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AFRICAN AMERICANS and HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE: the Role of Stereotype Threat Jim Blascovich,1 Steven J

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AFRICAN AMERICANS and HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE: the Role of Stereotype Threat Jim Blascovich,1 Steven J PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Research Article AFRICAN AMERICANS AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE: The Role of Stereotype Threat Jim Blascovich,1 Steven J. Spencer,2 Diane Quinn,3 and Claude Steele4 1University of California, Santa Barbara; 2University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; 3University of Connecticut; and 4Stanford University Abstract—We examined the effect of stereotype threat on blood pres- Goldstein, & Armstrong, 1989). Second, repressing anger and anger- sure reactivity. Compared with European Americans, and African provoking manipulations, particularly ones in which racism provokes Americans under little or no stereotype threat, African Americans un- the anger, do produce greater cardiovascular reactivity among African der stereotype threat exhibited larger increases in mean arterial blood Americans compared with European Americans (Armstead, Lawler, pressure during an academic test, and performed more poorly on diffi- Gorden, Cross, & Gibbons, 1989; Harburg, Blakelock, & Roper, 1979; cult test items. We discuss the significance of these findings for under- Johnson, 1989; Johnson, Schork, & Spielberger, 1987). Third, John standing the incidence of hypertension among African Americans. Henryism, or the tendency to work extremely hard while not giving up on difficult and demanding tasks, has been strongly associated with hypertension in African Americans but not in European Americans Many studies have demonstrated that African Americans have a (James, Hartnett, & Kalsbeek, 1983; James, LaCroix, Kleinbaum, & higher incidence of high blood pressure, or hypertension, than Euro- Strogatz, 1984; James, Strogatz, Wing, & Ramsey, 1987). pean Americans (for reviews, see Anderson, 1989; Folkow, 1982; Because African Americans face more situations in which they are Obrist, 1981). Some researchers have argued that genetic factors ex- stereotyped by others and consequently face a relatively high level of ste- plain the higher incidence (Rotimi, Cooper, Cao, Sundarum, & Mc- reotype threat, a rare experience for European Americans, their compara- Gee, 1994). Others have argued that social environmental factors tively high chronic blood pressure levels may stem, at least in part, from explain the higher incidence; specifically, they have claimed that Afri- these multiple episodes of stereotype threat. Repeated episodes of acute can Americans experience stressful episodes more chronically than blood pressure increases are thought to lead to chronically high blood European Americans, which leads in turn to the observed racial differ- pressure levels, or hypertension. Anderson et al. (1993) and Clark et al. ences in hypertension (Anderson, McNeilly, & Myers, 1993; Clark, (1999) have proposed mechanisms for this pathophysiological process. Anderson, Clark, & Williams, 1999). To test this reasoning more directly, we examined mean arterial blood In the experiment we report here, we tested the latter notion by ex- pressure (MAP) responses of African and European Americans in situa- amining a specific type of stressor, stereotype threat, which may affect tions in which the saliency of stereotype threat for African Americans African Americans’ hemodynamic reactivity. Steele and his col- was varied. We hypothesized an interaction between stereotype threat and leagues (Aronson, Quinn, & Spencer, 1998; Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, race such that when stereotype threat was relatively high, African Ameri- 1999; Steele, 1997; Steele & Aronson, 1995; Steele, Spencer, & Aron- cans would have higher blood pressure levels than European Americans, son, in press) have presented a framework for understanding how ste- but when stereotype threat was low, no racial differences would occur. reotypes affect members of stereotyped groups. According to this framework, members of such groups experience stereotype threat when they are in situations in which other people may view them ste- METHOD reotypically in ways likely to increase performance pressures (i.e., stress). Research has shown that members of stereotyped groups (Af- Participants rican Americans; Latinos; people of low socioeconomic status; women, in certain domains such as mathematics) perform more poorly Forty-one university students volunteered to participate in the on standardized tests, particularly on difficult items, than their nonste- study and received $20 for participation. The data of 2 participants reotyped counterparts when stereotype threat is high. However, no were completely unusable because of mechanical difficulties with the such performance differences emerge when stereotype threat is low