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