WASHINGTON - A STUDY of more than half a million people worldwide has found that 70 per cent associate science more with men than women, according to results released on Monday.

The study described the opinions as implicit stereotypes - beliefs that people are unwilling to express publicly, or don't know they have.

These stereotypes could nonetheless negatively affect girls' willingness to study science and maths, and their performance in the subjects, according the study's authors.

The study, which surveyed both men and women in 34 countries, found that in countries where the stereotypes are most firmly established, men got better grades than women in both science and maths at the eighth-grade level.

'We found a general tendency, across every country that we investigated, that people on average have an easier time associating science concepts with male, rather than with female,' said lead investigator Brian Nosek, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia.

Study participants were asked to quickly link gender-specific words such as 'he,' "son,' "she,' and 'daughter,' with science words like 'biology' and liberal arts words like 'literature.' Most participants more rapidly linked science-related words with the masculine words than with the feminine words, according to the study's authors.

They were also surprised to discover a total lack of difference between the two genders in their tendency to identify science words with men.

'Culture is a powerful force for shaping the beliefs and behaviour of its members,' Dr Nosek said. 'We believe that implicit stereotypes and sex gaps in science achievement are mutually reinforcing mechanisms.'

'When people see patterns, such as men more often working in scientific fields and women more often in non-scientific fields, then a bias may develop in their minds that men may be better equipped to succeed in those fields and women less so,' the researcher said. -- AFP