Purpose reflection benefits minoritized students' motivation and well-being in STEM.

Students from groups historically excluded from STEM face heightened challenges to thriving and advancing in STEM. Prompting students to reflect on these challenges in light of their purpose can yield benefits by helping students see how their STEM work connects to fundamental motives. We conducted a randomized, controlled trial to test potential benefits of reflecting on purpose-their "why" for pursuing their degrees. This multimethod study included 466 STEM students (232 women; 237 Black/Latinx/Native students). Participants wrote about their challenges in STEM, with half randomly assigned to consider these in light of their purpose. Purpose reflection fostered benefits to beliefs and attitudes about the major, authentic belonging, and stress appraisals. Effects were robust across race and gender identities or larger for minoritized students. Structural and cultural shifts to recognize students' purpose in STEM can provide a clearer pathway for students to advance.

Racialized Sexism: Nonverbal Displays of Power in Workplace Settings are Evaluated as More Masculine When Displayed by White (vs. Black) Women With Implications for the Expression of Ambivalent Sexism.

We hypothesized that White (vs. Black) women in high- (vs. low-) power poses would be evaluated as particularly masculine and unfeminine due to greater perceived violations of gendered racial stereotypes. As predicted, White (vs. Black) women in high- (but not low-) power poses were evaluated as more masculine and less feminine (Studies 1-3). Moreover, greater perceived masculinity of White (vs. Black) women in high-power poses predicted more hostile sexism; and, lesser perceived femininity of White (vs. Black) women predicted less benevolent sexism. Finally, these associations between masculinity/hostile sexism and femininity/benevolent sexism serially mediated reduced hiring desirability of White (vs. Black) women (Study 2). Study 3 replicated these serial indirect effects and found that these effects emerged regardless of job status and even when controlling for socially desirable responding. We conclude that gendered racism leads sexism to be expressed toward White and Black women embodying power in distinct ways.

To mask or not to mask: Debunking the myths of mask-wearing during COVID-19 across cultures.

Mask-wearing is the simplest yet most effective preventive behavior during COVID-19. However, it has sparked great controversy, particularly in America. Little is known about what psychosocial factors predict people's decision to mask. This research challenges three myths about mask-wearing. First, does mask-wearing provide a false sense of security? Second, is knowledge of COVID-19 a more robust predictor than political ideology of mask-wearing behavior? Third, does resistance to masks reflect anti-authoritarianism or a lack of trust in government? With nationally representative samples across two cultures (N = 1,121), findings reveal a significant positive correlation between mask-wearing and other preventive behaviors. Moreover, knowledge of COVID-19 and trust in government significantly predicted mask-wearing. Implications of the results are also discussed in the cross-cultural context. Critically, findings could provide practical implications for public education and policymaking by uncovering how to more effectively promote compliance with recommended preventive behaviors during our ongoing struggle with COVID-19.