While women's representation in STEM fields has increased over the past several decades, some fields have seen a greater increase women's participation than others. In the present research, we explore how women's participation in STEM disciplines influences labeling of those disciplines as hard vs. soft sciences. Study 1 found that increasing perceived participation of women in a STEM discipline increased the likelihood that participants would label it a soft science. Study 2 found that among people who did not work in science, this tendency to associate women's participation with soft science was correlated with endorsement of stereotypes about women's STEM competency. And Studies 3A and 3B showed that labeling disciplines as soft sciences led to the fields being devalued, deemed less rigorous, and less worthy of federal funding. These studies show that stereotypes about women's STEM competency can impact perceptions of fields in which women participate, with consequences for how scientific disciplines are perceived.

虽然在过去的几十年里，女性在 STEM 领域的代表人数有所增加，但某些领域的女性参与度比其他领域增加得更多。在目前的研究中，我们探讨了女性对 STEM 学科的参与如何影响将这些学科标记为硬科学与软科学。研究 1 发现，增加女性对 STEM 学科的感知参与度增加了参与者将其标记为软科学的可能性。研究 2 发现，在没有从事科学工作的人中，这种将女性参与与软科学联系起来的倾向与认可关于女性 STEM 能力的刻板印象有关。研究 3A 和 3B 表明，将学科标记为软科学会导致该领域贬值，被认为不那么严格，并且不太值得联邦资助。这些研究表明，对女性 STEM 能力的刻板印象会影响对女性参与领域的看法，从而对科学学科的看法产生影响。