magazine issue 2 2008 / Issue 6

Are Stereotypes True?

• written by Jessica Cundiff

In an extensive review, Steele (1997) indicated several factors that need to be present for stereotype threat to have negative effects on performance. First, negative stereotypes about a group must exist for the testing domain, as in the example of women and math used above. Other domains include African Americans and intelligence, the elderly and memory, and women and driving, among others. Second, the stereotype must be relevant to the situation. For example, an African American man will be concerned about confirming the stereotype that African Americans are less intelligent than Caucasians while taking the SAT, but not while playing basketball. Thus, stereotype threat may affect his performance while taking the SAT but not while playing basketball. Third, the testing domain must be difficult enough so that poor performance is likely and could be perceived as stereotype confirming. If a memory test is too easy, an elderly person will not experience frustration and doubt, and thus will not be concerned with confirming the stereotype that the elderly have worse memories than younger people. Fourth, stereotype threat is most harmful to people who identify with the domain and consider it important to their self-worth. For instance, women who gain their self-worth from success in math will be most concerned with being viewed as confirming the negative stereotype. Women who do not gain their self-worth from math will not be as concerned about performing poorly in that domain. As another example, Danica Patrick, a NASCAR racer, would be more concerned about performing poorly in the domain of driving and confirming the stereotype that women can’t drive than Mary Lou Retton, a famous gymnast. Finally, the stereotype must be prevalent and widely known. If a person does not know about the stereotype, they will not be concerned with confirming the stereotype. When the above factors are present, stereotype threat and its negative consequences are likely to ensue.

However, numerous interventions have been developed to eliminate the negative effects of stereotypes. One such intervention involves preventing the activation of stereotypes. Steele and Aronson (1995) found that when they primed racial stereotypes by having participants indicate their race before taking an intelligence test, African Americans performed worse than when they were not primed . This implies that collecting demographic information at the end of a test rather than at the beginning could reducestereotype threat . Focusing on similarities between groups rather than differences could also prevent the activation of stereotypes. Rosenthal and Crisp (2006) found that women performed better on a math test when they thought about similarities between men and women rather than differences before taking the test. Avoiding categorical labels in the classroom is another way to reduce the salience of group differences. For instance, using gender functionally in the classroom (e.g., the teacher saying, “Good morning boys and girls”; “Girls line up at the door first and then the boys”; “Boys take a bathroom break first, and then the girls”) leads children to focus on gender differences rather than similarities and increases the use of stereotypes among children (Patterson & Bigler, 2006). Instead, teachers can divide students into groups for daily activities based on malleable characteristics that change every day such as shoe type or clothing color. Furthermore, providing successful role models and pointing out group achievements increases performance among negatively stereotyped groups by breaking down the barriers of stereotypes and deeming them irrelevant (Marx & Roman, 2002; McIntyre, Paulson, & Lord, 2003). It is for this reason that it is especially important to include the achievements of women and minorities in textbooks of math, science, history, etc., so students can be exposed to these successful role models.

While stereotypes seem to be confirmed in the real world, it is important to realize that stereotypes themselves contribute to this confirmation. This realization is an important first step towards preventing the consequences of those stereotypes. With this understanding and with the help of interventions, such as those mentioned above, the vicious cycle of negative stereotypes can be broken.

References

Marx, D. M., & Roman, J. S. (2002). Female role models: Protecting women’s math test performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(9), 1183-1193.

McIntyre, R. B., Paulson, R. M., & Lord, C. G. (2003). Alleviating women’s mathematics stereotype threat through salience of group achievements. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 83-90.