Knowing Is Half the Battle

Michael Johns,Andy Martens,Toni Schmader

doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00799.x

Abstract

We tested whether informing women about stereotype threat is a useful intervention to improve their performance in a threatening testing situation. Men and women completed difficult math problems described either as a problem-solving task or as a math test. In a third (teaching-intervention) condition, the test was also described as a math test, but participants were additionally informed that stereotype threat could interfere with women's math performance. Results showed that women performed worse than men when the problems were described as a math test (and stereotype threat was not discussed), but did not differ from men in the problem-solving condition or in the condition in which they learned about stereotype threat. For women, attributing anxiety to gender stereotypes was associated with lower performance in the math-test condition but improved performance in the teaching-intervention condition. The results suggest that teaching about stereotype threat might offer a practical means of reducing its detrimental effects.

Highlights

IntroductionOlder drivers are often said to attach great importance to the possibility of driving a car
Older drivers are often said to attach great importance to the possibility of driving a car.Among other reasons, this might stem from the fact that driving a car is a way to maintain their daily social activities [1,2]
As regards the manipulation check, it appears that our priming was successful in that drivers induced with stereotype threat believed more strongly than their control counterparts that their driving performance would be seen, by the experimenter, as diagnostic of their group difficulties (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Older drivers are often said to attach great importance to the possibility of driving a car. Among other reasons, this might stem from the fact that driving a car is a way to maintain their daily social activities [1,2]. This might stem from the fact that driving a car is a way to maintain their daily social activities [1,2] Giving up these social activities may be accompanied by severe pathological mood impairments, such as depression [3,4,5]. The evidence suggests that there is a great deal of self-regulation among normally-aging drivers. It has repeatedly been suggested that older drivers

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Discussion

Conclusion