learning and motivation unit three (week 13)

Stereotype Threat

• can result in disidentification with the domain
• stereotype threat: people find themselves to be at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social group
• What is the construct?
  • stereotype threat: one feels at risk to conforming to the negative stereotypes about their group
  • affects those who identify with a domain (they really care about how they do)
  • can result in disidentification with the domain
  • when people feel vulnerable to a stereotype they will distance themselves from the domain
• In what domains and groups does this threat exist?
  • women in math
  • students from low socioeconomic backgrounds (imposter syndrome)
  • latinos in scholastic domain
  • the elderly on short-term memory tests (when primed with senility)
  • can even be induced short-term in white men in math when primed with a more stereotypically successful group in the domain (asian men)
• Study 1
  • 114 undergraduate college students (male, female, black, and white)
  • independent variable: test description (diagnostic of ability or not or as a challenge)
  • dependent variable: test performance
  • 30 GRE items
  • self-report measure of confidence in performance
  • personal worth
  • hypothesis: black ppl in the diagnostic condition do worse than the white people and the black people in the nondiagnostic condition
• Study 2
  • 40 female undergraduate students, 20 white and 20 black
  • independent variable: test description (diagnostic of ability or not)
  • dependent variable: level of anxiety
  • used a computer - the 25 question test and the anxiety test afterwards
  • hypothesis: the apprehension caused by the stereotype threat can be shown in a general anxiety test
  • anxiety mediates the relationship between diagnostic and performance
  • no difference found in anxiety: maybe the measures were too delayed
  • the phenomenon occurred again
  • black ppl in the diagnostic condition do worse than white people and the black people in the nondiagnostic condition
  • black students in diagnostic group did worse than black students in nondiagnostic group / white students
  • black people completed fewer items than white people and black people in diagnostic group completed less than black in nondiagnostic
• Study 3
  • 68 undergrads. 35 black (9 male, 26 female) and 33 white (20 male, 13 female)
  • independent variable: race by diagnostic / nondiagnostic / control
  • dependent variable: test performance
  • used a booklet instead of a computer
  • GRE, LAP (anagrams priming words associated with stereotypes), stereotype avoidance task (will they distance themselves from black activities)
  • self-handicapping - distancing themselves from their domain
• Study 4
  • 47 undergrads. 24 black participants - 6 male, 18 female - and 23 white
  • independent variable: race prime or no race prime on questionnaire (just asked about race)
  • doesn’t the sat / act ask about race up front? are they not priming race?
  • dependent variable: performance on test, questionnaire about stereotype threat, academic identification items
  • test taken on paper
  • tested effort
  • 75% of black people in diagnostic did not indicate race
• Mechanisms
  • What do you think could explain why stereotype threat leads to performance decrements?
  • number of black people in the study - if taken in a room together, what does being the only black person taking the test do to their performance? or in a predominantly black school?
  • parallels between performance-avoidance and stereotype avoidance
  • expectation: combination of stereotype threat and diagnostic have a sense of prejudice and bias. bias is already there and can’t avoid
  • subconscious self-fulfilling prophecy

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