0 citations0 references

Bystanders to Bias: Witnessing Gendered Microaggressions Affects Men’s and Women’s Outcomes in STEM Small Group Contexts

Behavioral Sciences2025Vol. 15(2), pp. 215–215

Nadia Vossoughi, Logan C. Burley, Ryan P. Foley, Lorelle Meadows, Denise Sekaquaptewa

Abstract

We tested whether merely witnessing gendered microaggressions affects group work experiences among male and female undergraduate computer science and engineering students. Across three experiments (N = 753), we randomly assigned computer science and engineering students to witness microaggressions targeting female students, or control interactions, using a video manipulation. Witnessing microaggressions-compared to the control-resulted in heightened gender-specific stereotyping concerns, with women being concerned about appearing incompetent and men being concerned with appearing sexist. For both women and men, witnessing microaggressions resulted in decreased enthusiasm for participating in group work. Moreover, for women, the relationship between decreased enthusiasm and witnessing microaggressions was partially mediated by increased concerns about being stereotyped as incompetent. Across the experiments, mixed results emerged regarding the effect of witnessing microaggressions on the recall of engineering content in the video. This research extends previous work focused on personally experiencing microaggressions to merely witnessing them, showing that positivity toward anticipated group work is diminished for both women and men when they see peers engaging in microaggressions.

Abstract

Related Papers