When Trying Hard Isn’t Natural

Abstract

Feeling like one exerts more effort than others may influence women's feelings of belonging with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and impede their motivation. In Study 1, women STEM graduate students perceived they exerted more effort than peers to succeed. For women, but not men, this effort expenditure perception predicted a decreased sense of belonging, which in turn decreased motivation. Study 2 tested whether the male-dominated status of a field triggers such effort expectations. We created a fictional "eco-psychology" graduate program, which when depicted as male-dominated resulted in women expecting to exert relatively more effort and decreased their interest in pursuing the field. Study 3 found emphasizing effort as expected (and normal) to achieve success elevated women's feelings of belonging and future motivation. Results suggest effort expenditure perceptions are an indicator women use to assess their fit in STEM. Implications for enhancing women's participation in STEM are discussed.

Fitting in or opting out: A review of key social-psychological factors influencing a sense of belonging for women in physics

“…Furthermore, these effort concerns (i.e., feeling that one has to work harder than others) were negatively correlated with sense of belonging for women (but not men); women who felt they had to put in more effort to succeed also felt less of a sense of belonging in their field, even when controlling for objective performance. A followup experiment that manipulated whether a novel field was portrayed as male dominated or gender balanced showed that these effort concerns are triggered for women when the field in question is male dominated; women's anticipated effort and belonging within a gender-balanced field did not differ from men's, but women felt as though they would have to put in more effort than peers and reported less anticipated belonging with a field that was perceived as male dominated [57]. Fortunately, it seems possible to counteract this.…”

“…Smith and colleagues [57] found that compared to men, women in STEM fields reported feeling as though they had to put forth more effort to succeed and were less naturally talented than other students-in other words, women felt less abled than their peers but men did not. Furthermore, these effort concerns (i.e., feeling that one has to work harder than others) were negatively correlated with sense of belonging for women (but not men); women who felt they had to put in more effort to succeed also felt less of a sense of belonging in their field, even when controlling for objective performance.…”

“…Fortunately, it seems possible to counteract this. In another follow-up experiment, Smith and colleagues showed that women who were made to believe that everyone in the male-dominated field had to work hard and put forth a high amount of effort to succeed reported more belonging with that field and higher interest in it relative to women in a control condition where effort was not normalized [57].…”

Beneath the numbers: A review of gender disparities in undergraduate education across science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines

“…Female STEM transfer students experienced a greater difference between their sense of belonging and their desired level of belonging at this institution than did male STEM transfer students. Another study of almost 150 first year graduate students across STEM disciplines found that at the start of their first year, female students reported a higher sense of belonging in their program than their male peers [63]. Although at first glance this may seem like a positive, it actually suggests that only women with a heightened sense of belonging consider graduate school whereas men with both higher and lower senses of belonging pursue graduate school.…”

Perceptions and Misconceptions of Industrial Engineering from First-year Engineering Students

“…These studies do not generally ask students to define engineering or specific engineering disciplines. 4,11,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] Many studies concentrate on the issue of why students do not become engineers or scientists. Studies discuss preconceptions that impact career choices.…”