Male = Science, Female = Humanities: Both Implicit and Explicit Gender-Science Stereotypes Are Heritable

The gender-science stereotype of associating males, rather than females, with science is pervasive and influential. The present study challenged the common-sense assumption that it is environment that leads to the gender-science stereotype by conducting a genetically informative study. A total of 304 pairs of twins (152 monozygotic [MZ] and 152 dizygotic [DZ]) completed explicit and implicit gender-science stereotype measures twice across 2 years. Results showed that both explicit and implicit gender-science stereotypes were heritable, with significant nonshared environmental influence. Moreover, genetic and nonshared environmental factors influencing the explicit gender-science stereotype also affected the implicit gender-science stereotype to some extent. These findings have important implications for understanding the nature of the gender-science stereotype and implicit social cognition.