Background: Students with marginalized identities can experience identity threats in higher education. Instructors can help improve student outcomes by using identity safety cues (ISCs), which signal to marginalized groups that their identities are valued. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether including ISCs in course syllabi could improve students’ belonging-related outcomes and whether these outcomes differ based on instructor gender. Method: Using an experimental design, undergraduate students viewed a syllabus that included or excluded ISCs from either a White male or female professor. Participants reported their anticipated belonging and instructor impressions. Results: Participants reported greater expected engagement and field belonging and had more positive impressions of the instructor when the syllabus included ISCs compared to the control syllabus. Instructor gender had a minimal impact on participants’ outcomes and impressions. Conclusion: This work demonstrates including ISCs in course syllabi can positively impact students when course instructors are White men or women. Teaching Implications: ISCs improved participants’ anticipated engagement and field belonging regardless of instructor gender. This work suggests instructors can improve students’ first impressions and intentions by including ISCs in their course syllabi.
BichselJ.ChristidisP.ConroyJ.LinL. (2019). Datapoint: Diversity among psychology faculty. Monitor on Psychology, 50(9), 11.
2.
ChaneyK. E.SanchezD. T. (2018). Gender-inclusive bathrooms signal fairness across identity dimensions. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9(2), 245-253. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617737601
3.
ChaneyK. E.SanchezD. T.MaimonM. R. (2019). Stigmatized identity cues in consumer spaces. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 29(1), 130-141. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1075
4.
ChaneyK. E.SanchezD. T.RemediosJ. D. (2016). Organizational identity safety cue transfers. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42(11), 1564-1576. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167216665096
5.
ChaneyK. E.SanchezD. T.RemediosJ. D. (2018). We are in this together: How the presence of similarly stereotyped allies buffer against identity threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 79, 410-422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.09.005
6.
CheryanS.MeltzoffA. N.KimS. (2011). Classrooms matter: The design of virtual classrooms influences gender disparities in computer science classes. Computers & Education, 57(2), 1825-1835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.02.004
7.
CheryanS.PlautV. C.DaviesP. G.SteeleC. M. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), 1045-1060. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016239
8.
DennehyT. C.DasguptaN. (2017). Female peer mentors early in college increase women’s positive academic experiences and retention in engineering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(23), 5964-5969. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1613117114
FaulF.ErdfelderE.BuchnerA.LangA.-G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1149-1160. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149
11.
FuentesM. A.ZelayaD. G.MadsenJ. W. (2021). Rethinking the course syllabus: Considerations for promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion. Teaching of Psychology, 48(1), 69-79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628320959979
12.
GalinskyA. D.ToddA. R.HomanA. C.PhillipsK. W.ApfelbaumE. P.SasakiS. J.RichesonJ. A.OlayonJ. B.MadduxW. W. (2015). Maximizing the gains and minimizing the pains of diversity: A policy perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(6), 742-748. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615598513
13.
GurinP.DeyE.HurtadoS.GurinG. (2002). Diversity and higher education: Theory and impact on educational outcomes. Harvard Educational Review, 72(3), 330-367. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.72.3.01151786u134n051
14.
HandelsmanM. M.BriggsW. L.SullivanN.TowlerA. (2005). A measure of college student course engagement. The Journal of Educational Research, 98(3), 184-192. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOER.98.3.184-192
15.
HoA. K.SidaniusJ.KteilyN.Sheehy-SkeffingtonJ.PrattoF.HenkelK. E.FoelsR.StewartA. L. (2015). The nature of social dominance orientation: Theorizing and measuring preferences for intergroup inequality using the new SDO7 scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(6), 1003-1028
16.
HowanskyK.MaimonM.SanchezD. (2021). Identity safety cues predict instructor impressions, belonging, and absences in the psychology classroom. Teaching of Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628321990362
17.
JohnsonI. R.PietriE. S.FulliloveF.MowrerS. (2019). Exploring identity-safety cues and allyship among black women students in STEM environments. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 43(2), 131-150. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684319830926
18.
LeeJ. K.AlstonA. T.KahnK. B. (2015). Identity threat in the classroom: Review of women’s motivational experiences in the sciences. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 1(4), 321-330. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000050
19.
LinL.StammK.ChristidisP. (2018). Demographics of the U.S. psychology workforce: Findings from the 2007–-16 American community survey. [Data set] (pp. 1-24). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/e506742018-001
20.
MurphyM. C.SteeleC. M.GrossJ. J. (2007). Signaling threat: How situational cues affect women in math, science, and engineering settings. Psychological Science, 18(10), 879-885.
21.
NusbaumA. T.SwindellS.PlemonsA. (2020). Kindness at first sight: The role of syllabi in impression formation. Teaching of Psychology, 48, 009862832095995. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628320959953
22.
PietriE. S.HennesE. P.DovidioJ. F.BrescollV. L.BaileyA. H.Moss-RacusinC. A.HandelsmanJ. (2019). Addressing unintended consequences of gender diversity interventions on women’s sense of belonging in STEM. Sex Roles, 80(9–10), 527-547. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0952-2
23.
Purdie-VaughnsV.SteeleC. M.DaviesP. G.DitlmannR.CrosbyJ. R. (2008). Social identity contingencies: How diversity cues signal threat or safety for African Americans in mainstream institutions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(4), 615-630. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.4.615
24.
QuinnD. M.ChaudoirS. R. (2009). Living with a concealable stigmatized identity: The impact of anticipated stigma, centrality, salience, and cultural stigma on psychological distress and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(4), 634-651. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015815
25.
QuinnD. M.EarnshawV. A. (2013). Concealable stigmatized identities and psychological well-being. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(1), 40-51. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12005
26.
SteeleC. M.SpencerS. J.AronsonJ. (2002). Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 34, pp. 379-440). Academic Press.
27.
StoutJ. G.DasguptaN.HunsingerM.McManusM. A. (2011). STEMing the tide: Using ingroup experts to inoculate women’s self-concept in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(2), 255-270. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021385
28.
WaltonG. M.CohenG. L. (2007). A question of belonging: Race, social fit, and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(1), 82-96. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.1.82
