Stereotype Threat Does Not Live by Steele and Aronson (1995) Alone.

This comment notes that P. R. Sackett et al (see record 2004-10043-001) have raised a concern: that 29 mischaracterizations of an experiment from C. M. Steele and J. Aronson (see record 1996-12938-001) spread over 8 years of media reports, journal articles, and textbooks could mislead teachers, students, researchers, policymakers, and parents into believing that the African American-White test-score gap is entirely caused by stereotype and not at all by group differences in opportunities and test-related knowledge, and that this belief could undermine efforts to improve African American students' academic skills. Sackett et al focus on the reporting of only a single experiment from the first published article on stereotype threat. It is argued that this extremely narrow focus greatly exaggerates three issues. These issues are addressed in turn. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Interpreting Research on Stereotype Threat and Test Performance.

The authors comment on the comments (see records 2005-03019-016; 2005-03019-017; 2005-03019-018) made on their original article entitled On Interpreting Stereotype Threat as Accounting for African American-White Differences on Cognitive Tests (see record 2004-10043-001). The authors welcome the thoughtful insights of Wicherts, Helms, and Cohen and Sherman, and they hope that these comments stimulate further critical analysis of methodological issues associated with stereotype threat research. The authors do not dispute that stereotype threat is a real phenomenon or that it remains a potentially important contributor to the racial achievement gap. They encourage researchers to continue their efforts to determine what role stereotype threat plays in contributing to that gap, especially in real-world testing situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype Threat Research and the Assumptions Underlying Analysis of Covariance.

Comments on an article by Paul Sackett, Chaitra Hardison and Michael Cullen entitled On Interpreting Stereotype Threat as Accounting for African American-White Differences on Cognitive Tests (see record 2004-10043-001). Sackett, Hardison, and Cullen discussed the role of covariates in Steele and Aronson's (see record 2000-16592-021) seminal research on the effects of stereotype threat on scores of African American test takers. Besides highlighting some common misinterpretations that stem from the use of covariance-adjusted means in reporting Steele and Aronson's (Study 2) experimental results, Sackett et al. argued that these results indicate that Black-White testscore difference within the no-stereotype threat (i.e., nondiagnostic) condition actually reflects the test score difference on the SAT (i.e., the covariate). This implies that stereotype threat effects add to the often found Black-White test score gap instead of partly accounting for it (Sackett et al., 2004). Here the author comments on the use of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in stereotype threat (ST) experiments, because ST theory implies violations of the assumptions underlying ANCOVA. Such violations could result in incorrect Type I error rates and distortions in the adjustment of means. Because of this, ANCOVA appears inappropriate for analyzing (quasi-) experimental results of ST research. In addition, the interpretation proposed by Sackett et al. of Steele and Aronson's results may be due to distortions of mean adjustments caused by violations of model assumptions. While avoiding technical detail, the author provides the assumptions underlying ANCOVA and discuss why these assumptions do not sit well with several aspects of ST theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype Threat Might Explain the Black-White Test-Score Difference.

