Susan Carol Losh

Prior research demonstrates that students and some teachers often depict scientists as socially inept workaholic males; however, scholars rarely examine representative samples of adults. How the US general public stereotypes scientists may influence accepting science expertise because its practitioners can appear so eccentric. By expressing negative stereotypes, “typical adults” also can discourage youthful interests in science. This study analyzes general public interview data using identical questions from the 1983 and 2001 National Science Foundation Surveys of Public Understanding of Science and Technology, probability samples of 3219 adults. Despite many positive changes over nearly 20 years, and strong approval of a child’s potential science career, sizable minorities of adults continued to negatively stereotype scientists. Women were more positive than men but had considered a science career less often. Images of scientists also were affected by age, educational variables, parental status, and a religiosity measure.

Children’s stereotypes about scientists have been postulated to affect student science identity and interest in science. Findings from prior studies using “Draw a Scientist Test” methods suggest that students see scientists as largely white, often unattractive, men; one consequence may be that girls and minority students feel a science career is “not like me”. However, a major shortcoming in prior research is that scholars have asked children to draw only scientists, thus making interpretations of earlier research findings ambiguous. We added other professionals to compare how 616 drawings of teachers, scientists, and veterinarians by 206 elementary school children varied by student gender, ethnicity, and grade. Students made clear distinctions: drawing teachers as most attractive and largely female, and scientists as most often male and least attractive. Aspects of the drawings suggest that scientists do have an “image problem” among children. However, large sex differences in the drawings and often‐unrecognizable gender figures in boys’ pictures lead us to question use of the “Draw a Scientist Test” as a projective test among young children.