Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Persistent racial and ethnic disparities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education not only reflect barriers to opportunity but also limit the nation's scientific and economic potential. Drawing on research across psychology, education, and organizational studies, this paper examines how classroom culture—specifically, the shared beliefs and norms about whether ability is fixed or malleable—can shape student motivation, belonging, and retention in STEM. These classroom mindset cultures are communicated through peer behaviors, shaped by instructors’ practices, and anchored in organizational narratives. When signals from peers, educators, and institutions reinforce fixed beliefs about ability, they disproportionately undermine motivation and belonging for minoritized students. Conversely, when institutions align peer norms, instructional practices, and institutional messaging to normalize academic struggles and emphasize effortful growth over innate ability, they can create psychologically safe learning environments that support belonging and persistence. A range of potential policy recommendations at the peer, instructor, and institutional levels could strengthen STEM retention and broaden participation.

Keywords

mindset belonging motivation equity STEM

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Albert

Chein

Steinberg

(2013). The teenage brain: Peer influences on adolescent decision making. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(2), 114–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412471347

Ames

(1992). Achievement goals and the classroom motivational climate. In Schunk

D. H.

Meece

J. L.

(Eds.), Student perceptions in the classroom (pp. 327–348). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203052532-19

Bauer

C. A.

Poddar

Brummelman

Cimpian

(2025, April 23-27). Contexts that emphasize brilliance as necessary for success can undermine equity: The brilliance-belonging model [Conference Presentation]. American Educational Research Association.

Bian

Leslie

S.-J.

Murphy

M. C.

Cimpian

(2018). Messages about brilliance undermine women's interest in educational and professional opportunities. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 404–420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2017.11.006

Bronfenbrenner

Morris

P. A.

(2006). The bio-ecological model of human development. In Damon

Lerner

R. M.

(Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Theoretical models of human development (pp. 793–828). Wiley.

Campbell

M. R.

Brauer

(2021). Is discrimination widespread? Testing assumptions about bias on a university campus. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 150(4), 756–777. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000983

Canning

E. A.

Muenks

Green

D. J.

Murphy

M. C.

(2019). STEM Faculty who believe ability is fixed have larger racial achievement gaps and inspire less student motivation in their classes. Science Advances, 5(2), eaau4734. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau4734

Canning

E. A.

Murphy

M. C.

Emerson

K. T. U.

Chatman

J. A.

Dweck

C. S.

Kray

L. J.

(2020). Cultures of genius at work: Organizational mindsets predict cultural norms, trust, and commitment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46(4), 626–642. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167219872473

Canning

E. A.

Ozier

Williams

H. E.

AlRasheed

Murphy

M. C.

(2022). Professors who signal a fixed mindset about ability undermine women’s performance in STEM. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 13(5), 927–937. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506211030398

10.

Chang

(2004). The role of classroom norms in contextualizing the relations of children’s social behaviors to peer acceptance. Developmental Psychology, 40(5), 691–702. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.5.691

11.

Chen

Jiang

Justice

L. M.

Lin

T.-J.

Purtell

K. M.

Ansari

(2020). Influences of teacher–child relationships and classroom social management on child-perceived peer social experiences during early school years. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 586991. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.586991

12.

Cheryan

Plaut

V. C.

Handron

Hudson

(2013). The stereotypical computer scientist: Gendered media representations as a barrier to inclusion for women. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 69(1-2), 58–71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-013-0296-x

13.

Diekman

A. B.

Clark

E. K.

Johnston

A. M.

Brown

E. R.

Steinberg

(2011). Malleability in communal goals and beliefs influences attraction to STEM careers: Evidence for a goal congruity perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(5), 902–918. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025199

14.

Donohue

T. J.

(2019, September 16). Why greater diversity is an economic imperative. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. https://www.uschamber.com/employment-law/why-greater-diversity-economic-imperative

15.

Eaton

A. A.

Saunders

J. F.

Jacobson

R. K.

West

(2020). How gender and race stereotypes impact the advancement of scholars in STEM: Professors’ biased evaluations of physics and biology post-doctoral candidates. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 82(3-4), 127–141. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01052-w

16.

Emerson

K. T. U.

Murphy

M. C.

(2015). A company I can trust? Organizational lay theories moderate stereotype threat for women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(2), 295–307. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214564969

17.

Espinosa

L. L.

(2011). Pipelines and pathways: Women of color in STEM majors and the experiences that shape their persistence. Harvard Educational Review, 81(2), 209–241. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.81.2.92315ww157656k3u

18.

Frisby

B. N.

Martin

M. M.

(2010). Instructor–student and student–student rapport in the classroom. Communication Education, 59(2), 146–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520903564362

19.

Fry

Kennedy

Funk

(2021, April 1). STEM jobs see uneven progress in increasing gender, racial and ethnic diversity. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2021/04/01/stem-jobs-see-uneven-progress-in-increasing-gender-racial-and-ethnic-diversity/

20.

Graves

J. L.

Jr. Kearney

Barabino

Malcom

(2022). Inequality in science and the case for a new agenda. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(10), e2117831119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117831119

21.

