Dynamics of social comparison in counter-stereotypic domains: Stereotype boost, not stereotype threat, for women engineering majors

Previous research has shown that when explicitly compared with men, women's performance on math tests is adversely affected (a “stereotype threat” effect). This research investigated the impact of such comparisons on a group of women who we expected to react differently to such comparisons. We hypothesized that women who have successfully entered a gender counter-stereotypic quantitative domain would show enhanced, rather than deleterious, performance in a relevant testing situation. In two experiments that compared reactions to negative gender comparisons we observed lowered math performance for female psychology majors, but a performance boost for female engineering majors. We discuss the potential of these findings to inform the development of intervention strategies to combat the pernicious effects of negative stereotypes on performance.