The Influence Of Math Gender Stereotype On Mathematical Achievement

Math gender stereotype not only affect women's performance in mathematics,also affect the social evaluation of women's ability,as well as women's choice and planning for their future career.In the past,when studying the mechanism of stereotype threat,few studies have explored the interaction of cognitive factors and personality traits at the same time.and it is useful to explore the combined effects of both cognitive and self perspectives to understand the effects of mathematics-gender stereotype threat on mathematics performance,as well as the cognitive mechanism and individual differences of stereotype threat It is of great significance for us to reduce the negative effects of stereotype threat from cognitive and individual differences.In this study,we first examined the influence of gender stereotype on mathematics performance and working memory updating ability,and the relationship between them.We concluded that gender stereotype can affect individual mathematics performance and working memory updating ability,and gender stereotype can affect individual working memory updating ability,and then affect mathematics performance.The results show that the level of academic self-esteem can protect and buffer the mathematics performance and working memory updating ability in the situation of stereotype threat.In Study 1,134 female freshmen were randomly divided into the priming group and the control group.The priming group started the threat situation of mathematics gender stereotype by reading text materials,while the control group did not start the threat situation.Individuals' working memory updating ability and math performance were measured using a digital active memory task,a 2-back updating task,a 3-back updating task,and a self-administered math test.The results show that the stereotype threat situation is negatively correlated with the scores of 2-back updating task,3-back updating task and mathematics test;the scores of mathematics test are positively correlated with the scores of digital active memory task,2-back updating task and3-back updating task,and the updating ability of working memory plays a mediating role between the stereotype threat situation and mathematics test scores.In Study 2,172 female freshmen were randomly divided into priming group and control group.In Study 1,the effects of mathematics gender stereotype threat on working memory updating ability and mathematics test scores were measured by using number active memory task,2-back updating task,3-back updating task,mathematics test task and academic self-esteem scale.This mediating path is the moderating role of academic self-esteem.The results show that the level of academic self-esteem plays a moderating role in the direct path of stereotype threat affecting mathematics task performance and the mediating path of working memory updating ability influencing mathematics test performance.