Amey, Rachel2021-02-032021-02-032020https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/28571Increasing national interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) domains has led to the largest STEM workforce of men and women. However, despite current interest, women remain underrepresented. Recent National Science Foundation (NSF) reports highlight that in specific STEM fields, such as computer science, the number of women is decreasing. The visible discrepancy between men and women in STEM may have profound effects on gender-science stereotypes according to social role theory. Social role theory suggests that one’s observations of social groups during adolescence and adulthood, or socialization, can shape stereotypes about others. Research corroborates this idea. National-level data suggests that the number of women in STEM relates to the strength of implicit and explicit gender-science stereotypes. Moreover, national-level IAT studies have mapped socially derived implicit gender-science stereotypes onto regional differences in men and women’s STEM performance. Results suggest the relationship between socialization and the strength of gender-science stereotypes may underlie discrepancies between men and women’s performance in STEM domains. However, these relationships have not been accounted for on an individual level. A mechanism has also not been proposed that accounts for how these relationships form outside of social role theory. Social role theory suggests associations between STEM domains and gender may occur through repeated exposures during socialization, similar to an associative learning process or relationships formed by repeated stimuli pairs. Thus, associative learning may be the mechanism behind social role theory. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to explore how socialization promotes gender-science stereotypes and the downstream consequences of the strength of this relationship on women’s underperformance in STEM domains. Four studies were conducted that examine these relationships by testing associative learning mechanisms.Associative learningSocial role theoryStereotype threatThesis1236021614https://doi.org/10.58088/8rnk-bq402020-10-13en