IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0238230.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Math and language gender stereotypes: Age and gender differences in implicit biases and explicit beliefs

Author

Listed:
  • Heidi A Vuletich
  • Beth Kurtz-Costes
  • Erin Cooley
  • B Keith Payne

Abstract

In a cross-sectional study of youth ages 8–15, we examined implicit and explicit gender stereotypes regarding math and language abilities. We investigated how implicit and explicit stereotypes differ across age and gender groups and whether they are consistent with cultural stereotypes. Participants (N = 270) completed the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) and a survey of explicit beliefs. Across all ages, boys showed neither math nor language implicit gender biases, whereas girls implicitly favored girls in both domains. These findings are counter to cultural stereotypes, which favor boys in math. On the explicit measure, both boys’ and girls’ primary tendency was to favor girls in math and language ability, with the exception of elementary school boys, who rated genders equally. We conclude that objective gender differences in academic success guide differences in children’s explicit reports and implicit biases.

Suggested Citation

  • Heidi A Vuletich & Beth Kurtz-Costes & Erin Cooley & B Keith Payne, 2020. "Math and language gender stereotypes: Age and gender differences in implicit biases and explicit beliefs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0238230
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238230
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238230
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238230&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0238230?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Breda, Thomas & Napp, Clotilde, 2019. "Girls' Comparative Advantage in Reading Can Largely Account for the Gender Gap in Math-Intensive Fields," IZA Discussion Papers 12503, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Ernst Fehr & Helen Bernhard & Bettina Rockenbach, 2008. "Egalitarianism in young children," Nature, Nature, vol. 454(7208), pages 1079-1083, August.
    3. Editors The, 2008. "From the Editors," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-1, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dominique Cappelletti & Maria Vittoria Levati & Matteo Ploner, 2022. "Math ability, gender stereotypes about math ability, and educational choices. Combining experimental and survey data," Working Papers 07/2022, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    2. Jário Santos & Ig Bittencourt & Marcelo Reis & Geiser Chalco & Seiji Isotani, 2022. "Two billion registered students affected by stereotyped educational environments: an analysis of gender-based color bias," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brocas, Isabelle & Carrillo, Juan D. & Combs, T. Dalton & Kodaverdian, Niree, 2019. "The development of consistent decision-making across economic domains," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 217-240.
    2. Rosalie L Tung & Günter K Stahl, 2018. "The tortuous evolution of the role of culture in IB research: What we know, what we don’t know, and where we are headed," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(9), pages 1167-1189, December.
    3. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7346 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Laurent, Catherine E. & Berriet-Solliec, Marielle & Kirsch, Marc & Labarthe, Pierre & Trouve, Aurelie, 2010. "Multifunctionality Of Agriculture, Public Policies And Scientific Evidences: Some Critical Issues Of Contemporary Controversies," APSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce, AGRIMBA, vol. 4(1-2), pages 1-6.
    5. Delaney, Judith M. & Devereux, Paul J., 2021. "High School Rank in Math and English and the Gender Gap in STEM," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    6. Fabian Kosse & Thomas Deckers & Pia Pinger & Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch & Armin Falk, 2020. "The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(2), pages 434-467.
    7. Hugh-Jones, David & Ooi, Jinnie, 2023. "Where do fairness preferences come from? Norm transmission in a teen friendship network," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    8. Arruda Gustavo & Lima Daniela & Teles Vladimir Kühl, 2020. "Household borrowing constraints and monetary policy in emerging economies," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-21, January.
    9. Fischbacher, Urs & Schudy, Simeon & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2021. "Heterogeneous preferences and investments in energy saving measures," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    10. Fehr, Ernst & Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela & Sutter, Matthias, 2013. "The development of egalitarianism, altruism, spite and parochialism in childhood and adolescence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 369-383.
    11. Matthias Sutter & Francesco Feri & Martin G. Kocher & Peter Martinsson & Katarina Nordblom & Daniela Rützler, 2010. "Social preferences in childhood and adolescence - A large-scale experiment," Working Papers 2010-13, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    12. Elaine E Potter & Carol S Thornber & John-David Swanson & Malcolm McFarland, 2016. "Ploidy Distribution of the Harmful Bloom Forming Macroalgae Ulva spp. in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, USA, Using Flow Cytometry Methods," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, February.
    13. Hsu, Dan K. & Burmeister-Lamp, Katrin & Simmons, Sharon A. & Foo, Maw-Der & Hong, Michelle C. & Pipes, Jesse D., 2019. "“I know I can, but I don't fit”: Perceived fit, self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intention," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 311-326.
    14. Isabelle Brocas & Juan D. Carrillo, 2022. "The development of randomization and deceptive behavior in mixed strategy games," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(2), pages 825-862, May.
    15. Steve Holden & Austin Kelly & Douglas McManus & Therese Scharlemann & Ryan Singer & John D. Worth, 2012. "The HAMP NPV Model: Development and Early Performance," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 40, pages 32-64, December.
    16. Kai Barron & Heike Harmgart & Steffen Huck & Sebastian O. Schneider & Matthias Sutter, 2023. "Discrimination, Narratives, and Family History: An Experiment with Jordanian Host and Syrian Refugee Children," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(4), pages 1008-1016, July.
    17. Markusen, James R., 2013. "Expansion of trade at the extensive margin: A general gains-from-trade result and illustrative examples," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 262-270.
    18. Zenou, Yves & Boucher, Vincent & Tumen, Semih & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Wahba, Jackline, 2020. "Ethnic Mixing in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment and a Structural Model," CEPR Discussion Papers 15528, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Francesconi, Marco & Slonimczyk, Fabian & Yurko, Anna, 2017. "Moving On Up for High School Graduates in Russia: The Consequences of the Uni ed State Exam Reform," CEPR Discussion Papers 11996, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. John, Katrin & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2015. "School-track environment or endowment: What determines different other-regarding behavior across peer groups?," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 122-141.
    21. Pamela Jakiela & Edward Miguel & Vera Velde, 2015. "You’ve earned it: estimating the impact of human capital on social preferences," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 18(3), pages 385-407, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0238230. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.