Tag: Kathryn Denning

The Influence of Women’s Self-Perceptions of Ability and Effort Expenditure on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Field Persistence

Presenter(s): Samuel Ryan Adcock – Psychology

Faculty Mentor(s): Sara Hodges, Kathryn Denning

Poster 106

Research Area: Social Psychology

Women in the United States consistently drop out of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields at various points along the career pathway. While discrimination is an important factor, women’s self-perceived levels of natural ability and effort exertion relative to those of others in their field may lead to decreased future persistence in STEM. To discover whether these factors influence the decision to leave STEM at the undergraduate level, the current study used questionnaires to measure male and female undergraduates’ future persistence, field identification, and self-perceptions of ability and effort expenditure. We expect to find that low self-perceived natural ability as well as high self-perceived effort exertion relative

to peers will be associated with low future persistence, moderated by gender. However, we also expect to find that field identification will act as a buffer allowing for future persistence in spite of self-perceived low ability and high relative effort exertion. If confirmed, these findings will speak to the importance of conveying to women that gender does not influence STEM ability

Parsing Out Perspective Taking: The Impact of Narrative Point of View and Stereotyping on Social Relations

Presenter(s): Kate Haynes

Faculty Mentor(s): Sara Hodges & Kathryn Denning

Poster 98

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

Perspective taking is often regarded as a tool to improve social relations, but it can sometimes “backfire,” leading to negative outcomes (e.g., increased stereotyping). Most past research has examined the effect of instructing people to perspective take (or not) on various outcomes, but not what people consider when taking another person’s perspective. To better understand what causes this “backfiring,” we asked participants to write about the typical day of an out-group target (i.e., someone who supported the opposing candidate in the 2016 US Presidential Election) and then answer questions about social outcomes in relation to the target (e.g., how much they liked the target, willingness to engage in conversation with the target, and validity of the target’s position). Participants’ narratives were coded for the point of view (PoV) they were written in (first-person vs. third-person), degree of stereotyping present in the narrative, and overall valence (positive to negative) of content. Separate multiple regressions will be conducted using point of view, stereotyping, and valence, as well as a three-way interaction between all three variables, to predict social relations outcomes (liking, willingness to engage, and positive validity). First-person PoV, less stereotyping, and more positive valence are hypothesized to predict more positive social outcomes. However, an interaction is predicted such that first- person PoV will be associated with more negative social outcomes when degree of stereotyping is greater. Understanding when perspective taking brings people closer together – and when it does not – may help bridge current divides between political parties and other contentious groups.