Warmth portrayals to recruit students into science majors

Abstract

Negative perception of scientists is disquieting for the future of science and US economic and scientific competitiveness. Drawing on studies suggesting that warmth guides people’s judgments of social groups and professions, this study aims to communicate the interpersonal warmth of scientists using two non-verbal behaviors, namely, smiling and collaboration. Building on the visual communication literature, posters were used in a 2 x 2 x 3 within-subject, online experiment in the context of College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, as a test case for Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) colleges. Analyses showed main and interaction effects of smile and collaboration on warmth judgments. Students who smile were perceived as warmer than those who don’t smile. Further, students who collaborate were perceived as warmer than an individual student who works alone. Finally, students who collaborate and smile were perceived as higher in interpersonal warmth than those who work alone without smiling. Implications for the use of visuals to communicate warmth and change scientists’ negative stereotypes are discussed.