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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