Reducing the effect of stereotype threat: the role of coaction contexts and regulatory fit

Two experiments examined the effects of competition and cooperation contexts, as well as regulatory fit, on reducing the negative influence of stereotype threat. Experiment 1 demonstrated that in high stereotype threat conditions, participants in the cooperation context scored significantly higher on a math test than those in the competition context, while participants in low stereotype threat conditions did not differ in both contexts. Experiment 2 found that under stereotype threat, participants with induced prevention focus scored significantly higher on a math test in the cooperation context than those in the competition context or control group. At the same time, participants with induced promotion foci did not differ between the contexts. Thus, while the cooperation context may counteract the effect of stereotype threat, inducing a promotion focus may create a regulatory fit in the competition context that could also remove the effect of stereotype threat.     

Reducing stereotype threat by blurring intergroup boundaries

The authors aimed to establish whether interventions designed to reduce intergroup bias could be applied to the stereotype threat domain. In three experiments, the hypothesis was tested that blurring intergroup boundaries would reduce stereotype threat. In the first study, it was found that female participants who thought about characteristics shared between the genders tended to show less preference for stereotypical female careers than did participants in the baseline condition. In Experiment 2, participants who thought about overlapping characteristics answered more math questions correctly compared to a baseline group and participants who thought about differences between the genders. In Experiment 3, a specific threat manipulation was included. Participants who completed the overlapping characteristics task before receiving the threat completed significantly more math questions correctly than did participants in the baseline and threat conditions. The findings support the idea that interventions designed to reduce intergroup bias can be applied successfully in the reduction of stereotype threat.     

Social enhancement of laughter: an experimental analysis of some companion variables.

Three experiments, investigate companion influences on humorous laughter and smiling. Boys and girls, aged 7 to 9 years, were played humorous recordings through headphones in dyadic and solitary conditions. Experiment I demonstrates that social facilitation effects in laughter and smiling reported in Chapman (1973) generalize to cases where a 2-year age/status difference exists between naturalistic coactors. In Experiments II and III companions were confederates, 2 years senior to subjects. They responded to directions relayed through headphones (coaction conditions) or a concealed speaker (audience conditions). It is shown in Experiment II that subjects' laughter, smiling, and looking are facilitated by increases in the laughter and smiling of coactors and, in Experiment III, that audiences are less effective in promoting high levels of responses. While increments in the coactor's looking enhance smiling and looking, corresponding increases in laughter are not statistically significant. Humor-ratings are associated with behavioral responses in Experiment II, but not Experiment III. Interaction data and results from subsidiary conditions are discussed.     

Stereotype threat: the moderating role of Locus of Control beliefs

The goal of the present study was to test the moderating role of Locus of Control beliefs on performance deficits typically associated with stereotype threat. The results from Experiment 1 were consistent with predictions. First, consistent with the Stereotype Threat model, participants showed a decrease in performance when the task was perceived as a potential test of the in‐group's negative stereotype (lacking logical mathematical intelligence in the case of women and lacking social intelligence in the case of men). Most important, participants' Locus of Control beliefs were found to moderate participants' vulnerability to stereotype threat: individuals with an Internal Locus of Control, although generally performing better, showed a sharper decrease in the stereotype threat condition compared to individuals with External Locus of Control beliefs. Experiment 2 replicated the results from Experiment 1. Findings are discussed in relation to the psychological characteristics of Internal Locus of Control that may render individuals more vulnerable to the negative effects of stereotype threat. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stereotype threat undermines academic learning

Two experiments tested whether stereotype threat can undermine the acquisition of academic knowledge and thus harm performance even in nonthreatening settings. In Experiment 1, Black and White students studied rare words in either nonthreatening or threatening conditions. One to two weeks later, participants recalled word definitions, half in a nonthreatening "warm-up" and half in a threatening "test." Replicating past research, Black students performed worse on the test than on the warm-up. But importantly, Black students who had studied in the threatening rather than nonthreatening environment performed worse even on the warm-up. White students were unaffected. In Experiment 2, a value affirmation eliminated the learning-threat effect and provided evidence of psychological process. The results suggest that stereotype threat causes a form of "double jeopardy" whereby threat can undermine both learning and performance. The discussion addresses implications for the interpretation of group differences and for understanding how brief threat-reducing interventions can produce long-lasting benefits.     

A threat in the computer: the race implicit association test as a stereotype threat experience

Three experiments test whether the threat of appearing racist leads White participants to perform worse on the race Implicit Association Test (IAT) and whether self-affirmation can protect from this threat. Experiments 1 and 2 suggest that White participants show a stereotype threat effect when completing the race IAT, leading to stronger pro-White scores when the test is believed to be diagnostic of racism. This effect increases for domain-identified (highly motivated to control prejudice) participants (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, self-affirmation inoculates participants against stereotype threat while taking the race IAT. These findings have methodological implications for use of the race IAT and theoretical implications concerning the malleability of automatic prejudice and the potential interpersonal effects of the fear of appearing racist.     

