Women do better in maths after criticising stereotype

SYDNEY - Women did better in a maths exam after they discussed why the stereotype about not performing as well as their male counterparts was not true, research shows.

But women who discussed why the stereotype might be true did not perform as well as males.

Laura Smith, psychologist from University of Queensland Business School, conducted two studies with 380 undergraduates in Britain to debunk the stereotype.

“In many countries, we see teenage girls doing worse than boys in maths exams and consequently women are very much underrepresented in maths and engineering professions,” she said.

“The broader implications of our research are that it looks like we could really use discussion to promote positive social change and eliminate some of these inequalities,” said Smith, according to a University of Queensland statement.

Smith’s research, conducted with Tom Postmes, professor at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, involved students participating in 5-10 minute group discussions about the validity - or invalidity - of stereotypes before sitting for the exam.

“You need a social intervention to break down a stereotype because stereotypes are socially shared representations of social groups,” she concluded.

Smith’s research was published in The British Journal of Social Psychology.