About this session

Thursday, 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Challenging Early Stereotypes: New Strategies to Promote Motivation in Children from Negatively Stereotyped Groups

Stereotypes about abilities are deeply ingrained and emerge alarmingly early, steering many talented individuals away from prestigious careers. Our symposium presents the latest empirical insights on countering these stereotypes and mitigating their negative effects at their developmental roots.

Talk1 reports a comprehensive content analysis of children’s science biographies, examining how scientists’ abilities and interests are portrayed. The analysis reveals that biographies often depict scientists, particularly White scientists in the physical sciences and engineering fields, as having fixed abilities, potentially reinforcing children’s racial stereotypes. The next three talks focus on interventions. Talk2 investigates how subtle linguistic features shape gender-science stereotypes—the belief that boys are better at science than girls. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal data suggest that 4- to 5-year-old children are less likely to endorse gender-science stereotypes when they hear action-oriented language (e.g., “do science”) compared to identity-oriented language (e.g., “be a scientist”). Talk 3 explores whether gestures can counteract stereotypes conveyed through linguistic cues such as subject-complement statements (e.g., “Girls are as good as boys at math”). Findings from two pre-registered experiments suggest that equal gestures (i.e., two palms at the same height) reduce stereotype formation. Finally, talk4 investigated how to directly promote girls’ motivation. While girls show less interest in activities requiring brilliance, instilling a growth mindset about intelligence boosts girls’ interest in intellectually-challenging activities both immediately and long-term.

Together, this symposium offers transformative evidence-based strategies for reducing stereotypes and their consequences, providing a vital roadmap for creating a more inclusive and equitable environment for all children.

Paper #1
Title	Mindset Messages in Children’s STEM Biographies: Examining Differences Across Scientist Gender, Race, and Field
Presenting author	Jessica Gladstone, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, United States

Paper #2
Title	Maladaptive but Malleable: Gender-Science Stereotypes Emerge Early but Are Modifiable by Language
Presenting author	Marjorie Rhodes, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, New York University, United States

Paper #3
Title	Gesture Counteracts Gender Stereotypes Conveyed Through Subtle Linguistic Cues
Presenting author	Yihan Qian, Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, United States

Paper #4
Title	Immediate and Long-term Effects of a Growth Mindset Intervention on Girls’ Interests in Intellectually-challenging Activities
Presenting author	Ms. Seowoo Kim, Department of Psychology, Sungshin Women’s University, Korea (the Republic Of)

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Session chairs
Kyong-Sun Jin, Ph.D., Sungshin Women's University, Korea (the Republic Of); Lin Bian, Ph.D., , United States

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