Effects of directed thinking about role models on attitudes toward math and science

Abstract

The current experiments examined whether directed thinking about role models could increase students' attitudes toward pursuing math and science. Directed thinking involves persuasive strategies where individuals generate their own ideas or arguments (McGuire & McGuire, 1991). We predicted that directed thinking about role models would make role models more salient to students at the time they evaluated their attitudes toward math and science, leading to more positive attitudes (Study 1). In addition, we thought generating a few role models (as opposed to many) would be most effective (Study 2). In Study 1, some evidence supported the manipulation was effective for math attitudes, but no support was found in Study 2. We thought that students' self-generated role models may not have possessed resilience, possibly an important quality for inspiration, so we tried having students read about resilient role models (Study 3). The results of Study 3 did not support this prediction