Young girls show implicit math-gender stereotypical associations in absence of stereotype awareness.

Whereas math-gender stereotypes have been found only starting from 9 years of age (e.g. Steffens et al., 2010), even 5-7-year old girls show performance deficits after the activation of negative stereotypes (e.g. Ambady et al., 2001). To disentangle these findings, we tested the hypothesis that implicit math-gender stereotypes could already be detected in young girls, long before explicit ones. We measured implicit and explicit gender stereotypes, math performance, and attitudes towards math and reading in 6-year-olds. We also assessed parents’ implicit and explicit gender stereotypes, and expectations for their children. Children were assigned to a stereotype threat, control, or stereotype lift condition. Girls, but not boys, revealed a strong implicit math-gender stereotype (via Child-IAT). Moreover, girls’ implicit gender stereotype significantly changed across conditions: it was stronger in the stereotype threat condition and weaker in the stereotype lift condition as compared to the control condition. Importantly, neither boys nor girls showed stereotype awareness. However, children’s attitudes were in line with gender stereotypes: boys reported a preference for math and girls self-reported a preference for reading. Interestingly, parents’ explicit stereotypes and expectations predicted girls but not boys’ attitudes. Possible intervention strategies will be discussed in the light of this early “internalization” of gender stereotypes and their malleability for girls.