Graduation Year

2015

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Judith LeMaster

Reader 2

Sheila Walker

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© 2014 Ann E. Diemer

Abstract

Though the workforce in the United States is comprised of more than 50% women, women hold only 26% of professional computing jobs, and at some companies the percentage is even lower (National Center for Women & Information Technology, 2011). This study aims to examine whether employees within the tech industry have an implicit association between the concepts of “maleness” and “tech”. Participants will complete a priming task, an Implicit Association Test, and a survey about existing sexist beliefs and their jobs. The Expectation States Theory (Eagly, Beall, & Sternberg, 2004) suggests that all participants will have an implicit association between these concepts, though participants primed with an article about a man in tech and participants from companies with more men overall, in leadership, and in tech positions will have a stronger bias. Additionally, the Unified Theory (Greenwald et al., 2002; Smeding, 2012) suggests that the proposed results will show that women working in tech positions have a slightly weaker bias, and priming about a woman in tech will not reverse the bias. If implicit biases are addressed within the tech industry, these fixes can help the field maintain its upward trajectory by becoming an inclusive space for men and women.

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