Gender stereotypes about psychological science: Female, male, or both?

While the science = male stereotype has been demonstrated in the natural sciences, little is known about gender stereotypes about psychological science. Studying gender stereotypes about psychological science is particularly interesting due to the divergent hypotheses that can be derived from previous research and theory. On the one hand, psychological science may be stereotyped as male because men are overrepresented in higher academic positions and scientific contributions. On the other hand, psychological science may be stereotyped as female because it is the science of human feeling, thinking and behaving - a subject considered to be stereotypically female. The aim of the present research was to provide empirical evidence on gender stereotypes about psychological science among students of psychology. In three preregistered online studies (total N = 630) conducted at German-speaking universities, we measured various facets of gender stereotypes about psychological science, students' sense of belonging in the academic field and their psychological science-related identity. Self-report measures revealed a female gender stereotype about psychological science, albeit participants reported awareness of the male overrepresentation among psychology professors. Perceived gender ratios correlated with gender stereotypes. Furthermore, gender stereotypes were related to sense of belonging in the academic field among female students. The present findings contribute to a better understanding of gender-related phenomena in the domain of psychological science.