1. Math is hard! Gender, mathematics, and implicit social cognition
Brian Nosek
Yale University
Collaborators: Mahzarin Banaji and Tony Greenwald

2. Participation in mathematics

3. Performance in mathematics
Gender differences in performance emerge over time (Hyde et al., 1988)
Age Cohen’s d
elementary
high school .29
College
SAT-math .40

4. Cross-sectional explicit attitude comparisons - webData

5. Implicit Attitudes toward Math
Unpleasant
Arts
Pleasant
Math
Pleasant
Arts
Unpleasant
RAI = (Math+Unpleasant) – (Math+Pleasant)

6. Implicit Attitudes toward Math

7. Are gender differences in implicit attitudes toward mathematics stable over the lifespan?

8. Adaptation of Heider’s Balance Theory (1958)
Math Me
Female + -
Females Me
Math
Male +
Males

9. Are males masculine and females feminine?
Math Me
Female Me
Female +
Feminine
Masculine Me
Math
Male + Me
Male

10. Is mathematics masculine?Me
Female +
Female
Math - Me
Math
Male +
Math
Male +

11. Do males identify with math more than females do?- Me
Math Me
Female + -
Math + Me Me
Math
Male +

12. Implicit measures can predict performance
Relative SAT Performance
Males
Females
Explicit Attitudes
.40***
.41***
Implicit Attitudes
.42***
.24**

13. Correlations between implicit and explicit attitudes toward mathematics

14. Implicit/explicit attitude dissociations

15. Summary Attitude differences are strong and stable
‘Balance’ present in implicit orientations toward mathematics
Implicit and explicit math attitudes are related

16. Additional Questions Commitment to math related to implicit attitudes?
Impact of group membership
Emergence of implicit gender differences
Implicit/explicit correspondence – everpresent or consolidated?

17. Females: Males:
Mean = Mean = -82

18. Negativity toward mathematics
Participation
Performance
U.S. students are among the worst of developed nations in mathematics (TIMSS)
Attitudes

19. An implicit approach to investigating orientations toward mathematics
Difficult to ‘know’ one’s mind
Conscious attitudes and beliefs reflect only part of our mental representation of mathematics
Origins of our behavior are not necessarily a direct consequence of our conscious attitudes, beliefs, or intentions.

20. Negative attitudes toward mathematics - webIAT
Mean = -109
std = 123

21. Cross-sectional implicit attitudes toward mathematics

22. Children can show implicit effects

23. Emerging Implicit/Explicit Correlations
College
(N = 57)
3rd, 4th, 5th
(N = 86)
1st, 2nd
(N = 58)
.38**
.15
-.03

24. Assistance and advice David McNellis Cindy Wang Andrea Gaynor
Members of the Banaji Lab group