Dr. Tajuddeen A. Williams

Countering stereotype threat

· Personal Essays

Stereotype threat is the belief that one may be evaluated on negative stereotypes that exist about them based on their skin color, religion, or otherwise. This effect is apparent in students who are reminded about race before a test (Steele & Aronson, 1995), women who are told to negotiate in dyads with men (Kray, Galinsky, & Thompson, 2002), and women when it comes to performing math (Boucher, Rydell, & Murphy, 2015). In these instances, negative stereotypes exist. When reminded about these stereotypes, prevailing negative attitudes take over and cause a functional decrease in intellectual abilities and performance. Although there are many more examples, stereotype threat exists for all areas of society. Stereotype threat can harm any individual who is vulnerable by way of group membership, group identification, domain identification and so forth (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002; Hermann & Vollmeyer, 2016; Hoyt & Murphy, 2016; Pansu et al., 2016).

Media

Stereotype threat is present throughout the media. One of the first examples comes by way of the doll test. Young Black children are shown dolls, one White and one Black, and are asked a variety of questions including which one is good, which one is bad, which one is pretty, which one is ugly, and which one looks like you. In all the cases, the children associated positively with the White doll and negatively with the Black doll. When it came down to which doll was pretty or good, the children chose the White doll. When asked about which one was bad or ugly, they chose the Black doll. This is a major issue because the children associated negative stereotypes with their group.

In other examples, the panelist describes how, for people of color, mediocrity is never good enough. The comparison was made with regards to Barrack Obama being exceptional. However, the reality for many Black children is that if they are not exceptional, they will never be better than their White counterparts because it takes being exceptional to be as good as them. However, the education system and neighborhoods are not set up to raise exceptional children because they lack the resources that White school districts have. One example was given of how in White school districts they may spend $1,000 on a child whereas in Black school districts they spend $100 on a child because they lack the funding and tax dollars of their counterparts.

The media further goes on to discuss how the Black elite, or rather those who are well off financially, do not want to have anything to do with the poor who are Black. They demonize and criticize the poor because they find that they have more in common with their White counterparts who are similar in wealth and stature than they do with those who do not have the same qualities.

How stereotype threat impacted group identity and/or performance

Stereotype threat was first used by Steele and Aronson (1995) in a study examining Black college students performance on GRE verbal questions. When the race was not emphasized, Black students were found to excel as well as or better than their White peers. However, when the race was emphasized, Black students performed poorly. Anxiety caused by negative stereotypes influenced how testers performed and caused them to perform worse than they normally would. In another test by Blascovich, Spencer, Quinn, & Steele (2001), researchers found evidence that stereotype threat not only causes issues with intellectual performance, but there is a physiological response as well. Blood pressure among Black students was elevated when a White professor discussed racial bias in standardized testing. The result suggested that stereotype threat may also have lasting consequences and contributes to hypertension in the Black community.

There is a negative stereotype that exists which view women as being weaker than men when performing math. Although the stereotype is not true, women can underperform when negative stereotypes are introduced into the equation (Boucher et al., 2015). The work done by Boucher, Rydell, and Murphy (2015) confirm earlier studies that show that female test-takers reported greater anxiety and performed worse, as well as had lower expectations about their performance compared to men when stereotypes that portrayed women negatively were introduced (Beaton, Tougas, Rinfret, Huard, & Delisle, 2007; Brown & Josephs, 1999; Gresky, Eyck, Lord, & McIntyre, 2005).

In another study that measured the performance of Black and White college students, the students were asked to utilize their golf skills to complete a task (Stone, Lynch, Sjomeling, & Darley, 1999). When the task was done under the assumption of measuring natural sports ability, the Black students excelled in the task and White students performed poorly. When told that the task would measure athletic intelligence, the White students excelled, and Black students performed poorly.

Strategies to counter that stereotype threat

When it comes to math, researchers found that providing role models for young girls reduced stereotype threat. Women performed poorly when a man is a test administrator but performed favorably when a woman who has competency in that area administered the test (Marx, Stapel, & Muller, 2005). Role models who can demonstrate expertise in an area can reduce or even eliminate stereotype threat effects (Blanton, Crocker, & Miller, 2000). It is suggested that by providing a role model, the role model helps to build self-esteem. By elevating self-esteem via a role model with competency in that area, it helps to disconfirm negative stereotypes (e.g. girls are not good at math).

Another way to counter stereotype threat is by reframing the task. In several of the studies I had mentioned previously when stereotypes were not emphasized, participants normally performed (see Boucher et al., 2015; Steele & Aronson, 1995; Stone et al., 1999). Stereotype threat only happens when negative stereotypes associated with poor performance are introduced in tasks. By reframing the task and eliminating descriptions that may include pervasive negative stereotypes, these stereotypes are not invoked, or they are disarmed. In this case, this can remove the stereotype.

References

  • Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38(2), 113–125. http://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.2001.1491 ↩
  • Beaton, A., Tougas, F., Rinfret, N., Huard, N., & Delisle, M.-N. (2007). Strength in numbers? Women and mathematics. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 22(3), 291–306. http://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173427 ↩
  • Blanton, H., Crocker, J., & Miller, D. T. (2000). The effects of in-group versus out-group social comparison on self-esteem in the context of a negative stereotype. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36(5), 519–530. ↩
  • Blascovich, J., Spencer, S. J., Quinn, D., & Steele, C. (2001). African Americans and high blood pressure: The role of stereotype threat. Psychological Science, 12(3), 225–229. http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00340 ↩
  • Boucher, K. L., Rydell, R. J., & Murphy, M. C. (2015). Forecasting the experience of stereotype threat for others. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 58, 56–62. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2015.01.002 ↩1 ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
  • Brown, R. P., & Josephs, R. A. (1999). A burden of proof: Stereotype relevance and gender differences in math performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(2), 246–257. http://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.76.2.246 ↩
  • Gresky, D. M., Eyck, L. L. T., Lord, C. G., & McIntyre, R. B. (2005). Effects of salient multiple identities on women's performance under mathematics stereotype threat. Sex Roles, 53(9-10), 703–716. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-7735-2 ↩
  • Hermann, J. M., & Vollmeyer, R. (2016). “Girls should cook, rather than kick!” – Female soccer players under stereotype threat. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 26, 94–101. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2016.06.010 ↩
  • Hoyt, C. L., & Murphy, S. E. (2016). Managing to clear the air: Stereotype threat, women, and leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(3), 387–399. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.11.002 ↩
  • Kray, L. J., Galinsky, A. D., & Thompson, L. (2002). Reversing the gender gap in negotiations: An exploration of stereotype regeneration. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 87(2), 386–410. http://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.2001.2979 ↩
  • Marx, D. M., Stapel, D. A., & Muller, D. (2005). We can do it: The interplay of construal orientation and social comparisons under threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(3), 432–446. http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.432 ↩
  • Pansu, P., Régner, I., Max, S., Colé, P., Nezlek, J. B., & Huguet, P. (2016). A burden for the boys: Evidence of stereotype threat in boys' reading performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 65, 26–30. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.02.008 ↩
  • Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(5), 797–811. http://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.69.5.797 ↩1 ↩2 ↩3
  • Stone, J., Lynch, C. I., Sjomeling, M., & Darley, J. M. (1999). Stereotype threat effects on Black and White athletic performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1213–1227. http://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.77.6.1213 ↩1 ↩2

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