Despite advances in recent years, women continue to be
underrepresented in math and science careers. According to the
National Science Foundation, while women account for more than
half of U.S. undergraduates and graduate students, they make up
less than one-third of all bachelor's degree recipients in the
physical and computer sciences, and less than a quarter of all
graduate degree recipients in engineering and mathematics. But
research by psychologist Michael Inzlicht, PhD, holds the
potential to help close this gender gap--as well as a similar
racial gap between African Americans and whites in higher
education. Inzlicht, whose research is funded by a $10,000 grant
from the Rosalee G. and Raymond A. Weiss Research and Program
Innovation Fund of the American Psychological Foundation, posits
that these gaps are caused in part by "stereotype threat," or
worrying about one's risk of confirming a negative stereotype
about one's group. More specifically, he's found that stereotype
threat drains the self-control