Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Contributors
- 1 Research on the Women and Mathematics Issue: A Personal Case History
- 2 The Perseverative Search for Sex Differences in Mathematics Ability
- 3 A Psychobiosocial Model: Why Females Are Sometimes Greater Than and Sometimes Less Than Males in Math Achievement
- 4 Gender Differences in Math: Cognitive Processes in an Expanded Framework
- 5 Cognitive Contributions to Sex Differences in Math Performance
- 6 Spatial Ability as a Mediator of Gender Differences on Mathematics Tests: A Biological–Environmental Framework
- 7 Examining Gender-Related Differential Item Functioning Using Insights from Psychometric and Multicontext Theory
- 8 The Gender-Gap Artifact: Women's Underperformance in Quantitative Domains Through the Lens of Stereotype Threat
- 9 “Math is hard!” (Barbie™, 1994): Responses of Threat vs. Challenge-Mediated Arousal to Stereotypes Alleging Intellectual Inferiority
- 10 The Role of Ethnicity on the Gender Gap in Mathematics
- 11 The Gender Gap in Mathematics: Merely a Step Function?
- 12 “I can, but I don't want to”: The Impact of Parents, Interests, and Activities on Gender Differences in Math
- 13 Gender Effects on Mathematics Achievement: Mediating Role of State and Trait Self-Regulation
- 14 Gender Differences in Mathematics Self-Efficacy Beliefs
- 15 Gender Differences in Mathematics: What We Know and What We Need to Know
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
9 - “Math is hard!” (Barbie™, 1994): Responses of Threat vs. Challenge-Mediated Arousal to Stereotypes Alleging Intellectual Inferiority
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Contributors
- 1 Research on the Women and Mathematics Issue: A Personal Case History
- 2 The Perseverative Search for Sex Differences in Mathematics Ability
- 3 A Psychobiosocial Model: Why Females Are Sometimes Greater Than and Sometimes Less Than Males in Math Achievement
- 4 Gender Differences in Math: Cognitive Processes in an Expanded Framework
- 5 Cognitive Contributions to Sex Differences in Math Performance
- 6 Spatial Ability as a Mediator of Gender Differences on Mathematics Tests: A Biological–Environmental Framework
- 7 Examining Gender-Related Differential Item Functioning Using Insights from Psychometric and Multicontext Theory
- 8 The Gender-Gap Artifact: Women's Underperformance in Quantitative Domains Through the Lens of Stereotype Threat
- 9 “Math is hard!” (Barbie™, 1994): Responses of Threat vs. Challenge-Mediated Arousal to Stereotypes Alleging Intellectual Inferiority
- 10 The Role of Ethnicity on the Gender Gap in Mathematics
- 11 The Gender Gap in Mathematics: Merely a Step Function?
- 12 “I can, but I don't want to”: The Impact of Parents, Interests, and Activities on Gender Differences in Math
- 13 Gender Effects on Mathematics Achievement: Mediating Role of State and Trait Self-Regulation
- 14 Gender Differences in Mathematics Self-Efficacy Beliefs
- 15 Gender Differences in Mathematics: What We Know and What We Need to Know
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
In 1994, Mattel created a Barbie™ doll that said, “Math is hard.” The Barbie Liberation Organization, a group composed of activists and media personalities, among others, protested against Barbie's perpetuation of gender-based stereotyping. The media publicized the case and discussions on gender stereotyping in children's toys ensued on and off the air, leading Mattel to withdraw the “math is hard” Barbie from the market.
However, did Barbie's frustration with math represent a reality in which girls and women, more than boys and men, find math to be hard? Benbow and Stanley (1980, 1983) found gender differences in performance on the mathematical section of the SAT (SAT-M) in boys and girls under the age of fourteen who were high in math achievement. The boys outperformed the girls by about half a standard deviation and were overrepresented by a ratio of 13:1 among students who scored above 700. Similarly, in a meta-analysis involving over three million participants, Hyde, Fennema, and Lamon (1990) found a gender difference favoring males that emerged from high school (d = 0.29) through college (d = 0.41), and into adulthood (d = 0.59). Finally, Brown and Josephs (1999) reported that the two most widely used standardized tests of mathematics in the United States, the SAT-M and the quantitative portion of the GRE (GRE-Q), revealed a gender difference in the order of half a standard deviation.
This gender difference can also be seen in the types of activities that females vs. males tend to pursue.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Gender Differences in MathematicsAn Integrative Psychological Approach, pp. 189 - 206Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
References
- 1
- Cited by