Stereotype threat may not impact women's inhibitory control or mathematical performance: Providing support for the null hypothesis

Underpinned by the findings of Jamieson and Harkins (2007; Experiment 3), the current study pits the mere effort motivational account of stereotype threat against a working memory interference account. In Experiment 1, females were primed with a negative self- or group stereotype pertaining to their visuospatial ability and completed an anti-saccade eye-tracking task. In Experiment 2 they were primed with a negative or positive group stereotype and completed an anti-saccade and mental arithmetic task. Findings indicate that stereotype threat did not significantly impair women's inhibitory control (Experiments 1 and 2) or mathematical performance (Experiment 2), with Bayesian analyses providing support for the null hypothesis. These findings are discussed in relation to potential moderating factors of stereotype threat, such as task difficulty and stereotype endorsement, as well as the possibility that effect sizes reported in the stereotype threat literature are inflated due to publication bias.     

Rising to the threat: Reducing stereotype threat by reframing the threat as a challenge

In two experiments, we found that the performance-inhibiting consequences of stereotype threat were eliminated when the threat was subtly reframed as a challenge. In Experiment 1, Black school children in North Carolina completed a 10-item mathematics test. Participants who reported their race before taking the test performed more poorly than participants who reported their race after completing the test, unless the test was framed as a challenge. Experiment 2 replicated this effect with undergraduates at a prestigious university. When reminded that they graduated from high schools that were poorly represented at the university, they performed more poorly than their peers on a math test. However, when the test was reframed as a challenge, this threat had no effect on their performance. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical applications for both educational and athletic training.     

Stereotype threat can reduce older adults' memory errors

Stereotype threat often incurs the cost of reducing the amount of information that older adults accurately recall. In the current research, we tested whether stereotype threat can also benefit memory. According to the regulatory focus account of stereotype threat, threat induces a prevention focus in which people become concerned with avoiding errors of commission and are sensitive to the presence or absence of losses within their environment. Because of this, we predicted that stereotype threat might reduce older adults' memory errors. Results were consistent with this prediction. Older adults under stereotype threat had lower intrusion rates during free-recall tests (Experiments 1 and 2). They also reduced their false alarms and adopted more conservative response criteria during a recognition test (Experiment 2). Thus, stereotype threat can decrease older adults' false memories, albeit at the cost of fewer veridical memories, as well.     

Social tuning of the self: consequences for the self-evaluations of stereotype targets

These experiments examined how social interactions with individuals who ostensibly have stereotype-relevant views affect the self-evaluations of stereotype targets. Participants believed they were going to interact, or actually interacted, with a person who ostensibly had stereotype-consistent or stereotype-inconsistent views about their social group. Consistent with shared reality theory, participants' self-evaluations (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) and behavior (Experiment 2) corresponded with the ostensible views of the other person when affiliative motivation was high. This occurred even when it was likely to be detrimental to participants' nonaffiliative outcomes (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 showed that self-evaluative shift away from the ostensible views of another person was a function of social distance motives, also consistent with shared reality theory.     

"Whose second life is this?" How avatar-based racial cues shape ethno-racial minorities' perception of virtual worlds

Research on social identity contingencies suggests that situational cues, such as a numerical representation of social identities in a given social environment, can trigger identity-associated threat for individuals whose social identity is marginalized. Given that popular virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life [SL]) are often criticized for White-avatar dominance or White bias, we examined the psychological effects of the alleged White dominance in avatar-based virtual worlds by conducting two experiments in which participants read fictitious profiles of SL resident avatars. White and non-White participants were randomly assigned to view either a set of White-dominant avatar profiles or a set of racially diverse ones. After reading the profiles, participants had an opportunity to customize avatars using the SL interface. The findings of Experiment 1 (n=59) revealed that non-White participants exposed to the White-dominant avatar profiles, when compared with those exposed to the racially diverse profiles, reported significantly lower levels of sense of belonging and intention to participate in SL. Experiment 2 (n=64) demonstrated that non-White participants exposed to the White-dominant avatar profiles gave significantly higher estimation of the White user population within SL; the data also showed that exposure to the White-dominant avatar profiles resulted in a greater sense of limitation on skin customization among non-White participants than among White participants. The present research suggests that ethno-racial minorities, when exposed to avatar-based cues that signal White dominance, may perceive the virtual world as identity threatening, thereby feeling psychologically disconnected and detached from it. Implications regarding racial/ethnic diversity in virtual worlds are discussed.     

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.     

Gender and mathematics: attitudes and stereotype threat susceptibility in Italian children

Two experiments investigated the development of attitudes toward mathematics and stereotype threat susceptibility in Italian children. Experiment 1 involved 476 elementary school boys and girls and produced evidence of gender differences in self-confidence in one's own mathematical ability and in gender stereotyping of mathematics during elementary school. It also provided initial evidence for a decrement in 10-year-old girls' mathematics performance when stereotype threat was made salient by reminding participants that extraordinary achievement in mathematics is typically a male phenomenon. Experiment 2 (N=271) replicated these findings and expanded them to middle school-age participants. Its results suggest that during middle school, the patterns observed in elementary school consolidate, and the stereotypes begin to produce detrimental effects in girls.     