Comments on an article by Paul Sackett, Chaitra Hardison and Michael Cullen entitled On Interpreting Stereotype Threat as Accounting for African American-White Differences on Cognitive Tests (see record 2004-10043-001). In their correction of the ostensibly widespread misinterpretation of Steele and Aronson's (see record 2000-16592-021) seminal study of the effects of stereotype threat on intellectual test scores, Sackett, Hardison, and Cullen expressed dismay and puzzlement that so many erudite people consistently have gone so far astray in their understanding of this matter. The gist of Sackett et al.'s correction was that interpreters of Steele and Aronson's results have ignored the researchers' statistical adjustment of their dependent measure for SAT scores and, consequently, have wrongly concluded that racial-group (i.e., Black-White) differences in test scores disappear when stereotype threat is removed. In their justification for this much needed clarification, Sackett et al. (2004) implied that the interpretation that stereotype threat explains the Black-White test score disparity is not plausible. Yet whether or not the construct of stereotype threat generally can account for the Black-White test-score disparity was not the question that was directly addressed by either Steele and Aronson's (1995) original study or Sackett et al.'s (2004) critique of it. It appears that Sackett et al. (2004), as well as the many people responsible for the allegedly faulty interpretation, essentially want an answer to the question, What causes or explains racial-group difference(s) in Black-White test scores? This question logically flows from (a) reviews demonstrating the chronic resistance of these differences to psychoeducational interventions, (b) general recognition that racial-group membership cannot cause behavior (e.g., differences in test scores), as well as (c) acknowledgment that use of test scores for high-stakes decision making under prevailing circumstances amounts to "racial profiling" condoned by society and the law. Therefore, if stereotype threat or analogous race or culture-related psychological constructs could be shown to account for the Black-White testscore disparity, then society would be relieved of the burden of unfair testing practices, and Sackett et al. would be relieved of the burden of "heading off future interpretive errors" (p. 11) regarding Steele and Aronson's results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype Threat and the Social and Scientific Contexts of the Race Achievement Gap.

Comments on an article by Paul Sackett, Chaitra Hardison and Michael Cullen entitled On Interpreting Stereotype Threat as Accounting for African American-White Differences on Cognitive Tests (see record 2004-10043-001). In their article, Sackett, Hardison, and Cullen (see record 2000-16592-021) critiqued misrepresentations of the original stereotype threat findings presented by Steele and Aronson. They criticized representations of the research that suggest that stereotype threat explains all the racial achievement gap in academic performance when, in fact, the original studies statistically equated the ability of Black students and White students by using SAT scores as a covariate. As Sackett et al. acknowledged, Steele and Aronson did not claim that stereotype threat explains all the racial achievement gap, though as they suggested in their critique, it may have been a claim made implicitly and even explicitly in some media and textbook coverage of the work. The authors of this comment wish to make three points that Sackett and colleagues did not make. These points highlight the social and scientific contexts in which Sackett et al.'s critical commentary, and stereotype threat research in general, can be interpreted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Converging Evidence That Stereotype Threat Reduces Working Memory Capacity.

Although research has shown that priming negative stereotypes leads to lower performance among stigmatized individuals, little is understood about the cognitive mechanism that accounts for these effects. Three experiments tested the hypothesis that stereotype threat interferes with test performance because it reduces individuals' working memory capacity. Results show that priming self-relevant negative stereotypes reduces women's (Experiment 1) and Latinos' (Experiment 2) working memory capacity. The final study revealed that a reduction in working memory capacity mediates the effect of stereotype threat on women's math performance (Experiment 3). Implications for future research on stereotype threat and working memory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype Threat and Group Differences in Test Performance: A Question of Measurement Invariance.

Studies into the effects of stereotype threat (ST) on test performance have shed new light on race and sex differences in achievement and intelligence test scores. In this article, the authors relate ST theory to the psychometric concept of measurement invariance and show that ST effects may be viewed as a source of measurement bias. As such, ST effects are detectable by means of multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. This enables research into the generalizability of ST effects to real-life or high-stakes testing. The modeling approach is described in detail and applied to 3 experiments in which the amount of ST for minorities and women was manipulated. Results indicate that ST results in measurement bias of intelligence and mathematics tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using SAT-Grade and Ability-Job Performance Relationships to Test Predictions Derived From Stereotype Threat Theory.

To examine the generalizability of stereotype threat theory findings from laboratory to applied settings, the authors developed models of the pattern of relationships between cognitive test scores and outcome criteria that would be expected if the test scores of women and minority group members were affected by stereotype threat. Two large data sets were used to test these models, one in an education setting examining SAT-grade relationships by race and gender and the other in a military job setting examining Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery-job performance relationships by race. Findings were not supportive of the predictions arising from stereotype threat theory, suggesting caution in positing threat as a key determinant of subgroup mean test score differences in applied settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clearing the Air: Identity Safety Moderates the Effects of Stereotype Threat on Women's Leadership Aspirations.

