14 DAY TRIAL // A recent study showed that the 'genes'-related beliefs according to which men have a more logical thinking ability than women and therefore they are better at solving maths problems highly influenced women and caused them to have poorer maths test scores. The study was carried out by Canadian researchers at the University of British Columbia and their findings are published in the Science Journal.
The trial was conducted on female volunteers who were divided into 2 groups: some of them were asked to read 'genes 'essays and others normal essays which did not highlight the 'men are better at maths' idea. Then, subjects had to solve maths tests and results found that women who have read neutral essays which did not comprise the idea that 'men are genetically more gifted than women at solving maths problems' had considerably better test scores than their peers who began the test thinking that men would do better in it.
Co-researcher of the study Steven Heine, Associate Professor of Cultural Psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada said about people who believe in 'genes' theory, which make men more skilled in some fields than women and vice-versa: "They end up performing worse and 'proving' the stereotype. In this way, theories about how people behave can end up influencing how they behave."
Heine also added: "If you remind an African-American that they are black, they will do worse on an IQ test. If you remind a woman that she's a woman, she'll do worse on a math test. And if you remind a white athlete that he is white, he'll do worse on an athletics test."
Experts recommended that people should stop believing so much in such 'genes' theories. Instead, individuals worldwide should trust themselves and learn to properly auto-evaluate their abilities and skills. This phenomenon of 'stereotypes' is a threat to people's confidence in themselves and their performing their best when it comes to taking tests and fulfilling all kinds of activities which require their skills.
"People think of genetic influences on behavior in very deterministic ways. If you think there's a gene out there that's linked to some behavior, and you believe that you have this gene, then people do seem to view it as inescapable. I think our findings help explain why some people had such a negative reaction to Lawrence Summers' remarks. Because I think, at some level, they suspected what our studies show here: That some ideas can have very undesirable consequences," concluded Heine.