Can Hillary Clinton boost women’s math scores?

Can Secretary of State Hillary Clinton help women score higher on math tests?

It depends on if they like her, apparently. A new study by Cheryl Taylor and other researchers at Texas Christian University has found that reading a brief biography of Clinton helped some women score better on math tests--but only if those women thought Clinton earned her success.

Researchers speculate that the performance boost comes from alleviating the "stereotype threat"--the documented tendency of some test-takers to actually perform worse when they fear they are confirming a negative stereotype about their gender or race. Studies have shown that women perform worse on math tests if they are reminded that many people think they are inherently worse at the subject than men. The effect is heightened if men are around when women are taking the test. (White men also fall prey to the stereotype threat if they are testing in a room dominated by Asian-Americans, a group that, according to popular folklore, racks up superior math scores and grades.)

A Stanford study found that the stereotype threat could be eased by reminding participants of successful role models within their group. Black students scored higher on I.Q. tests after they were reminded of Barack Obama's success, for example. (Though another study found no such effect on black undergraduates taking the verbal MCAT.)

These Texas researchers decided to find out if the same was true of women, according to Research Digest, and whether test subjects' performance tracked their beliefs about how deserved the former First Lady's success has been.

The researchers asked 75 undergraduate women to list women who they thought earned their success and women who they think stumbled upon it through luck, nepotism or cheating. Oprah Winfrey was most frequently listed as someone who deserved her status, while heiress Paris Hilton showed up on the unworthy list the most. Clinton was listed the most on both lists, which made her an ideal candidate to use for the study.

Researchers found that reminding women of Hillary Clinton's career after telling them that women are worse than men at math only boosted their performance if the women thought Clinton really deserved her success. Those who said Clinton's success was due to nepotism or luck scored just as a poorly as a group who were only told women are worse than men at math, and weren't reminded about Clinton or other women role models.

You can review a chart of the results below. The "Threat" axis refers to participants who were reminded of the stereotype that men are better at math.

(Clinton: AP.)