Exposing participants to gender-stereotypic TV commercials designed to elicit the female stereotype, the present research explored whether vulnerability to stereotype threat could persuade women to avoid leadership roles in favor of nonthreatening subordinate roles. Study 1 confirmed that exposure to the stereotypic commercials undermined women's aspirations on a subsequent leadership task. Study 2 established that varying the identity safety of the leadership task moderated whether activation of the female stereotype mediated the effect of the commercials on women's aspirations. Creating an identity-safe environment eliminated vulnerability to stereotype threat despite exposure to threatening situational cues that primed stigmatized social identities and their corresponding stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping With Stereotype Threat: Denial as an Impression Management Strategy.

Four experiments tested the hypothesis that people who are concerned with impression management cope with stereotype threat through denial. Consistent with this hypothesis, temporary employees threatened by a stereotype of incompetence (Study 1) and hostel-dwelling older adults (Study 2) were more likely to deny incompetence if they were high in impression management. African Americans (Study 3) showed a similar pattern of denying cognitive incompetence, which emerged primarily when they were interviewed by a White experimenter and had attended a predominantly Black high school. In Study 4, White students who expected to take an IQ test and were threatened by a stereotype of being less intelligent than Asians were more likely to deny that intelligence is important if they were high in impression management. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Threat inoculation: Experienced and imagined intergenerational contact prevents stereotype threat effects on older people's math performance.

The authors hypothesized that experienced and imagined intergenerational contact should improve older people's math test performance under stereotype threat. In Experiment 1 (N = 51, mean age = 69 years), positive prior contact with grandchildren eliminated stereotype threat, which was mediated partially by reduced test-related anxiety. In Experiment 2 (N = 84, mean age = 72 years), the effect of threat on performance was significantly improved when participants merely imagined intergenerational contact, a situation again mediated by reduced anxiety. Previous research established that intergroup contact improves intergroup attitudes. The findings show that intergroup (intergenerational) contact also provides a defense against stereotype threat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype performance boosts: The impact of self-relevance and the manner of stereotype activation.

The activation of positive stereotypes has been shown to produce academic performance boosts. Evidence regarding the role of self-relevance in producing such effects has been mixed. The authors propose that the subtlety of stereotype activation plays a key role in creating performance boosts among targets and nontargets of stereotypes. Study 1 found that subtle stereotype activation boosted performance in targets, but blatant activation did not. Study 2 was conducted on both targets and nontargets using different methods of stereotype activation. Again, targets showed performance boosts when stereotypes were subtly activated but not when they were blatantly activated. Nontargets, however, showed boosts in performance only when stereotypes were blatantly activated. The role of self-relevance in mediating sensitivity to stimuli is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype Threat and Performance: How Self-Stereotypes Influence Processing by Inducing Regulatory Foci.

The authors hypothesized that activated self-stereotypes can influence the strategies of task solution by inducing regulatory foci. More specifically, positive self-stereotypes should induce a promotion focus state of eagerness, whereas negative stereotypes should induce a prevention focus state of vigilance. Study 1 showed that a negative ascribed stereotype with regard to task performance leads to better recall for avoidance-related statements whereas a positive stereotype leads to better recall for approach-related statements. In Studies 2 and 3, both an experimental manipulation of group performance expectation and the preexisting stereotype of better verbal skills in women than in men led to faster and less accurate performance in the positive as compared with the negative stereotype group. Studies 4 and 5 showed that positive in-group stereotypes led to more creative performance whereas negative stereotypes led to better analytical performance. These results point to a possible mechanism for stereotype-threat effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguishing stereotype threat from priming effects: On the role of the social self and threat-based concerns.

