How confronting bias in the classroom is helpful

When teachers and peers confront bias in the classroom, they are perceived positively and help reduce observers’ sexism in the short term.

It is inevitable that teachers will encounter biased statements in the college or university classroom.

Yet, how peers and teachers respond to these statements can change our view about both the confronter and the perpetrator of the bias. Boysen in 2013 conducted two experiments that would test the effects of confronting biased statements in the math classroom. In study 1, participants read a depiction of a classroom discussion where a male student claims, “Girls are dumb at math.” For half of the participants, the teacher confronted this biased statement, and for the other half of participants, the teacher ignored this statement.

Participants who read the depiction that included the confrontation of the biased statements rated the teacher more positively (more knowledgeable, less prejudiced, and more effective) and reported that they would feel more comfortable in class compared to participants in the ignore group. The student who made the biased statement was rated to be more offensive by participants in the confrontation group than participants in the ignore group, but not as more prejudiced. Participants in the confrontation group also scored lower on sexism than the ignore group. Study 2 compared situations where either the teacher or a fellow student confronted the biased statement. The person (i.e., either teacher or student) who confronts is viewed more positively than the person who does not confront. Regardless of if the teacher or fellow student confronts, observing the confrontation reduced observers’ sexism.

The author concludes that teachers and peers should confront bias in the classroom to improve their students’ perceptions of them, improve comfort in the classroom, and reduce sexism.

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Study Details

Sample size(s): Study 1 = 48, Study 2 = 56

Participants: Female students

Design: Quantitative, experimental

Reference:

Boysen, A. (2013). Confronting Math Stereotypes in the Classroom: Its Effect on Female College Students’ Sexism and Perceptions of Confronters. Sex Roles, 69(5–6), 297–307.

Summarized by WinSights team members: Emily Ana Butler, Bianca Dreyer, Catherine Palm & Adrianna Tassone