Growth mindsets are beliefs that abilities, like intelligence, are mutable. Although most prior work has focused on people's personal mindset beliefs, a burgeoning literature has identified that organizations also vary in the extent to which they communicate and endorse growth mindsets. Organizational growth mindsets have powerful effects on belonging and interest in joining organizations, suggesting that they may be a productive way to intervene to improve individual and societal outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubstantial gender equity gaps in postsecondary degree completion persist within many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and these disparities have not narrowed during the 21st century. Various explanations of this phenomenon have been offered; one possibility that has received limited attention is that the sparse representation of women itself has adverse effects on the academic achievement-and ultimately the persistence and graduation-of women who take STEM courses. This study explored the relationship between two forms of gender representation (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudents who speak English as a second language (ESL) are underserved and underrepresented in postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. To date, most existing research with ESL students in higher education is qualitative. Drawing from this important body of work, we investigate the impact of a social-belonging intervention on anticipated changes in belonging, STEM GPA, and proportion of STEM credits obtained in students' first semester and first year of college.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo experiments and 2 field studies examine how college students' perceptions of their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professors' mindset beliefs about the fixedness or malleability of intelligence predict students' anticipated and actual psychological experiences and performance in their STEM classes, as well as their engagement and interest in STEM more broadly. In Studies 1 ( = 252) and 2 ( = 224), faculty mindset beliefs were experimentally manipulated and students were exposed to STEM professors who endorsed either fixed or growth mindset beliefs. In Studies 3 ( = 291) and 4 ( = 902), we examined students' perceptions of their actual STEM professors' mindset beliefs and used experience sampling methodology (ESM) to capture their in-the-moment psychological experiences in those professors' classes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pers Soc Psychol
November 2020
As society becomes increasingly racially diverse, fostering positive interracial interactions is more important than ever. Unfortunately, previous work suggests that there are barriers to positive interracial interactions including White people's concerns about being liked and being seen as nonprejudiced and Black people's concerns about being respected and being seen as competent (Bergsieker, Shelton, & Richeson, 2010). The current work tested the hypothesis that these seemingly divergent impression management concerns do not always lead White people to have an approach to interracial interactions that is "incompatible" with Black interaction partner's concerns about being respected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver 10 years of research has illustrated the benefits of internal motivation to respond without prejudice (IMS) for prejudice regulation and high-quality intergroup contact (see Plant & Devine, 1998). Yet, it is unclear how this motivation develops. The current work tested one route through which feelings of acceptance from outgroup members facilitate the development of IMS.
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