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Reichardt, Regina ; Röttger, Mareike ; Mann, Frauke ; Renschler, Nicole ; Mangels, Jana ; Degner, Juliane

Gender stereotypes about psychological science: Female, male, or both?

Reichardt, Regina , Röttger, Mareike, Mann, Frauke, Renschler, Nicole, Mangels, Jana and Degner, Juliane (2025) Gender stereotypes about psychological science: Female, male, or both? Acta Psychologica 260, p. 105443.

Date of publication of this fulltext: 09 Sep 2025 04:35
Article
DOI to cite this document: 10.5283/epub.77670


Abstract

While the science = male stereotype has been demonstrated in the natural sciences, little is known about gender stereotypes about psychological science. Studying gender stereotypes about psychological science is particularly interesting due to the divergent hypotheses that can be derived from previous research and theory. On the one hand, psychological science may be stereotyped as male because ...

While the science = male stereotype has been demonstrated in the natural sciences, little is known about gender stereotypes about psychological science. Studying gender stereotypes about psychological science is particularly interesting due to the divergent hypotheses that can be derived from previous research and theory. On the one hand, psychological science may be stereotyped as male because men are overrepresented in higher academic positions and scientific contributions. On the other hand, psychological science may be stereotyped as female because it is the science of human feeling, thinking and behaving – a subject considered to be stereotypically female. The aim of the present research was to provide empirical evidence on gender stereotypes about psychological science among students of psychology. In three preregistered online studies (total N = 630) conducted at German-speaking universities, we measured various facets of gender stereotypes about psychological science, students' sense of belonging in the academic field and their psychological science-related identity. Self-report measures revealed a female gender stereotype about psychological science, albeit participants reported awareness of the male overrepresentation among psychology professors. Perceived gender ratios correlated with gender stereotypes. Furthermore, gender stereotypes were related to sense of belonging in the academic field among female students. The present findings contribute to a better understanding of gender-related phenomena in the domain of psychological science.



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Details

Item typeArticle
Journal or Publication TitleActa Psychologica
Publisher:Elsevier
Volume:260
Page Range:p. 105443
Date2 September 2025
InstitutionsHuman Sciences > Institut für Psychologie
Human Sciences > Institut für Psychologie > Lehrstuhl für Psychologie VI (Pädagogische Psychologie) - Prof. Dr. Christof Kuhbandner
Identification Number
ValueType
10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105443DOI
KeywordsGender stereotypes, Psychological science, Sense of belonging, Science identity, Leaky pipeline, Gender gap in academia
Dewey Decimal Classification100 Philosophy & psychology > 150 Psychology
StatusPublished
RefereedYes, this version has been refereed
Created at the University of RegensburgPartially
URN of the UB Regensburgurn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-776707
Item ID77670

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