Student Success Series speaker discusses how situational cues impact learning

February 6, 2024 (Volume 47, Number 12)
Article by Samantha Drougel

Mary Murphy, professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University and the principal investigator of the Mind and Identity in Context Lab, gave a virtual presentation as part of the Student Success Series.

Mary Murphy, professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University and the principal investigator of the Mind and Identity in Context Lab, gave a presentation January 23 focused on social identity and how these identities respond to different situations.

Murphy's presentation was part of the Student Success Series, a series of professional development events hosted by the Division of Enrollment Development and Educational Outreach.

Murphy explained the cues hypothesis, when situational cues can make, in this case, students vulnerable to social identity threats, or beliefs that they may be treated negatively because of a social identity.

“We argue that people are going to look to the structure and cues in the local environment to determine the value and meaning of their particular social identity,” Murphy said.

She shared results from a study she and other researchers conducted with women students who majored in STEM majors.

During the virtual presentation, Murphy explained that negative cues can be preserved as threatening and affect a student's learning. She said she hopes that by encouraging faculty members to adopt a growth mindset, students of all social identities will benefit.

“What I am arguing is that if a STEM instructor endorses more of a fixed mindset, that would create a context for students of different stereotypes to thrive,” Murphy said.

Murphy earned a doctoral degree in social psychology from Stanford University.