Stereotype Threat Case Study

Stereotype Threat

BACKGROUND. Stereotype threat refers to the concern that is experienced when one feels “at risk of confirming, as a self characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group” (Steele & Aronson, 1995, p. 797). A wide range of stereotypes have been tested (e.g., her lack of ability in math and science: O’Brien & Crandall, 2003; Negros’ underperformance on standardized tests: Steele & Aronson, 1995; White males’ athletic inferiority: Stone, 2002). In the current work, the authors focus on the contribution of motivation to threat effect's, specifically on Jamieson and Harkins’s (2007) mere effort account. This was suggested by Harkins’s (2006) analysis of the effect of evaluation on performance, which argues that evaluation
The present research tests the contribution of mere effort to performance on this task. The GRE quantitative test is primarily made up of two types of problems: solve problems and comparison problems, which differs in their solution approach that tends to be most efficient. To test the mere effort account on GRE items, the authors must initially first identify the prepotent response. Consequently, stereotype threat ladies should perform better on solve problems, more poorly on comparison problems, and more poorly overall than females in a control group. This hypothesis was tested in Experiment
In the threat condition participants were instructed they would be taking a math test that had been shown to produce gender differences; in the no threat conditions, participants were also told they were taking a math test but that the test had been shown not to produce gender differences. This explicit stereotype threat manipulation has been shown to produce performance effects in previous research (e. g. , Brown & Pinel, (2003), Jamieson & Harkins, (2007)). No specific mention was made as to whether men outperformed women or vice versa, only that gender differences did or did not exist on the task. Participants were expected to infer that women would perform more poorly than men based on the societal stereotype that men are superior to women in mathematical ability. Each participant responded to a questionnaire upon completion of the math test. 2 questions allowed us to evaluate the effectiveness of the stereotype threat manipulation: “To what extent are there gender differences in performance on this task?” (1 = No Gender Differences, 11 = Gender Differences) and “Who do you believe performs better on this task?” (1 = Males Perform Better, 6 = Males and Females Perform The Same, 11 = Females Perform Better). Participants were also asked to rate how difficult the test was, how interesting the task was, how anxious they felt about their performance, and how much effort they put into the task, all on