Browsing by Subject "belonging"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    I Like What I See: Exploring the Role of Media Format on Benefits of Allyship Among Black Women
    (2019-08) Rhodes, Virginia L.; Pietri, Evava S.; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Stockdale, Peggy S.
    Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) researchers and organizations recognize that a large gender and racial disparity exists in these fields. However, individuals with intersectional identities (i.e., Black women) have unique experiences of bias that preclude them from entering STEM careers and feeling a sense of belonging. As such, featuring an employee that demonstrates allyship for Black women on an organization’s website can be a useful identity-safe cue to signal that a Black woman’s identity will be valued and promote the recruitment of Black women in STEM organizations. Yet, research indicates that Black women who are high in stigma consciousness (i.e., sensitive to potential discrimination based on their identity) do not trust or believe a White woman ally presented in a written profile cares about helping Black women. The current study found that presenting an ally in a video profile mitigated these negative effects of stigma consciousness, and increased Black women’s anticipated belonging and trust in a fictional STEM organization via higher perceptions of allyship. Theoretical implications for research, practical implications for organizations, and future research avenues to explore are discussed
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    They’re comparing me to her: Social comparison perceptions reduce belonging and STEM engagement among women with token status
    (SAGE, 2021) Derricks, Veronica; Sekaquaptewa, Denise
    Belonging and academic engagement are important predictors of women’s retention in STEM. To better understand the processes influencing these outcomes, we investigate how numerical underrepresentation (i.e., token status) triggers social comparison perceptions – concerns that others are comparing oneself to another person – that can undermine women’s STEM outcomes. Across four experiments, female college students recruited via subject pool (Study 1a) and MTurk (Studies 1b-3) read a hypothetical scenario in which another female (Studies 1a-3) or male student (Study 2) performed well or poorly in an engineering course. Findings showed that having token (versus non-token) status in the course increased social comparison perceptions (i.e., perceptions about being compared to an ingroup peer), which subsequently reduced course belonging (Studies 1a-1b). Study 2 found that (a) token status increased social comparison perceptions in response to the ingroup (versus outgroup) peer, and (b) social comparison perceptions decreased belonging through stereotype threat concerns, particularly when the peer performed poorly. Study 3 directly manipulated social comparison perceptions to further establish their causal role on negative outcomes and demonstrated that these perceived direct comparisons predicted additional consequences signaling STEM disengagement. Collectively, findings identify a novel process that can diminish belonging and academic engagement for women in STEM. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website.