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Characteristics expected in fields of higher education and gender stereotypical traits related to academic success: a mirror effect

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to test whether the content of a gender stereotype concerning general academic achievement matched the characteristics deemed to predict success in the fields of higher education dominated by women and men respectively. A sample of 207 undergraduate students rated the extent to which characteristics ascribed to successful female students (compliance) and characteristics ascribed to successful male students (assertiveness, intelligence and effort) were predictive of achievement in various fields of higher education, including female (the humanities at the university, paramedical school and advanced literature curriculum) and male dominated majors (science and technology at the university, engineering school and advanced science curriculum). As expected, participants rated compliance as more predictive of success in the female-dominated fields of higher education, while they considered assertiveness, effort and intelligence as more predictive of success in the male-dominated fields of higher education. Implications of this finding for academic choices and gender system maintenance are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by an ANR grant GENIM—ANR 11 INEG 002 01. We thank Mickaël Berthon for his assistance with survey design and data collection.

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  1. Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive UMR CNRS 6024, Clermont Université, Université Blaise Pascal, 34 Avenue Carnot, 63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Catherine Verniers & Delphine Martinot

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  1. Catherine Verniers
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Correspondence to Catherine Verniers or Delphine Martinot.

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Verniers, C., Martinot, D. Characteristics expected in fields of higher education and gender stereotypical traits related to academic success: a mirror effect. Soc Psychol Educ 18, 719–733 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-015-9312-z

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