The goal of the study was twofold: (1) to examine the relationship between the gender-stereotyped perceptions of prototypic peers excelling in different school subjects and the personal liking for these subjects;(2) to examine whether the popularity of adolescents depends on their gender-role congruent achievement at school. Participants were n=198 8th and 9th graders. Prototypical male and female peers preferring physics were conceived of as possessing more masculine and fewer feminine traits compared to prototypes favouring music. The distance between self-image and description of prototype varied according to sex and the favourite school subject the prototypic peer was associated with. Students preferred physics/music to the extent that they conceived of themselves as similar to the physics/music prototype. Analysis of variance on presumed popularity of male and female peers excelling in physical science or music showed that boys appear to sanction gender role nonconformity (disliking girls with the favourite subject physics and boys with the favourite subject music), while girls are perceived as liking peers who favour physics less than peers who favour music, regardless of their sex. Female participants excelling in physical science did report feeling unpopular with boys, whereas male participants excelling in music did not.School is not only a setting were children and adolescents pursue the acquisition of knowledge and competencies related to different subjects or the best grades possible, it also serves them as a context for developing an understanding about who they are, an understanding that will shape their self-concept or identity. Fries, Schmid, Dietz, and Hofer (in this issue) suggest that the academic motivation of adolescents might be affected by incompatibilities between educational goals in general and other goals and values. Similarly, this paper argues that academic motivation might also be affected by incompatibilities between certain educational demands and the identity development of adolescents. Specifically, the paper will focus on the potential incongruity between interest in sex-typed school subjects and the acquisition of gender-related identity aspects.
The findings indicate that students' negative explicit attitudes towards physics coincide with negative implicit associations about physics. An intervention addressing the alteration of implicit associations proved to be fruitful. Implications for science education are discussed.
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