Leveraging communal experiences in the curriculum: Increasing interest in pursuing engineering by changing stereotypic expectations

The goal congruity perspective suggests that students may not enter engineering, in part, because they believe engineering is unlikely to fulfill communal, other‐oriented goals. Increasing beliefs that engineering fulfills communal goals can increase engineering interest. We examine how actual and expected communal experiences in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) shape engineering interest. Study 1 demonstrates that past communal...