Choking under pressure: When an additional positive stereotype affects performance for domain identified male mathematics students

Abstract

This research aimed to establish if the presentation of two positive stereotypes would result in choking under pressure for identified male mathematics students. Seventy-five 16 year old men, who had just commenced their AS-level study, were either made aware of their gender group membership (single positive stereotype) their school group membership (single positive stereotype) or both group memberships (dual stereotype) before being given a maths test. Analysis revealed that male students who studied maths (identified) underperformed in the dual stereotype condition, compared to both single stereotyped conditions, in line with the choking under pressure hypothesis. In comparison, no such effect was found for male nonmaths students (disidentified), suggesting that choking under pressure only occurs for individuals for whom the group membership is important to their self-perception.