Effects of matching personal and organizational mindsets on belonging and organizational interest.

Growth mindsets are beliefs that abilities, like intelligence, are mutable. Although most prior work has focused on people's personal mindset beliefs, a burgeoning literature has identified that organizations also vary in the extent to which they communicate and endorse growth mindsets. Organizational growth mindsets have powerful effects on belonging and interest in joining organizations, suggesting that they may be a productive way to intervene to improve individual and societal outcomes. Yet, little is known about for whom organizational mindset interventions might be more or less effective, a critical question for effective implementation and theory. We examine whether people's personal mindset beliefs might determine the effect of organizational growth mindsets, and if so, whether this moderation reflects a matching or mismatching pattern. Three experiments manipulated the espoused mindset of an organization and found that organizational growth mindsets primarily increased belonging and interest in joining among participants who personally endorsed matching growth mindset beliefs. An additional field study provided ecological validity to these findings, replicating them with students' experiences of belonging in classrooms. This study also revealed a divergent mismatching pattern on grades: rather than bolstering the grades of students with growth mindsets, growth mindset classroom contexts primarily enhanced the grades of students with more fixed mindsets. By clarifying for whom organizational growth mindsets are beneficial and in what manner, the current work provides theoretical and practical insight into the psychological dynamics of organizational growth mindsets. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Gender representation and academic achievement among STEM-interested students in college STEM courses.

Substantial gender equity gaps in postsecondary degree completion persist within many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and these disparities have not narrowed during the 21st century. Various explanations of this phenomenon have been offered; one possibility that has received limited attention is that the sparse representation of women itself has adverse effects on the academic achievement-and ultimately the persistence and graduation-of women who take STEM courses. This study explored the relationship between two forms of gender representation (i.e., the proportion of female students within a course and the presence of a female instructor) and grades within a sample of 11,958 STEM-interested undergraduates enrolled in 8686 different STEM courses at 20 colleges and universities. Female student representation within a course predicted greater academic achievement in STEM for all students, and these findings were generally stronger among female students than male students. Female students also consistently benefitted more than male students from having a female STEM instructor. These findings were largely similar across a range of student and course characteristics and were robust to different analytic approaches; a notable exception was that female student representation had particularly favorable outcomes for female students (relative to male students) within mathematics/statistics and computer science courses.

A social-belonging intervention improves STEM outcomes for students who speak English as a second language.

Students who speak English as a second language (ESL) are underserved and underrepresented in postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. To date, most existing research with ESL students in higher education is qualitative. Drawing from this important body of work, we investigate the impact of a social-belonging intervention on anticipated changes in belonging, STEM GPA, and proportion of STEM credits obtained in students' first semester and first year of college. Using data from more than 12,000 STEM-interested students at 19 universities, results revealed that the intervention increased ESL students' anticipated sense of belonging and three of the four academic outcomes. Moreover, anticipated changes in belonging mediated the intervention's effects on these academic outcomes. Robustness checks revealed that ESL effects persisted even when controlling for other identities correlated with ESL status. Overall, results suggest that anticipated belonging is an understudied barrier to creating a multilingual and diverse STEM workforce.

Does my professor think my ability can change? Students' perceptions of their STEM professors' mindset beliefs predict their psychological vulnerability, engagement, and performance in class.

Two experiments and 2 field studies examine how college students' perceptions of their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professors' mindset beliefs about the fixedness or malleability of intelligence predict students' anticipated and actual psychological experiences and performance in their STEM classes, as well as their engagement and interest in STEM more broadly. In Studies 1 (N = 252) and 2 (N = 224), faculty mindset beliefs were experimentally manipulated and students were exposed to STEM professors who endorsed either fixed or growth mindset beliefs. In Studies 3 (N = 291) and 4 (N = 902), we examined students' perceptions of their actual STEM professors' mindset beliefs and used experience sampling methodology (ESM) to capture their in-the-moment psychological experiences in those professors' classes. Across all studies, we find that students who perceive that their professor endorses more fixed mindset beliefs anticipate (Studies 1 and 2) and actually experience (Studies 3 and 4) more psychological vulnerability in those professors' classes-specifically, they report less belonging in class, greater evaluative concerns, greater imposter feelings, and greater negative affect. We also find that in-the-moment experiences of psychological vulnerability have downstream consequences. Students who perceive that their STEM professors endorse more fixed mindset beliefs experience greater psychological vulnerability in those professors' classes, which in turn predict greater dropout intentions, lower class attendance, less class engagement, less end-of-semester interest in STEM, and lower grades. These findings contribute to our understanding of how students' perceptions of professors' mindsets can serve as a situational cue that affects students' motivation, engagement, and performance in STEM. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Internal motivation to respond without prejudice fosters respectful responses in interracial interactions.

As society becomes increasingly racially diverse, fostering positive interracial interactions is more important than ever. Unfortunately, previous work suggests that there are barriers to positive interracial interactions including White people's concerns about being liked and being seen as nonprejudiced and Black people's concerns about being respected and being seen as competent (Bergsieker, Shelton, & Richeson, 2010). The current work tested the hypothesis that these seemingly divergent impression management concerns do not always lead White people to have an approach to interracial interactions that is "incompatible" with Black interaction partner's concerns about being respected. We argue that White people who are internally motivated to respond without prejudice (Plant & Devine, 1998) are aware that Black interaction partners want to be respected, are concerned about showing this respect, and demonstrate this respect by focusing on getting to know and engaging with Black interaction partners during interracial interactions. On the other hand, White people who are externally motivated to respond without prejudice are focused on their own concerns about appearing prejudiced and focus on themselves and their own experience rather the needs of Black interaction partners. The results of six studies supported our predictions. Overall, the current work provides an important link between research on impression management concerns and motivations to respond without prejudice and suggests that the key to cultivating positive interracial interactions may be to increase White people's internal motivation and knowledge that Black people want to be respected. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Feeling in with the outgroup: outgroup acceptance and the internalization of the motivation to respond without prejudice.

Over 10 years of research has illustrated the benefits of internal motivation to respond without prejudice (IMS) for prejudice regulation and high-quality intergroup contact (see Plant & Devine, 1998). Yet, it is unclear how this motivation develops. The current work tested one route through which feelings of acceptance from outgroup members facilitate the development of IMS. Longitudinally, feeling accepted by outgroup members predicted increases in IMS across a 15-week period (Study 1). Experimental manipulations of outgroup acceptance also increased IMS toward racial outgroups (Studies 2 and 3). Furthermore, IMS mediated the relationship between outgroup acceptance and participants' increased willingness to pay money to increase opportunities for interracial contact (Study 2). Tests of mediation also demonstrated that feelings of acceptance mediated the effect of outgroup acceptance on internal motivation (Study 3). In addition, this pattern of responses held for members of both high- and low-status racial groups. This research demonstrates one pathway through which the fulfillment of fundamental needs influences motivated intergroup processes.