Hatfield

Brown

Topaz

C. M.

(2022). Do introductory courses disproportionately drive minoritized students out of STEM pathways? PNAS Nexus, 1(4), pgac167. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac167

22.

Hecht

C. A.

Bryan

C. J.

Yeager

D. S.

(2023a). A values-aligned intervention fosters growth mindset–supportive teaching and reduces inequality in educational outcomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(25), e2210704120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210704120

23.

Hecht

C. A.

Buontempo

Boylan

Crosnoe

Yeager

D. S.

(2024). Mindsets, contexts, and college enrollment: Taking the long view on growth mindset beliefs at the transition to high school. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 34(4), 1201–1207. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.13002

24.

Hecht

C. A.

Dweck

C. S.

Murphy

M. C.

Kroeper

K. M.

Yeager

D. S.

(2023b). Efficiently exploring the causal role of contextual moderators in behavioral science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(1), e2216315120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2216315120

25.

Hecht

C. A.

Murphy

M. C.

Dweck

C. S.

Bryan

C. J.

Trzesniewski

K. H.

Medrano

F. N.

Giani

Mhatre

Yeager

D. S.

(2023c). Shifting the mindset culture to address global educational disparities. NPJ Science of Learning, 8(1), 29. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-023-00181-y

26.

Jaxon

Lei

R. F.

Shachnai

Chestnut

E. K.

Cimpian

(2019). The acquisition of gender stereotypes about intellectual ability: Intersections with race. Journal of Social Issues, 75(4), 1192–1215. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12352

27.

Kelley

(2025, April 18). NSF begins terminating select grant funding. Nextgov/FCW. https://www.nextgov.com/policy/2025/04/nsf-begins-terminating-select-grant-funding/404698/

28.

King

R. B.

(2020). Mindsets are contagious: The social contagion of implicit theories of intelligence among classmates. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(2), 349–363. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12285

29.

Kroeper

K. M.

Fried

A. C.

Murphy

M. C.

(2022a). Towards fostering growth mindset classrooms: Identifying teaching behaviors that signal instructors’ fixed and growth mindsets beliefs to students. Social Psychology of Education, 25(2–3), 371–398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-022-09689-4

30.

Kroeper

K. M.

Gopalan

Emerson

K. T. U.

Walton

G. M.

(2025). Who gets to belong in college? An empirical review of how institutions can assess and expand opportunities for belonging on campus. Educational Psychology Review, 37, 36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10010-w

31.

Kroeper

K. M.

Muenks

Canning

E. A.

Murphy

M. C.

(2022b). An exploratory study of the behaviors that communicate perceived instructor mindset beliefs in college stem classrooms. Teaching and Teacher Education, 114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103717

32.

Lazaro

Bian

(2024). Children’s social preference for peers engaged in brilliance-required activities: The impact of gender and race. Developmental Psychology, 60(1), 2233–2241. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001822

33.

Lee

S. Y.

Seo

Yeager

D. S.

(2025, April 23-27). Fixed mindset peer climate predicts long-run inequality in educational progress [Conference Presentation]. American Educational Research Association.

34.

Leslie

S. J.

Cimpian

Meyer

Freeland

(2015). Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines. Science, 347(6219), 262–265. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261375

35.

McGee

E. O.

(2020). Black, Brown, Bruised: How racialized STEM education stifles innovation. Harvard Education Press.

36.

Meyer

Cimpian

Leslie

S. J.

(2015). Women are underrepresented in fields where success is believed to require brilliance. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 235. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00235

37.

Miller

D. T.

McFarland

(1991). When social comparison goes awry: The case of pluralistic ignorance. In Suls

Wills

T. A.

(Eds.), Social comparison: Contemporary theory and research (pp. 287–313). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

38.

Muenks

Canning

E. A.

LaCosse

Green

D. J.

Zirkel

Garcia

J. A.

Murphy

M. C.

(2020). Does my professor think my ability can change? Students’ perceptions of their STEM professors’ mindset beliefs predict their psychological vulnerability, engagement, and performance in class. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(11), 2119–2144. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000763

39.

Muenks

Yan

(2024). Do my peers have a fixed or growth mindset? Exploring the behaviors associated with undergraduate STEM students’ perceptions of their peers’ mindsets about intelligence. Motivation and Emotion, 48(1), 17–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-023-10049-8

40.

Muenks

Yan

V. X.

Telang

N. K.

(2021). Who is part of the “mindset context”? The unique roles of perceived professor and peer mindsets in undergraduate engineering students’ motivation and belonging. Frontiers in Education, 6, 633570. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.633570

41.

Murphy

M. C.

(2024). Cultures of growth: How the new science of mindset can transform individuals, teams, and organizations. Simon & Schuster.

42.

Murphy

M. C.

Dweck

C. S.

(2010). A culture of genius: How an organization’s lay theory shapes people’s cognition, affect, and behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(3), 283–296. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167209347380

43.

Murphy

Fryberg

Brady

Canning

Hecht

(2021). Global mindset initiative paper 1: Growth mindset cultures and teacher practices. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3911594

44.

