wavyarms | (no subject)

This snippet is stolen whole-hog from Salon's Broadsheet blog. (More hyperlinks are in the original text.)

Math gap mythologies

"Math class is tough!" The Teen Talk Barbie doll uttered these words in 1992, and women's groups forced Mattel to rethink its little protégé's lack of numerical confidence. Who knew that it would take a real scientific study to prove that negative stereotypes affect women's mathematical abilities?

But of course, since the airhead-embracing Mattel executives got an education in the math gap, it's not like there weren't still pockets of ignorance out there. Earlier this year Harvard University President Lawrence Summers resigned after controversy stemming from his comments about women's and men's innate differences in mathematical and scientific aptitude.

Now, a did-it-really-take-a-study news wire from the New Scientist reports that a University of British Columbia, Canada, study found that women told that their mathematic abilities are socially determined do better than those who are told that their skills (or lack thereof) spring from their genes.

For any mother of a little girl, the idea is a no-brainer. Tell someone they are bad at something because of an invisible substance in their bloodstream and you're going to get different results than if you tell them they're struggling because their jerky male teacher never calls on them.

Psychologists have long known stereotypes have a peculiar power over our perception of reality. What's different about this study is that explaining a stereotype's spuriousness seems to have a demonstrable and immediate influence on the listener. In the study 220 women were given math tests after being told one of two explanations for women's mathematical underachievement. One group was told differences were genetic; the other, that the differences were caused by social factors like classroom experiences.

The results of the study surprised even this pathologically nurturing mom. Those fed the "genes" myth got only about half as many correct answers as those told the "experiential" story. What's the true cause? Does it matter? It's an interesting conundrum -- pedagogically the search for genetic differences between genders or between any groups for that matter may not be terribly useful. In any case, if you're feeling a little down on your maths, perhaps it's time for a pep visit to Agnes Scott College's Web site devoted to the biographies of women mathematicians. Maybe they had better teachers than the rest of us.

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I read Broadsheet every day. One thing I've noticed is their painfully obvious bias about scientific studies. Studies like this, which support their view that women are getting a raw deal because of gender stereotypes, are "no-brainer" evidence of the truth they already knew. But if there happens to be a study that says that maybe, just maybe, male and female brains are a little bit different, then it's "oh those stupid scientists, what do they know."

Since that's my bias too, I don't really notice it as much. :)

The book Blink had some similar interesting studies, with similar results, although they were concentrating the effect of negative stereotypes about race rather than gender.

I don't remember any "oh-those-stupid" scientist entries (of course, I don't read Broadsheet every day.) Can you give an example?

Here's one from last week. It's on a completely different topic, but I think it illustrates the point.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2006/10/19/ivf/index.html

But on that topic, I think it's valid for the author to worry that here is yet another way in which women are told they should excel and be perfect...and there is a cultural history of women not being allowed to express negative emotion (well, same is true for men, I guess, but I was thinking along the lines of anger and despair) so to have a study come out that supports that idea that women should inwardly suppress negative emotion is indeed troubling. No?

Which isn't your point, I know. You're just illustrating their inconstant attitude towards studies. But studies aren't hard fact - they're an attempt at hard fact by unavoidably biased people. So I have a more positive reaction towards studies that produce results that go against cultural assumptions or stereotypes, b/c if a study agrees with cultural assumptions or stereotypes, I can never feel sure that the bias of the researchers didn't color it. I realize that the researchers of the women's math skills were probably hoping to come up with that result, so I suppose it works both ways, but it's easier to address a conscious hope than an unconscious bias produced by years of living in a certain culture.

I'm kind of babbling at this point. I hope this makes sense. I feel unable to truly express my feelings on this subject unless it's in person, with lots of wavy hand-gestures, and hopefully beer.

What you say makes sense. I think it's perfectly valid to question both the method and the associated bias in a study.

But that's not what the writer appears to be doing. She offers one throw-away line that this study was done in "a single fertility clinic in Greece". The rest of the article essentially goes on to talk about the deleterious affects this will have on women, without addressing the validity of the study itself. That's the main problem I have with her analysis. She attacks the conclusion, without addressing how the researchers arrived at the conclusion.

so to have a study come out that supports that idea that women should inwardly suppress negative emotion is indeed troubling. No?

The thing is, this study doesn't say "women should inwardly suppress negative emotion." It says "women who are trying to conceive via IVF may have better success if they handle stress in a certain way." It's fairly narrow in scope, and in fact the authors of the study specifically mention that fact: "Numerous studies, the researchers note, have found that expressing emotions may be a boon for physical and emotional health. But those studies have not looked specifically at pregnancy outcomes after IVF, they add."

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I feel unable to truly express my feelings on this subject unless it's in person, with lots of wavy hand-gestures, and hopefully beer
This is something I'd love to discuss at some point, as you're right, it's hard to express in LJ posts.

Um, UBC is my undergrad school and it's viewed as a pretty good school in Canada and abroad. So, don't judge it based on this one article, please!

Just thought I'd go to bat for the institution that instilled higher-level music theory and history into this here geek. :)

I didn't see from the article that UBC did anything wrong - I think the study in question was in a closed environment, and not a study drawn from observing actual classes.

On the contrary, they should be congratulated for investigating the issue. :)

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