Design-a-scientist avatar: A new tool for analyzing gender and racial scientist stereotypes

Abstract

Representations of scientists have been shown to be influenced by gender and racial/ethnic stereotypes, in which scientists have been typically depicted as White males. Such stereotypes can have negative effects on women and ethnic minoritized individuals’ intention to participate in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The current study used a new method based on the Draw-a-Scientist task to evaluate US undergraduate students’ ( N  = 371, M age  = 19.10, SD  = 1.90) perceptions of scientists via their development of a scientist avatar relative to their explicit STEM stereotypes and color-blind racial attitudes. The skin tone selected for the scientist avatars was also assessed to confirm the utility of the Design-a-Scientist Avatar app. Preliminary results indicated that the saturation and brightness of the skin tones were correlated with scientist avatars described as White or Black. Furthermore, factors such as gender and gender stereotypes were influential for participants’ likelihood of creating a female scientist, and participants’ race/ethnicity, racial/ethnic stereotypes, and color-blind racial attitudes were influential for their likelihood of creating a Black or Latino scientist. The results from this study demonstrate a need for more diverse and inclusive STEM environments and potential interventions to change perceptions around scientists. Moreover, this study introduces a new digital version of the Design-A-Scientist task that can be easily disseminated to collect quantifiable data in the assessment of scientist stereotypes across broader sample populations.