It has been argued that priming negative stereotypic traits is sufficient to cause stereotype threat. The present research challenges this assumption by highlighting the role of the social self and targets' concerns about confirming a negative group-based stereotype. Specifically, in 3 experiments the authors demonstrate that stereotype threat adversely affects the test performance and threat-based concerns of targets (but not nontargets) because only targets' social self is linked to the negative group stereotype. Trait priming, however, harms the test performance of both targets and nontargets but has no effect on their threat-based concerns because trait priming does not require such a link between the social self and the group stereotype. Moreover, the authors show that merely increasing the accessibility of the social self in nonthreatening situations leads to the underperformance of targets but has no meaningful effect on nontargets' test performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype threat and executive resource depletion: Examining the influence of emotion regulation.

Research shows that stereotype threat reduces performance by diminishing executive resources, but less is known about the psychological processes responsible for these impairments. The authors tested the idea that targets of stereotype threat try to regulate their emotions and that this regulation depletes executive resources, resulting in underperformance. Across 4 experiments, they provide converging evidence that targets of stereotype threat spontaneously attempt to control their expression of anxiety and that such emotion regulation depletes executive resources needed to perform well on tests of cognitive ability. They also demonstrate that providing threatened individuals with a means to effectively cope with negative emotions--by reappraising the situation or the meaning of their anxiety--can restore executive resources and improve test performance. They discuss these results within the framework of an integrated process model of stereotype threat, in which affective and cognitive processes interact to undermine performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype threat among schoolgirls in quasi-ordinary classroom circumstances.

There is ample evidence today in the stereotype threat literature that women and girls are influenced by gender-stereotyped expectations on standardized math tests. Despite its high relevance to education, this phenomenon has not received much attention in school settings. The present studies offer the 1st evidence to date indicating that middle school girls exhibit a performance deficit in quasi-ordinary classroom circumstances when they are simply led to believe that the task at hand measures mathematical skills. This deficit occurred in girls working alone or in mixed-gender groups (i.e., presence of regular classmates) but not in same-gender groups (i.e., presence of only same-gender classmates). Compared with the mixed-gender groups, the same-gender groups were also associated for girls in the stereotype threat condition with greater accessibility of positive role models (i.e., female classmates who excel in math), at the expense of both stereotypic in-group and out-group members (i.e., low-math-achievement girls and high-math-achievement boys). Finally, the greater accessibility of positive role models mediated the impact of the activated stereotype on girls' performance, exactly as one would expect from C. M. Steele's (1997) stereotype threat theory. Taken together, these findings clearly show that reducing stereotype threat in the classroom is a crucial challenge for both scientists and teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The difference isn't black and white: Stereotype threat and the race gap on raven's advanced progressive matrices.

This study addresses recent criticisms aimed at the interpretation of stereotype threat research and methodological weaknesses of previous studies that have examined race differences on Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM). African American and White undergraduates completed the APM under three conditions. In two threat conditions, participants received either standard APM instructions (standard threat) or were told that the APM was an IQ test (high threat). In a low threat condition, participants were told that the APM was a set of puzzles and that the researchers wanted their opinions of them. Results supported the stereotype threat interpretation of race differences in cognitive ability test scores. Although African American participants underperformed Whites under both standard and high threat instructions, they performed just as well as Whites did under low threat instructions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotype threat and working memory: Mechanisms, alleviation, and spillover.

Stereotype threat (ST) occurs when the awareness of a negative stereotype about a social group in a particular domain produces suboptimal performance by members of that group. Although ST has been repeatedly demonstrated, far less is known about how its effects are realized. Using mathematical problem solving as a test bed, the authors demonstrate in 5 experiments that ST harms math problems that rely heavily on working memory resources--especially phonological aspects of this system. Moreover, by capitalizing on an understanding of the cognitive mechanisms by which ST exerts its impact, the authors show (a) how ST can be alleviated (e.g., by heavily practicing once-susceptible math problems such that they are retrieved directly from long-term memory rather than computed via a working-memory-intensive algorithm) and (b) when it will spill over onto subsequent tasks unrelated to the stereotype in question but dependent on the same cognitive resources that stereotype threat also uses. The current work extends the knowledge of the causal mechanisms of stereotype threat and demonstrates how its effects can be attenuated and propagated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)