MetaTOC stay on top of your field, easily

Negative Exposure: Watching Another Woman Subjected to Dominant Male Behavior During a Math Interaction Can Induce Stereotype Threat

,

Social Psychological and Personality Science

Published online on

Abstract

This research examined whether simply watching videos of a man behaving dominantly toward a woman during a math-related interaction hurts women’s math performance. Men and women watched videos of male–female interactions related to math (stereotype-relevant) or studying (stereotype-neutral) in which the male was dominant, the female was dominant, or the two were equally dominant. Women who watched a video of a dominant male in a math interaction showed reduced math performance and had greater worries about confirming negative in-group math stereotypes than when the video showed a studying interaction; however, women who watched a video of a man and woman equal in dominance or a dominant female did not show such performance decrements and worries. These effects did not occur for men. This work suggests that brief video exposure to male dominant behavior aimed at a female in a math context can lead women to experience stereotype threat and underperform.