Thank you thank you! :) You are one of the select few persons to express any kind of interest in my research! :)).....I have to literally threaten my husband with all kinds of dire consequences to get him to listen to what I do...Had literally given up on engineers as a result! :D
Coming to my research, I have been looking at the effects of academic peer reputations (for example, If i were a kid in grade 7, what the other girls in my class thought about my ability and affect/liking in English, math and science) on self-perceived ability/affect in those three subject areas (academic self-concept).
Based on prior literature which shows these subjects to be highly gender stereotyped--i.e., English is considered to be a predominantly female domain, while math and science are considered to be inherently male pursuits, I hypothesized that girls would be more sensitive to what their peers (the other girls in their class) thought about their ability in a gender normative area, i.e., English for girls, and therefore the peer reputations in the English domain would have strong effects on a girls self-perceived ability and affect in English, while boys would be more sensitive to peer reputations in the math and science subjects, and those would influence their self perceived ability and liking for these subjects.
I found that indeed girls self-perceived ability in English is significantly affected by what the other girls think about her ability in English, and for boys, their self perceived ability in math and science was significantly related to what their peers (the other boys in their class) thought about their ability in these areas. Therefore, if I were a girl in one of these grades, the results indicate that my perceptions of my ability in English are affected by what the other girls think about my ability in English. So if they think I am good at english, I too tend to think I am good at it. And this link is stronger in English, than what the girl's peers think about her ability in math or science and how she herself thinks about her ability in these subjects. (hope I am making sense!).
As an indian, I wasn't even really aware of this gender dichotomy till I came to the US and read up the literature on it (since in India every student worth his/her salt is supposed to either become a doctor or an engineer ! :) ). Also, India is considered to be a 'collectivist' country, so I imagine that kids would be even more affected by what their peer's perceptions of their ability. ....This lead to a cross cultural exploratory study on academic self-concepts and peer reputations between the kids in India and the US. I had collected a little data when I was in India last year, but am still in the process of statistically analysing that data. Some preliminary analyses however have thrown up some really interesting findings(well-to me anyways!:) ) ....According to the data, it appears that kids in India have a really positive view of their ability in English, math and science, and this is significantly higher than what the american kids think about their ability in these three subjects. And quite contrary to the western view of India being 'collectivistic', it was the kids in america who had more positive reputations with their peers than the kids in India. This is still in the very primitive stages of analysis, so I'm afraid I can't really say why this could be happening...
Whoa! thats a mini thesis I wrote out for you! Hope you haven't gotten all cross-eyed as a result :) ...Also, I wonder if I made any sense (am really not used to blogging about my research...)
I will be more than happy to send you a copy of my papers.... (do I see you shaking your head in disbelief at my audacity to offer you more of this mumbo-jumbo!!! LOL):)
wow ... that really sounds like fun work ! In India we are constantly told that our system of Math & Science in K-thru-12 is among the best (and most demanding) in the world. Maybe that is one of the factors that helps us think we are good at math and science. I would love to read your work .... I wont probably inderstand, but I can try :) I can be reached at varsha.rao-at-gmail
You are one of the select few persons to express any kind of interest in my research! :)).....I have to literally threaten my husband with all kinds of dire consequences to get him to listen to what I do...Had literally given up on engineers as a result! :D
Coming to my research, I have been looking at the effects of academic peer reputations (for example, If i were a kid in grade 7, what the other girls in my class thought about my ability and affect/liking in English, math and science) on self-perceived ability/affect in those three subject areas (academic self-concept).
Based on prior literature which shows these subjects to be highly gender stereotyped--i.e., English is considered to be a predominantly female domain, while math and science are considered to be inherently male pursuits, I hypothesized that girls would be more sensitive to what their peers (the other girls in their class) thought about their ability in a gender normative area, i.e., English for girls, and therefore the peer reputations in the English domain would have strong effects on a girls self-perceived ability and affect in English, while boys would be more sensitive to peer reputations in the math and science subjects, and those would influence their self perceived ability and liking for these subjects.
I found that indeed girls self-perceived ability in English is significantly affected by what the other girls think about her ability in English, and for boys, their self perceived ability in math and science was significantly related to what their peers (the other boys in their class) thought about their ability in these areas. Therefore, if I were a girl in one of these grades, the results indicate that my perceptions of my ability in English are affected by what the other girls think about my ability in English. So if they think I am good at english, I too tend to think I am good at it. And this link is stronger in English, than what the girl's peers think about her ability in math or science and how she herself thinks about her ability in these subjects. (hope I am making sense!).
As an indian, I wasn't even really aware of this gender dichotomy till I came to the US and read up the literature on it (since in India every student worth his/her salt is supposed to either become a doctor or an engineer ! :) ). Also, India is considered to be a 'collectivist' country, so I imagine that kids would be even more affected by what their peer's perceptions of their ability. ....This lead to a cross cultural exploratory study on academic self-concepts and peer reputations between the kids in India and the US. I had collected a little data when I was in India last year, but am still in the process of statistically analysing that data. Some preliminary analyses however have thrown up some really interesting findings(well-to me anyways!:) ) ....According to the data, it appears that kids in India have a really positive view of their ability in English, math and science, and this is significantly higher than what the american kids think about their ability in these three subjects. And quite contrary to the western view of India being 'collectivistic', it was the kids in america who had more positive reputations with their peers than the kids in India. This is still in the very primitive stages of analysis, so I'm afraid I can't really say why this could be happening...
Whoa! thats a mini thesis I wrote out for you! Hope you haven't gotten all cross-eyed as a result :) ...Also, I wonder if I made any sense (am really not used to blogging about my research...)
I will be more than happy to send you a copy of my papers.... (do I see you shaking your head in disbelief at my audacity to offer you more of this mumbo-jumbo!!! LOL):)
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