Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Accuracy of Academic Gender Stereotypes

  • Published:
Sex Roles Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research assessed the accuracy of academicgender stereotypes. Approximately 9% of participantswere nonwhite (mostly African American and Hispanic).Participants' estimates of the percentage of female and male students and their GPAs were comparedto the actual percentage of female and male students andtheir actual GPAs in 12 majors. Participantssignificantly underestimated the percentage of female students regardless of the gendertype of themajor. Females and males made more accurate percentageestimates for gender-congruent majors. Participantsoverestimated the GPAs of male students significantly more than the GPAs of female students. This wasespecially pronounced for masculine majors. Althoughfemale participants estimated the GPAs of their in-groupmore accurately than the GPAs of the out-group, the reverse was true for male participants. Theimplications of this evidence for inaccurate genderstereotypes regarding academic competence arediscussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Allen, B. P. (1995). Gender stereotypes are not accurate: A replication ofMartin (1987) using diagnostic vs. self-report and behavioral criteria. Sex Roles, 32,583–600.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (1995). Implicit gender stereotyping in judgments of fame. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67,181–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bank, B. J. (1995). Gendered accounts:Undergraduate s explain why they seek their Bachelor's degree. Sex Roles, 32,527–544.

    Google Scholar 

  • Best, D. L., & Williams, J. E. (1993). A cross-cultural viewpoint. In A. E. Beall & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The psychology of gender.New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyer, S. (1990). Gender differences in the accuracy of self-evaluations of performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59,960–970.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyer, S. (1995). Maternal employment and children's academic achievement: Parenting style as mediating variable. Developmental Review, 15,212–253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyer, S. (1998). Gender differences in self-perception and negative recall biases. Sex Roles, 38,103–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyer, S. (1999). Gender differences in causal attributions by college students of performance on course examinations. Current Psychology, 17,346–358.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyer, S., & Bowden E. M. (1997). Gender differences in self-perceptions: Convergent evi812 dence from three measures of accuracy and bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23,157–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1969). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences.New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biernat, M. (1993). Gender and height: Developmental patterns in knowledge and use of an accurate stereotype. Sex Roles, 29,691–713.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briton, N. J., & Hall, J. A. (1995). Beliefs about female and male nonverbal communication. Sex Roles, 32,79–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Broverman, I. K., Vogel, S. R., Broverman, D. M., Clarkson, F. E., & Rosenkrantz, P. S. (1972). Sex role stereotypes: A current appraisal. Journal of Social Issues, 28,59–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cantor, N., & Kihlstrom, J. F. (1987). Personality and social intelligence.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cejka, M. A., & Eagly, A. H. (in press).Gender-stereotypic images of occupations correspond to the sex segregation of employment. Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac (1995). The nation. Vol. XLII, no. 1, p. 5.

  • Deaux, K., & Emswiller, T. (1974). Explanation of successful performance on sex-linked tasks. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29,80–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deaux, K., & Lewis, L. L. (1983). Components of gender stereotypes. Psychological Documents, 13,25. (Ms. No. 2584).

    Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. H., & Diekman, A. B. (1997). The accuracy of gender stereotypes: A dilemma for feminism. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale/International Review of Social Psychology, 10,11–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. H., Makhijani, M. G., & Klonsky, B. G. (1992). Gender and the evaluation of leaders: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 111,3–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman-Summers, S., & Kiesler, S. B. (1974). Those who are number two try harder. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30,846–855.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiske, S. T. (1993). Social cognition and social perception. Annual Review of Psychology, 44,155–194.