physiological recording equipment, leaving 20 African-American and (Croizet & Claire, 1998; Spencer et al., 1999; Steele, 1997; Steele & 19 European-American participants in the study. Aronson, 1995). In the current experiment, we tested the hypothesis that increased blood pressure accompanies the stress or threat induced Setting and Apparatus by stereotype threat among African Americans. Three lines of evidence converge to suggest that being subject to The experiment took place in the recording chamber of a social repeated episodes of stress may play an important role in the higher psychophysiology laboratory. The chamber contained an unobtrusive incidence of hypertension among African Americans. First, family video camera and intercom system for monitoring participants’ well- history of hypertension does not appear to predict greater cardiovascu- being throughout the experiment, as well as video monitors and audio lar reactivity among African Americans, unlike European Americans speakers for the presentation of instructions and stimuli. Participants (Anderson et al., 1986; Clark et al., 1999; Falkner, Kushner, Khalsa, were seated comfortably throughout the experiment. Canessa, & Katz, 1986; Johnson, 1989; Morrell, Myers, Shapiro, Measures Address correspondence to Jim Blascovich, Department of Psychology, The numbers of correct test items for the two tasks (described in University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106. the Procedure section) constituted the performance measure. VOL. 12, NO. 3, MAY 2001 Copyright © 2001 American Psychological Society 225 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Stereotype Threat We recorded MAP continuously using a Cortronics (Model 5000) structions to sit and rest (Minute 12), rested for another 5-min period automated blood pressure device and stored these data digitally on a (Minutes 13–17), received instructions for the second task (Minute laboratory computer. Larsen, Schneiderman, and Pasin (1986) argued 18), and subsequently spent another 5 min on the second RAT task that MAP is preferable to either systolic or diastolic blood pressure (Minutes 19–23). Afterward, the experimenter met with the participant measurements, especially with regard to its relationship to hypertension. to go over a detailed debriefing (and probe for suspicion). Procedure RESULTS When participants arrived at the lab, they were met by a female Performance on the RAT research assistant of their own race. Before they entered the experi- mental chamber, the assistant explained that the study was about phys- We conducted a three-factor analysis of variance to test for perfor- iological responses to cognitive tasks. mance differences using the number of correctly answered RAT items Once the experimenter had calibrated the physiological equipment, as the dependent measure. The two between-subjects factors were race participants heard audiotaped instructions simply to relax for a 5-min (African or European American) and stereotype-threat condition (high rest period. This period provided the baseline for subsequent MAP or low). The within-subjects factor was level of item difficulty (high, changes (i.e., MAP reactivity). Following the baseline period, partici- moderate, or low). This analysis revealed only a main effect for item pants received instructions (via videotape) for the stereotype-threat difficulty, F(2, 74) ϭ 50.77, p Ͻ .001, with significantly poorer per- condition (i.e., the experimental manipulation) to which they had been formance on the difficult items (M ϭ 1.17 correct) than the moderate randomly assigned. In the high-stereotype-threat condition, partici- items (M ϭ 2.12 correct), F(2, 80) ϭ 14.61, p Ͻ .001, and signifi- pants saw a European-American man who introduced himself as a cantly poorer performance on the moderate than the easy items (M ϭ professor from Stanford University. He briefly discussed the recent de- 3.68 correct), F(2, 80) ϭ 39.33, p Ͻ .001. bate regarding the use of standardized tests (i.e., whether they are bi- Because previous stereotype-threat research has shown that perfor- ased toward particular subcultural groups) and explained that mance detriments on standardized tests emerge only on difficult prob- researchers at Princeton University, Stanford, and the University of lems (Spencer et al., 1999; Steele, 1997; Steele et al., in press), we Michigan had developed a new test of intelligence that the participants performed a priori contrasts comparing the performance of African would soon take. The participants were told they were taking the test Americans in the high-stereotype-threat condition with the perfor- to help the test developers achieve a nationally representative sample. mance of the other three groups (African Americans in the low-stereo- In the low-stereotype-threat condition, participants saw an African type-threat condition, European Americans in both stereotype-threat American who also introduced himself as a professor from Stanford. conditions) on the difficult, moderate,
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