An “Obama effect” on the GRE General Test?

Abstract

Previous research assessing Obama's effectiveness as a role model in alleviating the effects of stereotype threat on Black Americans' test performance yielded provocative though conflicting results. A field study with research participants observed that Black–White mean differences were not detectable at points in his 2008 presidential campaign when he clearly succeeded—his nomination and election, although they persisted at other points. But a laboratory experiment found that prompts to think positively about Obama had no effect. The present study extended this research to actual test-takers and an operational test (GRE General Test). Black–White mean differences just after the election in November 2008 were substantial and comparable to earlier differences, in November 2006; the level of Black test-takers' performance was also unchanged.