    Google Scholar 

  • Funder, D. C. (1995). On the accuracy of personality judgment: A realistic approach. Psychological Review, 82,652–670.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furnham, A., & Rawles, R. (1995). Sex differences in the estimation of intelligence. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 10,741–748.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, P. (1968). Are women prejudiced against women? Transaction, 5, 28–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judd, C. M., & Park, B. (1993). Definition and assessment of accuracy in social stereotypes. Psychological Review, 100,109–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judd, C. M., Ryan, C. S., & Park, B. (1993). Accuracy in the judgment of in-group and outgroup variability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61,366–379.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jussim, L. (1989). Teacher expectations: Self-fulfilling prophecies, perceptual biases, and accuracy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57,469–480.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jussim, L., & Eccles, J. S. (1992). Teacher expectations II: Construction and reflection of student achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63,947–961.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jussim, L., Eccles, J., & Madon, S. (1996). Social perception, social stereotypes, and teacher expectations: Accuracy and the quest for the powerful self-fulfilling prophecy. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.),Advances in experimental social psychology(Vol. 29). New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jussim, L. Milburn, M., & Nelson, W. (1991). Emotional openness: Sex-role stereotypes and self-perceptions. Representative Research in Social Psychology, 19,35–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kruglanski, A.W. (1989). The psychology of being ``right' ': The problem of accuracy in social perception and cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 106,395–409.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Y.-T., Jussim, L. J., & McCauley, C. R. (1995). Stereotype accuracy: Toward appreciating group differences.Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackie, M. (1973). Arriving at ``truth' ' by definition: The case of stereotype accuracy. Social Problems, 20,431–447.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, C. L. (1987). A ratio measure of sex stereotyping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52,489–499.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCauley, C., & Thangavelu, K. (1991). Individual differences in sex stereotyping of occupations and personality traits. Social Psychology Quarterly, 54,267–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCauley, C., Thangavelu, K., & Rozin, P. (1988). Sex stereotyping of occupations in relation to television representations and census facts. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 9, 197–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Center for Education Statistics. (1996). Projections of Education Statistics to 2006(25th Ed.), NCES 96–661. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, T. E., Acker,M., & Manis,M. (1996). Irrepressible stereotypes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 32,13–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, T. E., Biernat, M. R., & Manis, M. (1990). Everyday base rate s (sex stereotypes): Potent and resilient. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59,664–675.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Leary, V. E., & Hansen,R. (1983). Performance evaluation: A social-psychological perspective. In. F. Landy, S. Zedeck, & J. Cleveland (Eds.), Performance measurement and theory.Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pheterson, G. I., Kiesler, S. B., & Goldberg, P. A. (1971). Evaluation of the performance of women as a function of their sex, achievement,and personal history. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 19,114–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratto, F., Stallworth, L. M., Sidanius, J., & Siers, B. (1997). The gender gap in occupational role attainment: A social dominance approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72,37–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudman, L. A. (1998). Self-promotion as a risk factor for women: The costs and benefits of counterstereotypical impression management. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74,629–645.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, C. S. (1996). Accuracy of Black and White college students' in-group and out-group stereotypes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22,1114–1127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, C. S., Park, B., & Judd, C. M. (1996). Assessing stereotype accuracy: Implications for understanding the stereotyping process. In C. N. Macrae, C. Stangor, & M. Hewstone (Eds.), Stereotypes and stereotyping.New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, M., Campbell, B. H., & Preston, E. (1982). Testing hypotheses about human nature: Assessing the accuracy of social stereotypes. Social Cognition, 1, 256–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stangor, C. (1995). Content and application inaccuracy in social stereotyping. In Y.-T. Lee, L. J. Jussim, & C. R. McCauley (Eds.), Stereotype accuracy: Toward appreciating group differences.Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stangor, C., & Lange, J. E. (1994). Mental representations of social groups: Advances in understanding stereotypes and stereotyping.Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 26,357–416.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69,797–811.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swim, J. K. (1994). Perceived versus meta-analytic effect sizes: An assessment of the accuracy of gender stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66,21–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swim, J. K., Aikin, K. J., Hall, W. S., & Hunter, B. A. (1995). Sexism and racism: Oldfashioned and modern prejudices. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 199–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swim, J., Borgida, E., Maruyama, G., & Myers, D. G. (1989). JoanMcKay versus JohnMcKay: Do gender stereotypes bias evaluations? Psychological Bulletin, 105,409–429.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsui, L. (1998). The effects of gender, education, and personal skills self-confidence on income in business management. Sex Roles, 38,363–373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoder, J. D., & Schleicher, T. L. (1996). Undergraduate s regard deviation from occupational gender stereotypes as costly for women. Sex Roles, 34,171–188.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Sylvia Beyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Beyer, S. The Accuracy of Academic Gender Stereotypes. Sex Roles 40, 787–813 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018864803330

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018864803330

Keywords

Search

Navigation