Alleviating women’s mathematics stereotype threat through salience of group achievements

Stereotype threat impairs performance in situations where a stereotype holds that one’s group will perform poorly. Two experiments investigated whether reminding women of other women’s achievements might alleviate women’s mathematics stereotype threat. In Experiment 1, college women performed significantly better on a difficult mathematics test when they were first told that women in general make better participants than men in psychology experiments. In Experiment 2, college women performed significantly better on a difficult mathematics test when they first read about four individual women who had succeeded in architecture, law, medicine, and invention. The results are seen as having implications for theories of stereotype threat, self-evaluation, and performance expectations.     

Asymmetric peer selections among Blacks,Asians, and Whites in a virtual environment: Preliminary evidence for triangulated threat theory

Black, Asian, and White participants (N = 210) created self-resembling avatars and engaged in peer-selection tasks during social events in the virtual world, Second Life, that were designed to simulate various types of resource competition. Participants in merit-based resource competition settings had less diversity in their peer groups compared to participants in settings where no resource competition was present, and Asian participants had lower preference for Black peers. Furthermore, these relationships were mediated by out-group discomfort. Results are discussed in relation to partial support for triangulated threat theory of group relations among Blacks, Asians, and Whites.     

The effects of activating a “baby brain” stereotype on pregnant women’s cognitive functioning

Throughout pregnancy and into the immediate postpartum period, women are generally perceived to be incompetent, stressed, and forgetful. However, the neuropsychological “baby brain” literature remains unclear and contradictory. Across two studies, we provide the first experimental tests of whether perceived cognitive impairment in pregnancy can be explained by stereotype threat theory, which proposes that awareness of negative stereotypes about one’s ingroup can harm performance. In Study 1 (N = 364), we tested stereotype threat effects in a 2 (stereotype threat versus no threat) × 3 (pregnant women versus new mothers versus never-pregnant female control) design. We observed a main effect of group on memory performance (pregnant women and new mothers performed worse than controls), but no other main or interactive effects. Study 2 (N = 409) aimed to extend these research questions with mathematics ability, memory, and attention as the dependent variables. Again, we found that a stereotype threat manipulation did not impair pregnant women and new mothers’ cognitive performance, nor was there any interactive effects. Groups also did not differ in their performance. We discuss these results in the context of stereotype threat mechanisms, calling into question whether a stereotype threat paradigm can be applied effectively to pregnancy-related stereotypes. This work has implications for the advancement of stereotype threat as a theory and contributes to the reappraisal of the utility of stereotype threat as a way of understanding how stereotypes affect performance.     

Competition in stereotyped domains: Competition,social comparison,and stereotype threat

The current work examines a novel and specific way in which competition can hurt the performance of negatively stereotyped individuals: by evoking stereotype threat. In four experiments, we demonstrate that women's underperformance in math when primed with competition was due to feeling worried about confirming negative stereotypes about women's math ability (i.e., stereotype threat), that the activation of negative performance stereotypes for women primed with competition was due to increased group‐level social comparisons (i.e., comparing the self with men and women), and that priming competition led men to perform more poorly than women in a domain where they are negatively stereotyped (i.e., verbal ability). This research suggests that priming people with competition in contexts where they are negatively stereotyped leads to greater social comparison, activation of negative stereotypes, and concern about confirming these stereotypes, thereby decreasing stereotyped individuals' performance in the stereotyped domain. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Variations of Gender–math Stereotype Content Affect Women’s Vulnerability to Stereotype Threat

To determine whether variations in stereotype content salience moderates stereotype threat effects, 66 US female undergraduate students were given a standardized math exam, and the salience of specific gender–math stereotype content was manipulated before the exam. Women exerted more effort on each problem and performed better on a math exam when threatened with an effort-based stereotype compared to when threatened with the ability-based stereotype or control (where no stereotype was explicitly mentioned). Implications of these results are discussed in terms of stereotype and social identity threat theory, as well as how the socio-cultural salience of ability versus other components of the gender–math stereotype may impact women who pursue math and science-based domains.     

When avoiding failure improves performance: Stereotype threat and the impact of performance goals

We examined the impact of inducing performance-avoidance and approach goals (versus no goal) on women??s math performance in stereotype threatening versus nonthreatening situations. Two experiments showed that inducing either stereotype threat (versus no-threat) or a performance-avoidance goal (versus no goal) alone led to decreased math performance. However, inducing both stereotype threat and a performance-avoidance goal increased women??s performance and challenge appraisals. These findings are consistent with the theory of regulatory fit. Performance and challenge appraisals increased when there was a fit between the motivation associated with stereotype threat (avoid failure) and the induced goal (avoid performing worse than others). Implications for stereotype threat, achievement goals and regulatory focus theories are discussed.     

Sense of home buffers threats to the self

We hypothesised that sense of home serves as a buffer against self‐threat. In three experiments, we induced sense of home (vs. control) and assessed its buffering function to threat. Sense of home augmented openness to stereotype threat information (Experiment 1), increased performance on a spatial rotation ability test after stereotype threat (Experiment 2), and reduced the desire for high‐status products following mortality salience (Experiment 3). This “proof of concept” research establishes the buffering potential of sense of home and raises theoretical and practical implications.