Murphy

M. C.

Kroeper

K. M.

Ozier

E. M.

(2018). Prejudiced places: How contexts shape inequality and how policy can change them. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 5(1), 66–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732217748671

45.

Murphy

M. C.

Reeves

S. L.

(2019). Personal and organizational mindsets at work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 39, 100121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2020.100121

46.

National Science and Technology Council. (2024). Federal strategic plan for advancing STEM education and cultivating STEM talent. Executive Office of the President of the United States. https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2024fedSTEMplan.pdf

47.

National Science Board. (2024). Representation of demographic groups in STEM. National Science Foundation. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20245/representation-of-demographic-groups-in-stem

48.

Reitz

A. K.

Zimmermann

Hutteman

Specht

Neyer

F. J.

(2014). How peers make a difference: The role of peer groups and peer relationships in personality development. European Journal of Personality, 28(3), 279–288. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1965

49.

Riegle-Crumb

King

Irizarry

(2019). Does STEM stand out? Examining racial/ethnic gaps in persistence across postsecondary fields. Educational Researcher, 48(3), 133–144. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X19831006

50.

Seo

Lee

Y. K.

(2021). Stereotype threat in high school classrooms: How it links to teacher mindset climate, mathematics anxiety, and achievement. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(7), 1410–1423. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01435-x

51.

Seo

Lee

S. Y.

Muenks

Yan

(2025). The secret language of peers: How peer behaviours signal mindset and influence classroom experiences. British Journal of Educational Psychology. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12759

52.

Sheffler

P. C.

Cheung

C. S.

(2020). The role of peer mindsets in students’ learning: An experimental study. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(S1), 17–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12299

53.

Sheffler

Cheung

C. S.

(2024). Growth mindset and social comparison effects in a peer virtual learning environment. Social Psychology of Education, 27(2), 493–521. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-023-09850-7

54.

Sirkar

(2024, May 31). Innovation lightbulb: Federal STEM funding for minority serving institutions. Center for Strategic and International Studies. https://www.csis.org/analysis/innovation-lightbulb-federal-stem-funding-minority-serving-institutions

55.

Storage

Charlesworth

T. E. S.

Banaji

M. R.

Cimpian

(2020). Adults and children implicitly associate brilliance with men more than women. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 90, 104020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104020

56.

Sun

K. L.

(2018). The role of mathematics teaching in fostering student growth mindset. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 49(3), 330–355. https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.49.3.0330

57.

U.S. National Science Foundation. (2023). Diversity and STEM: Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. https://www.nsf.gov/reports/statistics/diversity-stem-women-minorities-persons-disabilities-2023

58.

Vestad

Bru

(2023). Teachers’ support for growth mindset and its link with students’ growth mindset, academic engagement, and achievements in lower secondary school. Social Psychology of Education, 27, 1431–1454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-023-09859-y

59.

Vial

A. C.

Muradoglu

Newman

G. E.

Cimpian

(2022). An emphasis on brilliance fosters masculinity-contest cultures. Psychological Science, 33(4), 595–612. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976211044133

60.

Wallace

L. E.

Murphy

M. C.

Hernandez-Colmenares

Fujita

(2025). When do personal mindsets predict interest in a culture of growth versus genius? A mindset strength perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000498

61.

Walton

G. M.

Yeager

D. S.

(2020). Seed and soil: Psychological affordances in contexts help to explain where wise interventions succeed or fail. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(3), 219–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420904453

62.

Wecht

Hendrixson

Odenthal

Radovic

(2024). A mixed method investigation of parent-adolescent communication about mental health. Journal of Adolescent Health, 75(6), 904–911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.07.012

63.

White

M. M.

Olson

S. J.

Canning

E. A.

(2024). Disentangling the impact of instructor mindset and demeanor on student experiences. Motivation Science, 10(1), 83–87. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000322

64.

Yeager

D. S.

(2024). 10 to 25: The science of motivating young people: A groundbreaking approach to leading the next generation—And making your own life easier. Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster.

65.

Yeager

D. S.

Dahl

R. E.

Dweck

C. S.

(2018). Why interventions to influence adolescent behavior often fail but could succeed. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(1), 101–122. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617722620

66.

Yeager

D. S.

Lee

H. Y.

Dahl

R. E.

(2017). Competence and motivation during adolescence. In Elliot

A. J.

Dweck

C. S.

Yeager

D. S.

(Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation: Theory and application (2nd ed., pp. 431–448). The Guilford Press.

67.

Zhang

(2025, May 2). Funding cuts hit STEM career pipelines. American Institute of Physics. https://www.aip.org/fyi/funding-cuts-hit-stem-career-pipelines

68.

Zhao

Setoh

Storage

Cimpian

(2022). The acquisition of the gender-brilliance stereotype: Age trajectory, relation to parents’ stereotypes, and intersections with race/ethnicity. Child Development, 93(5), e581–e597. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13809

Who Stays in STEM? How Growth Mindset Culture Fuels Minoritized Students’ Motivation and Belonging

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References