Boucher Lab

Murdock-Perriera, L. A., Boucher, K. L., Carter, E. R., & Murphy, M. C. (2019). Places of belonging: Person- and place-focused interventions to support belonging in college. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research.

Feeling a sense of belonging in college is important. But what is belonging? College students experience and report a sense of belonging as a feeling of fit, inclusion, and relationship with others in their academic and social contexts (eg, Walton & Brady, 2017; Walton & Cohen, 2007). Feeling a sense of belonging helps students turn toward important tasks and feel secure that others care for them (Zirkel, 2004). A sense of belonging has implications for many academic outcomes including motivation, GPA, and retention (eg, Hausmann, Schofield, & Woods, 2007; Juvonen, 2006; Patrick, Ryan, & Kaplan, 2007; Walton & Cohen, 2011; Yeager et al., 2016); moreover, feeling as if one belongs in college enhances other key dimensions of students’ experiences such as their physical and mental health, psychological wellbeing, relationships, and career intentions (eg, Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Jones, Peddie, Gilrane, King, & Gray, 2016; Walton & Cohen, 2011). Yet, at one time or another, almost all students question their sense of belonging in college. College students may wonder whether they belong with the academic and intellectual community broadly (eg,“Do I belong in college at all?”).

Boucher, K. L., Fuesting, M. A., Diekman, A. B., & Murphy, M. C. (2017). Can I work with and help others in this field? How communal goals influence interest and participation in STEM fields, Frontiers in Psychology, Organizational Psychology, 8, 1-12. 

Although science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines as a whole have made advances in gender parity and greater inclusion for women, these increases have been smaller or nonexistent in computing and engineering compared to other fields. In this focused review, we discuss how stereotypic perceptions of computing and engineering influence who enters, stays, and excels in these fields. We focus on communal goal incongruity–the idea that some STEM disciplines like engineering and computing are perceived as less aligned with people's communal goals of collaboration and helping others. In Part 1, we review the empirical literature that demonstrates how perceptions that these disciplines are incongruent with communal goals can especially deter women and girls, who highly endorse communal goals. In Part 2, we extend this perspective by reviewing accumulating evidence that perceived communal goal incongruity can deter any individual who values communal goals. Communal opportunities within computing and engineering have the potential to benefit first generation college students, underrepresented minority students, and communally-oriented men (as well as communally-oriented women). We describe the implications of this body of literature: describing how opting out of STEM in order to pursue fields perceived to encourage the pursuit of communal goals leave the stereotypic (mis)perceptions of computing and engineering unchanged and exacerbate female underrepresentation. In Part 3, we close with recommendations for how communal opportunities in computing and engineering can be highlighted to increase interest and motivation. By better integrating and publicly acknowledging communal opportunities, the stereotypic perceptions of these fields could gradually change, making computing and engineering more inclusive and welcoming to all.

Boucher, K. L., Rydell, R. J., & Murphy, M. C. (2015). Forecasting the experience of stereotype threat for others. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 58, 56-62.

Women can underperform when they are concerned about confirming negative gender-based math stereotypes; however, little research has investigated whether female and male perceivers have insight into the experiences of stereotype-threatened women. Female and male participants were randomly assigned to take a math test under stereotype-threatening conditions (experiencers) or predict how a woman taking a math test would feel and perform in the same situation (forecasters). Although female and male forecasters expected female experiencers to have more negative emotional reactions than they actually did, forecasters believed that female experiencers would overcome these emotional reactions and perform at a high level—a much higher level than female experiencers actually performed. This discrepancy for performance expectations was driven by fore- casters' beliefs that female experiencers could overcome threat. This research suggests that strengthening the perceived link between stereotype threat's impact on emotional experiences and performance outcomes could foster others' appreciation of its insidious influence.