Girls show stronger persistence in science tasks when they are asked to 鈥渄o science鈥� rather than 鈥渂e scientists,鈥� finds a new study in the journal Psychological Science.
Across four experiments with students ages 4 to 9, researchers introduced a game about the scientific method by either asking students to 鈥渄o science鈥� or 鈥渂e scientists.鈥� Girls in the first group continued the game longer on average than girls asked to be scientists. Boys who were younger than 5 also preferred the action-related language, while older boys preferred the identity-related language. The findings suggest small differences in language can encourage students who feel threatened by negative stereotypes about performance of people like them.
