Exploring the Relationships between Physics Identity and Endorsement of Stereo- typed views of Physics of STEM Undergraduate Students

This study aims at investigating the relationship between physics identity and stereotyped views of physics in a sample of N = 386 students enrolled in three undergraduate courses – physics, biology/biotechnology, computer science. Through hierarchical cluster analysis and a 2-way analysis of variance we found that students with higher physics identity had significantly more stereotyped views of physics. We also found that female students with higher physics identity had significantly more stereotyped views of physics than female students with lower physics identity. Our study suggests that identification with physics may be biased by endorsement of stereotyped views about physics.