Inequality remains a persistent issue affecting minorities across all domains. In the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) field, women often encounter barriers due to gender biases...Show moreInequality remains a persistent issue affecting minorities across all domains. In the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) field, women often encounter barriers due to gender biases leading to unequal treatment and opportunities for the individual. It was found that perceiving either or both types of inequalities (inequality of outcomes and inequality of opportunities) can impact one’s motivation. This study merges the two into one and therefore investigates the effect of priming for inequality on student’s academic motivation in STEM subjects, aiming to contribute to the broader understanding of gender inequality in STEM and therefore facilitate its reduction. Past research has mostly addressed challenges and barriers women face in STEM, yet gaps persist in understanding how other factors such as academic motivation get impacted by perceiving inequality and how that again influences the woman’s experience in STEM. Results indicate that priming for inequality did not significantly affect academic motivation and that there is no significant difference between males and females, challenging previous findings. Potential explanations include study limitations such as an ineffective priming technique or a non-representative sample. The findings necessitate for future studies to reevaluate existing findings and explore other factors that could influence this relationship. Furthermore, future studies should explore other priming techniques and employ a more specific priming.Show less
Career goal ambitions profoundly shape an individual’s life. Influencing self-esteem, and strategic career-related planning and decision-making, they are crucial determinants for the course of one...Show moreCareer goal ambitions profoundly shape an individual’s life. Influencing self-esteem, and strategic career-related planning and decision-making, they are crucial determinants for the course of one’s career development. However, inequality of opportunity and inequality of outcomes can influence career goal ambitions. This study explores whether contemplating inequality affects career goals, particularly investigating gender differences. Data from 300 U.S. American post-secondary students (61.3% female) was analysed using the Career Aspiration Scale Revised (CAS-R). The results of the first analysis testing if being prompted for inequality decreases career goal ambitions compared to a control group were insignificant. For the moderation hypothesis examining the effect of gender on career goal ambitions after being prompted for inequality, the interaction model was significant. However, only the main effect of gender was significant, with females scoring higher than males. These findings suggest that while contemplating inequality does not alter career goals, females consistently display higher aspirations than males. Limitations include potential prompt misunderstanding and sample characteristics. Future research should target economically disadvantaged populations, populations with higher and lower average age and samples from countries with higher gender inequality.Show less
Upward mobility perceptions contribute to the acceptance of high economic inequality rates, so it becomes important to understand how mobility perceptions relate to redistributive behavior....Show moreUpward mobility perceptions contribute to the acceptance of high economic inequality rates, so it becomes important to understand how mobility perceptions relate to redistributive behavior. Previous research indicates a negative relationship between perceived economic mobility and redistributive behavior. Additionally, it was suggested that this relationship might be partially explained by the orientation of attributions about one’s socioeconomic position. The current experimental study (N = 301), consisting of a two-by-two, between-subjects design, aims to contribute to this by investigating the mediating effects of internal attribution. The findings indicate that internal attributions were not associated with mobility perceptions, nor did they indirectly influence the relationship between mobility perceptions and redistributive behavior. However, the findings did indicate a direct positive relationship between mobility perceptions and redistributive behavior. Because this was contrary to what was expected, the study provides the understanding that the relationship between mobility perceptions and redistributive behavior should be cautiously assumed.Show less
The objective of this research paper is to examine the correlational relationship between the perception of social mobility and internalized female sexualization moderated by income. Recent studies...Show moreThe objective of this research paper is to examine the correlational relationship between the perception of social mobility and internalized female sexualization moderated by income. Recent studies have found evidence of existing relationships between female sexualization and perception of social mobility or female sexualization and income. However, no study to date has documented a moderation analysis and investigated how those three variables are related. This study aims to fill this gap in academic research. The quantitative data was collected by means of a survey from primarily young and educated women from the United States. Results yielded no significant correlational relationship between the perception of social mobility and internalized female sexualization and no significant moderation between the perception of social mobility and internalized female sexualization moderated by income. This paper nonetheless contributes to the literature on this topic and helps path the way into longitudinal research on the beliefs of women and their internalized sexualization in regards to the perception of social mobility.Show less
