Gender stereotypes and intellectual performance: Stigma consciousness as a buffer against stereotype validation

Abstract

Previous research has found that activating self-relevant, negative stereotypes after a task may increase people's certainty about their own poor performance (i.e., stereotype validation). The current research examined how individual differences in stigma consciousness may moderate these effects. Building from past findings, we hypothesized that high stigma consciousness in women would be associated with lower susceptibility to gender stereotype validation—due to heightened motivation to avoid, reject, and/or react against perceived bias. In two studies, participants completed a difficult test on the subject of business economics. When the gender stereotype about business ability was made salient afterward, no evidence of stereotype validation emerged among women high in stigma consciousness. However, for women with lower stigma consciousness, the data suggest that stereotype activation validated negative views of their own performance and, in turn, had an adverse effect on related attitudes and beliefs about their abilities.