Inducing and Mitigating Stereotype Threat Through Gendered Virtual Body-Swap Illusions

Abstract

A psychological phenomenon termed has been shown to contribute to women's underperformance and underrepresentation in math and science fields. Within the virtual reality literature, a recent study utilized gendered body-swap illusions (i.e., women in male virtual bodies) to mitigate the effects of stereotype threat among a sample of female participants. The present research provides a much needed replication of this intervention, as well as a critical extension of virtual reality research on the Proteus Effect to test whether stereotype threat can be induced among male participants immersed in a female virtual body. Results supported both the replication and extension hypotheses; female participants embodied in male avatars were buffered from stereotype threat whereas male participants embodied in female avatars suffered from stereotype threat. Avatar gender also influenced participants' math confidence and awareness of the negative societal stereotype regarding women's math ability.