Psy 5330 Exam Questions with 100% Correct
Answers
Stereotype Threat Definition
The event of a negative stereotype about a group to which one belongs becoming self-
relevant, usually as a plausible interpretation for something one is doing, for an experience
one is having, or for a situation one is in, that has relevance for self-definition.
Ex. A female may feel that her performance on a math test might confirm a negative
stereotype about female math ability.
Stereotype threat is only thought to occur...
when the person to whom the threat is plausibly relevant cares about, or identifies with, the
threatened domain.
Therefore, stereotype threat is most likely to affect those individuals who possess a relatively
high level of skill, competence, and confidence with respect to a given domain (e.g., good
mathematicians who care about their grades in math).
Hypothesized Effect of Stereotype Threat?
Diminished task performance in the stereotyped domain.
Why?
Attentional, cognitive, and other resources need for successful task performance are diverted
to intrusive thoughts relevant to stereotype confirmation (e.g., self-doubt, future
disappointment, effects on group perceptions).
Stereotype Threat, Women, and Math: Spencer et al. (1999):
The subjects in this study were women and men who were good at math and saw it as
relatively self-defining.
,All subjects attempted to solve very difficult problems taken from the quantitative GREs.
For half of the subjects, stereotype threat was activated by claiming that these types of
problems tended to be solved more successfully by men.
The other half of the subjects were explicitly assured that these problems never showed
gender differences.
Results: When they were led to believe that these problems were better solved by males, the
gals did worse than the guys.
However, when they were led to expect that these problems showed no gender differences,
the lass's performance did not suffer vis-à-vis the lads.
Stereotype Threat, African Americans, and Intellectual Performance. Steele and
Aronson (1995):
The subjects were African American (AA) and European American (EA) Stanford kids.
All of them attempted to answer difficult questions from the GRE verbal test.
However, half of each group were led to believe that EA students typically outperformed AA
students on this test.
The other half were led to believe that there were no such race differences.
Results: AAs performed worse than EAs only when led to expect race differences.
A threat in the air everywhere: EA men and stereotype threat in math. Aronson et al.
(1999):
When they were led to expect that their math performances would be compared against Asian
males, the average math performance of European American men went down fast
So, anytime that it appears that one's performance might confirm a relatively unfavorable
perception about one's group, stereotype threat effects may occur.
A threat in the air everywhere: The ubiquity of stereotype-threat effects.
, Stereotype threat has been found among:
Older adults on an alleged test of memory.
Low-socioeconomic-status students on a test when it was purportedly diagnostic of
intelligence.
Latinas but not Latinos on a math test when ethnicity had been made contextually salient.
Women drivers for whom the women-are-bad-drivers stereotype had been made salient.
Mechanisms of Stereotype Threat
Research has shown that the conditions that are conducive to stereotype threat impair
performance by:
(1) increasing anxiety .
(2) increasing physiological arousal.
(3) impairing working memory.
(4) diverting cognitive resources to defensive attempts and counterproductive attempts at
thought suppression.
(5) increasing worries about attempts to avoid failure.
among possibly other processes (this list may not be comprehensive).
Adaptations to Stereotype Threat.
For Steele (1997), stereotype threat is likely to primarily affect the best and brightest among
the stereotyped.
That is, individuals who are both confident in and care about their performance should
become anxious and distracted when they fear that their failure will tend to confirm a
negative group stereotype.
This should occur when (a) they're aware that the stereotype exists, and (b) the task is
challenging for them.
Answers
Stereotype Threat Definition
The event of a negative stereotype about a group to which one belongs becoming self-
relevant, usually as a plausible interpretation for something one is doing, for an experience
one is having, or for a situation one is in, that has relevance for self-definition.
Ex. A female may feel that her performance on a math test might confirm a negative
stereotype about female math ability.
Stereotype threat is only thought to occur...
when the person to whom the threat is plausibly relevant cares about, or identifies with, the
threatened domain.
Therefore, stereotype threat is most likely to affect those individuals who possess a relatively
high level of skill, competence, and confidence with respect to a given domain (e.g., good
mathematicians who care about their grades in math).
Hypothesized Effect of Stereotype Threat?
Diminished task performance in the stereotyped domain.
Why?
Attentional, cognitive, and other resources need for successful task performance are diverted
to intrusive thoughts relevant to stereotype confirmation (e.g., self-doubt, future
disappointment, effects on group perceptions).
Stereotype Threat, Women, and Math: Spencer et al. (1999):
The subjects in this study were women and men who were good at math and saw it as
relatively self-defining.
,All subjects attempted to solve very difficult problems taken from the quantitative GREs.
For half of the subjects, stereotype threat was activated by claiming that these types of
problems tended to be solved more successfully by men.
The other half of the subjects were explicitly assured that these problems never showed
gender differences.
Results: When they were led to believe that these problems were better solved by males, the
gals did worse than the guys.
However, when they were led to expect that these problems showed no gender differences,
the lass's performance did not suffer vis-à-vis the lads.
Stereotype Threat, African Americans, and Intellectual Performance. Steele and
Aronson (1995):
The subjects were African American (AA) and European American (EA) Stanford kids.
All of them attempted to answer difficult questions from the GRE verbal test.
However, half of each group were led to believe that EA students typically outperformed AA
students on this test.
The other half were led to believe that there were no such race differences.
Results: AAs performed worse than EAs only when led to expect race differences.
A threat in the air everywhere: EA men and stereotype threat in math. Aronson et al.
(1999):
When they were led to expect that their math performances would be compared against Asian
males, the average math performance of European American men went down fast
So, anytime that it appears that one's performance might confirm a relatively unfavorable
perception about one's group, stereotype threat effects may occur.
A threat in the air everywhere: The ubiquity of stereotype-threat effects.
, Stereotype threat has been found among:
Older adults on an alleged test of memory.
Low-socioeconomic-status students on a test when it was purportedly diagnostic of
intelligence.
Latinas but not Latinos on a math test when ethnicity had been made contextually salient.
Women drivers for whom the women-are-bad-drivers stereotype had been made salient.
Mechanisms of Stereotype Threat
Research has shown that the conditions that are conducive to stereotype threat impair
performance by:
(1) increasing anxiety .
(2) increasing physiological arousal.
(3) impairing working memory.
(4) diverting cognitive resources to defensive attempts and counterproductive attempts at
thought suppression.
(5) increasing worries about attempts to avoid failure.
among possibly other processes (this list may not be comprehensive).
Adaptations to Stereotype Threat.
For Steele (1997), stereotype threat is likely to primarily affect the best and brightest among
the stereotyped.
That is, individuals who are both confident in and care about their performance should
become anxious and distracted when they fear that their failure will tend to confirm a
negative group stereotype.
This should occur when (a) they're aware that the stereotype exists, and (b) the task is
challenging for them.
