal choices in turn create behavioral and cognitive confirmation of the gendered expectations of others. Gendered expectations and experiences become internalized into the self, including one’s own self-concept and gender identity. We close by examining implications of this perspective for gender differences and similarities in social cognition, as well as malleability and stability in gender cognitions and outcomes

In the Mindset of Opportunity: Proactive Mindset, Perceived Opportunities, and Role Attitudes

Perceiving roles as fulfilling goals offers motivational benefits to students, and yet the features of individuals or contexts that align with seeing such role opportunities have not been studied systematically. The current research investigated how these goal affordances are related to proactive mindset, or a person’s belief that they can shape their contexts. Three studies examined how variation in proactivity aligns with perceiving more communal and agentic goal opportunities in roles. Study 1 found that highly proactive college students (vs. less proactive students) tended to perceive their future careers as fulfilling communal and agentic goals, which predicted positive career attitudes. Study 2 replicated this association, while ruling out behavioral flexibility as accounting for the proactivity-positivity relationship. Study 3 experimentally tested whether growth-oriented contexts foster proactivity. Proactive mindset aligns with more expansive views of roles as fulfilling fundamental motives. These views, in turn, carry positive implications for one’s future career attitudes

Making STEM “Family Friendly”: The Impact of Perceiving Science Careers as Family-Compatible

Two studies extended the communal goal congruity perspective to examine perceived incongruity between science careers and family caregiving goals. Study 1 examined beliefs about science careers among young adolescents, older adolescents, and young adults. Science careers were perceived as unlikely to afford family goals, and this belief emerged more strongly with age cohort. Study 1 also documented that the perception that science affords family goals predicts interest in pursuing science. Study 2 then employed an experimental methodology to investigate the impact of framing a science career as integrated with family life or not. For family-oriented women, the family-friendly framing of science produced greater personal favorability toward pursuing a science career. In addition, perceived fulfilment of the scientist described predicted personal favorability toward a science career path. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and for policy

DRAFT

To the extent that the sexes typically occupy different social roles, these roles frame individual opportunities in ways that foster differences in motivations and different methods of fulfilling those motivations. From the role congruity perspective, the motivation to achieve role congruity—to align behavior with the demands of roles—is an important force. Our role congruity account of sex differences and similarities in motivation focuses on how roles influence the goals and methods of goal pursuit elected by men and women. First, we examine support for the idea that role congruity yields various positive effects. Next, we examine the mechanisms by which placement in different roles might foster differences in motivation. Finally, we examine evidence documenting role-congruous motivational orientations, specifically agency for men and communion for women. In general, we find that fitting important social roles is a critical motivational force, and the opportunities for goal pursuit afforded by these social roles shape the kinds of goals and methods of goal pursuit elected by individuals. The questions “what do men want? ” and “what do women want? ” abound in the popula