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National differences in gender–science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement

  1. Brian A. Noseka,1,
  2. Frederick L. Smytha,
  3. N. Srirama,
  4. Nicole M. Lindnera,
  5. Thierry Devosb,
  6. Alfonso Ayalac,
  7. Yoav Bar-Anana,2,
  8. Robin Berghd,
  9. Huajian Caie,
  10. Karen Gonsalkoralef,
  11. Selin Kesebira,
  12. Norbert Maliszewskig,
  13. Félix Netoh,
  14. Eero Ollii,
  15. Jaihyun Parkj,
  16. Konrad Schnabelk,
  17. Kimihiro Shiomural,
  18. Bogdan Tudor Tulburem,
  19. Reinout W. Wiersn,
  20. Mónika Somogyio,
  21. Nazar Akramid,
  22. Bo Ekehammard,
  23. Michelangelo Vianellop,
  24. Mahzarin R. Banajiq and
  25. Anthony G. Greenwaldr
  1. aDepartment of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400;
  2. bDepartment of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-4611;
  3. cElectoral Institute of Veracruz, Xalapa, 91000, Mexico;
  4. dDepartment of Psychology, Uppsala University, SE-751 42 Uppsala, Sweden;
  5. eDepartment of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China;
  6. fSchool of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia;
  7. gDepartment of Psychology, University of Warsaw, 00-927, Warsaw, Poland;
  8. hDepartment of Psychology, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal;
  9. iEquality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, N-0031 Oslo, Norway;
  10. jDepartment of Psychology, Baruch College—The City University of New York, New York, NY 10010;
  11. kDepartment of Psychology, Humboldt University, 10099 Berlin, Germany;
  12. lDepartment of Clinical Social Services, Iwate Prefectural University, 152–52 Takizawa-aza-sugo, Takizawa, Iwate 020-0193, Japan;
  13. mDepartment of Psychology, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500036, Brasov, Romania;
  14. nDepartment of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1012 ZA Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
  15. oDepartment of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1053, Hungary;
  16. pDepartment of Psychology, University of Padua, 35122 Padua, Italy;
  17. qDepartment of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; and
  18. rDepartment of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

  1. Edited by Claude M. Steele, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, and approved April 24, 2009 (received for review October 6, 2008)

Abstract

About 70% of more than half a million Implicit Association Tests completed by citizens of 34 countries revealed expected implicit stereotypes associating science with males more than with females. We discovered that nation-level implicit stereotypes predicted nation-level sex differences in 8th-grade science and mathematics achievement. Self-reported stereotypes did not provide additional predictive validity of the achievement gap. We suggest that implicit stereotypes and sex differences in science participation and performance are mutually reinforcing, contributing to the persistent gender gap in science engagement.

Footnotes

  • 1To whom correspondence should be addressed at:
    Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Box 400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400.
    E-mail: nosek{at}virginia.edu

  • Author contributions: B.A.N., N.S., M.R.B., and A.G.G. designed research; B.A.N., F.L.S., N.S., T.D., A.A., Y.B.-A., R.B., H.C., K.G., S.K., N.M., F.N., E.O., J.P., K. Schnabel, K. Shiomura, B.T.T., R.W.W., M.S., N.A., B.E., and M.V. performed research; B.A.N., F.L.S., N.M.L., and A.G.G. analyzed data; and B.A.N., F.L.S., M.R.B., and A.G.G. wrote the paper.

  • ↵2Present address: Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0809921106/DCSupplemental.

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