Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans

READING 4 Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans by Steele & Aronson (1995)

Please refer to the printed reader, Readings in Social Psychology 3/e, for the text of this article.

Overview

This article by Steele and Aronson (1995) triggered a wave of research and interest in what soon came to be known as stereotype threat—a predicament in which members of stereotyped groups face situations in which they have reason to fear being seen through the lens of negative stereotypes about their abilities in some domain. Many of the studies inspired by this article are discussed in Chapter 5 (Perceiving Groups). In the research presented here, Steele and Aronson test the provocative hypothesis that African American students may perform below their potential on intellectual tests because of this kind of threat. That is, the testing situation may bring to mind negative stereotypes and low expectations concerning African Americans’ abilities on these kinds of tests, which makes African American students vulnerable to being undermined by these concerns. What’s particularly exciting about this research is how a relatively simple change in the way the test is introduced to the students can eliminate this threat and allow African American students to perform to their potential.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Explain in your own words the concept of “stereotype threat.” How does this concept relate to the ideas of personal and cultural stereotypes discussed by Correll and colleagues in Reading 3 of this book?

2. Chapter 4 discusses two types of attributions: personal and situational. Both types of attribution would be possible in accounting for the race-based differences in SAT performance discussed by Steele and Aronson (though one type would certainly be more controversial than the other). Which type of attribution are Steele and Aronson focusing on in their research on stereotype threat? Why does this lead them to conclude on p. 57 that their research “is also hopeful?”

3. The Method sections indicate that the experimenter for the studies was a White male. Do you think the results of these experiments would have been the same had the experimenter been African American? Why or why not?

4. Most of this reading’s results focus on the test performance of White and African American participants. Study 3, however, includes the interesting measures of stereotype activation, self-doubt activation, and stereotype avoidance. How, specifically, do Steele and Aronson assess these concepts in this study? What do their results suggest about the role these processes might play in the experience of stereotype threat? 5. Explain the “race prime” condition of Study 4. How did the researchers manipulate this variable and what did they find to be the effects of this manipulation? Do these findings suggest any real-world procedural changes that might reduce the underperformance of some minority test-takers on the SAT?

6. The present studies focus on stereotypes regarding African Americans and standardized test-taking ability. Do you think similar results might be found for members of other traditionally stigmatized groups on other tasks? Can you think of a situation in which White men would be likely to experience stereotype threat?

Answers to Critical Thinking Questions

1. Stereotype threat is the idea that awareness of a negative stereotype about one’s own group can influence an individual’s performance. Specifically, if I am a member of a group that is stereotyped to be poor at math, reminders of that stereotype—or even simply of my group membership—will likely lead me to underperform on a math task. This concept has some similarities to the idea of cultural stereotypes, as discussed by Correll et al. In their study, cultural stereotypes led participants to respond in a biased manner towards members of a particular group; in Steele and Aronson’s research, awareness of cultural stereotypes is found to negatively impact the performance of members of that group. Stereotype threat is less relevant to the concept of personal stereotypes, since it is not necessary to endorse a stereotype about one’s own group in order to experience stereotype threat.

2. A personal attribution for race-based differences in standardized test performance would be that White and African American students have different abilities or levels of innate intelligence. Such an attribution would be controversial and is not consistent with the results of Steele and Aronson. The authors focus on one of many possible situational attributions for the race-based test gap, namely that awareness of racial stereotypes regarding African American test performance can actually impede students’ own performance. This is a “hopeful” take on the test gap because it suggests that stable dispositional characteristics are not responsible for it. Rather, the researchers identify a situational factor that helps explain the test gap, which suggests potential strategies and interventions for addressing racial disparities in test performance.

3. To the extent that African American participants experienced stereotype threat because they were concerned about being evaluated by the particular White male running the study, then yes, the experimenter’s race could influence the results of this research. Perhaps with an African American experimenter, participants would not have been as concerned that their performance was going to be evaluated in light of negative stereotypes about their group. However, it is also possible that participants were not concerned about the evaluations of this particular White experimenter, but rather were more worried about confirming general negative stereotypes about African Americans. This is an empirical question that could be addressed through an experiment, and its answer depends on how an experimenter’s race influences participants’ awareness of racial stereotypes and general level of apprehension. 4. Steele and Aronson assessed stereotype activation by asking participants to complete a word fragment completion task. Some of the items in the task could be completed to spell words related to racial stereotypes, such as “”Black,” “Poor,” and “Lazy.” The more fragments participants completed to spell out stereotype-related words, the higher their level of stereotype activation. A similar task was used to assess self-doubt, with potential words including “Flunk,” “Dumb,” and “Inferior.” Stereotype avoidance was measured by asking participants to rate their preferences for a variety of traits and activities, some of which were related to racial stereotypes about African Americans (e.g., “how much do you enjoy rap music?”). Stereotype avoidance was indicated by low ratings given to the stereotype-relevant items. Results indicated that African Americans in the diagnostic test condition, who were likely to experience stereotype threat, were also more likely to have active thoughts about stereotypes and self-doubt, and to try to avoid associating themselves with stereotype-relevant information. These findings suggest that all three processes might play a role in the influence of stereotype threat on test performance.

5. In Studies 1-3, Steele and Aronson created stereotype threat by telling some African American participants that the test they would be making was diagnostic of their intelligence. In Study 4, they utilized a subtler manipulation, creating stereotype threat by simply asking some of the African American participants to record their race on a personal information questionnaire before the test. This “race prime” was enough to lead to decreases in test performance comparable to those observed in Studies 1-3. One implication of this finding is that asking students for demographic information such as race before a test like the SAT might exacerbate the problem of stereotype threat. If such “race primes” can be limited in testing situations, underperformance of African American test-takers should become less likely.

6. The authors make no claims that stereotype threat effects are limited to African American test-takers. If you are the member of a group about which negative stereotypes exist, then you may be susceptible to stereotype threat when attempting to complete a relevant task. For example, societal stereotypes suggest that women are inferior at math compared to men. Therefore, a gender prime may very well lead women to underperform on a math test. With regard to White males, one stereotype about this group suggests that they are inferior athletes compared to males of different races. By telling White men that a task is diagnostic of their athletic ability, an experimenter may able to induce stereotype threat and create a situation where Whites’ athletic performance decreases.

Links For Further Investigation

Stereotype threat has proven to be one of the most popular research topics in social psychology over the past decade. For more information about stereotype threat and Claude Steele, the psychologist who has been the driving force behind research on the topic, see http://www.africanpubs.com/Apps/bios/0112SteeleClaude.asp?pic=none. This site includes interesting details about Steele’s relationship with his twin brother, Shelby, who at times has been a critic of the psychological work on stereotype threat. For more details on research related to the SAT, including racial differences in performance on the test, see http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/. This site includes information on the history of the test, interviews with admissions officers and test prep experts, and information from both sides of the affirmative action debate.

More general information about the concepts of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination can also be found on-line at http://www.understandingprejudice.org/. This educational site includes exercises, demonstrations, and a variety of links related to prejudice.