TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022//
TI  - Alone or together: the role of gender and social context prior to Aha-experiences
JO  - Scandinavian journal of psychology
A1  - Skaar, Øystein O.
A1  - Reber, Rolf
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - Prior research indicates that boys show more interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) than girls do. Given that Aha-experiences [the emotional reaction that typically occurs at a moment of sudden insight into a problem or other puzzling issue AKA aha moment] yield positive affect and increase interest, the question arises whether there are gender differences in Aha-experiences that could help explain the gender differences in interest. Derived from social role theory, we hypothesized that men report having Aha-experiences alone, whereas women report having Aha-experiences together with others. In a retrospective survey study comprising three independent samples (N = 899), we conducted chi-square analyses to explore the relationship of gender, social context (alone; not alone), domain, and situational interest. Across all participants, we found that men were more probably alone and women more probably together with others when they had an Aha-experience. More fine-grained analyses revealed that the effect was especially pronounced when the Aha-experience increased situational interest within STEM or the personal domain. The study suggests that social context played a different role in the occurrence of Aha-experiences in men and women. We discuss the implications of our findings for STEM instruction at school.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0036-5564
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12883
ID  - ref1
ER  -