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Using implicit bias training to improve attitudes toward women in STEM

Social Psychology of Education volume 17, pages 419–438 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Implicit biases can foster negative attitudes and lead to damaging stereotypical behaviors. Stereotypes can negatively affect the education, hiring, promotion, and retention of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study evaluated the impact of diversity training on university faculty (\(N = 234\)) by assessing changes in implicit associations and explicit attitudes toward women in STEM. Personal implicit associations about women in STEM improved for men, but not for women who already tended toward more positive implicit associations at pre-test. Men were more likely than women to explicitly endorse stereotypes about women in STEM at both pre- and post-test, and these attitudes did not change as a result of the diversity training. These findings suggest that participation in a brief diversity training can improve implicit associations about women in STEM.

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Notes

  1. For men, some traits were correlated with implicit measures. Social desirability correlated significantly with the pre-test GNAT and PGNAT (\(r\)’s \(= -.22\) and .23, respectively), and self-discrepancy correlated with the pre-test PGNAT (\(r = .22\)). There were no significant correlations between traits and implicit measures at post-test. ANCOVAs controlling for traits did not change the pattern of results.

  2. We conducted a simple slopes analysis comparing men only in the experimental and control groups. Group was entered in the first step of a linear regression equation along with the pre-test PGNAT score. The interaction term of group by pre-test PGNAT score was added in step 2. The interaction term of group by pre-test PGNAT score explained a marginal amount of variance (\(\Delta R^{2}= 0.02\)) in the post-test PGNAT score, \(\Delta F(1, 146) = 2.69, p = .10\). The slopes of the experimental and control lines were marginally different, suggesting that the two groups changed differently over time. The lack of significance is likely due to low power. It is probable that a larger sample size would yield significant results.

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Acknowledgments

This research was part of a larger study supported by NSF ADVANCE HRD 0810989. We would like to thank Gary Burns for his contributions, and the ADVANCE LEADER team and STEM department chairs at all four institutions for their assistance and cooperation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA

    Sarah M. Jackson & Tamera R. Schneider

  2. Department of Psychology, Adrian College, 110 S. Madison St., Adrian, MI, 49221, USA

    Amy L. Hillard

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  1. Sarah M. Jackson
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Correspondence to Amy L. Hillard.

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Jackson, S.M., Hillard, A.L. & Schneider, T.R. Using implicit bias training to improve attitudes toward women in STEM. Soc Psychol Educ 17, 419–438 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-014-9259-5

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