Gender Differences in Mathematics and the Sciences: Can Attributional Retraining Improve the Performance of Gifted Females?

Abstract

There are probably no subject areas in which the problem of reducing gender differences is as urgent as in mathematics and the hard sciences. In this article, we provide a topical overview of the participation rates of girls and women in schools and universities, with an emphasis on the situation in Germany. We then discuss several attempts to explain these differences and show that until recently not enough attention has been paid to the girls' and women's self-related cognitions in these domains. They underestimate their own talents in mathematics and the sciences and, from a motivational perspective, attribute their successes and failures in such a way as to further inhibit motivation. Attributional retraining techniques could provide a solution to the problems of lowered motivation and performance. These retraining techniques have proved successful in clinical and laboratory settings, but they have not been tried in natural settings like schools and universities. Following an overview of the most important attributional retraining techniques, we describe two studies carried out with German high school students in mathematics and with female university students in statistics. Using an attributional retraining technique we developed, both studies report extremely promising results. Finally, on the basis of these studies, suggestions for further research are made.

Predictive Factors of Literacy Achievement in Young Gifted Children in Rural Schools

“…However, Dai (2002) noted concerns that girls may react to failure in a maladaptive fashion and that social pressures and expectations may influence their desire to succeed. Findings by Heller and Ziegler (1996) with a sample of female university students support this concern, with participants more likely to attribute failure to their own ability rather than effort.…”

“…It is worth noting, however, that previous performance doesn't consistently support students' stronger self-efficacy beliefs (Dai, 2002), indicating the source of their self-efficacy may instead be verbal persuasions, vicarious experiences, or emotional arousal (Bandura, 1977). Regardless of the source of their self-efficacy, gender differences in domainspecific self-efficacy are more pronounced and can be observed from a young age (Heller & Ziegler, 1996). With time, however, students' self-efficacy should become more accurate as they base their causal attributions on past performances (Junge & Dretzke, 1995).…”

“…Many factors influence the gender gap in achievement, including selfesteem, self-perception of ability, attribution, and locus of control (Li & Adamson, 1995). For instance, girls' attributions of success and failure in math and science tend to decrease their motivation (Heller & Ziegler, 1996), which is then connected to their achievement (McCoach & Siegle, 2003). Therefore, it is important to consider gender differences not only in terms of quantitative comparisons of achievement, but also as qualitative indicators of patterns of behaviors and developmental paths (Dai, 2002).…”

“…Although performance differences based on gender seem to be diminishing with time, boys still maintain an advantage in math (Schwery et al, 2016), and such gender differences in achievement may be explained by stereotype threat (Dai, 2002). Notably, girls may be at risk of experiencing greater social-evaluative pressure than their male counterparts (Dai, 2002;Heller & Ziegler, 1996). As a result, girls are more likely to underestimate their own ability in domains such as math and science (Heller & Ziegler, 1996), even though researchers generally agree there are no differences between girls' and boys' innate ability to do math (Olszewski-Kubilius & Lee, 2011).…”

“…Notably, girls may be at risk of experiencing greater social-evaluative pressure than their male counterparts (Dai, 2002;Heller & Ziegler, 1996). As a result, girls are more likely to underestimate their own ability in domains such as math and science (Heller & Ziegler, 1996), even though researchers generally agree there are no differences between girls' and boys' innate ability to do math (Olszewski-Kubilius & Lee, 2011). Because the fear of failure may be more relevant than the fear of success (Dai, 2002), such underestimations stemming from stereotype threat may contribute to the gender gap in achievement.…”