Motor Skill Learning in Iranian Girls: Effects of a Relatively Long Induction of Gender Stereotypes

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of the relatively long induction of negative gender stereotypes on motor skill learning in young adolescent girls. Forty-six Iranian girls (M-age = 14.02 years old, SD = 0.80) were asked to practice a futsal kicking task (i.e., kicking a rolling ball toward a target) for 3 days with approximately 48 hours separating each session. Participants were randomly assigned to either a stereotype threat (ST) or nullified-stereotype threat (NS) group. Participants in the stereotype threat group randomly received related verbal, visual, and readable activation of gender stereotypes before each training session. The order of the manipulations (verbal induction on day 1 and so on) was randomly determined and this order was the same for all the participants. Two retention tests of 10 trials each, followed by two transfer tests, without feedback, were conducted 2 and 7 days later to assess the relatively permanent effects. Results showed that inducing negative stereotypes resulted in degraded kicking scores during the training sessions and degraded motor learning outlined by lower performance on the first and second retention and transfer tests. These findings provide the first evidence of the effect of relatively long induction of negative gender stereotypes on motor skill learning in adolescent girls.