Proven practices that can reduce stereotype threat in engineering education: A literature review

Abstract

Stereotype is a term used by social scientists to describe the anxiety one feels when one fears that he or she will confirm a negative stereotype about his or her own group. This anxiety impairs performance and reduces motivation by introducing a self-evaluative threat. More than 300 studies have verified that people underperform when put in situations that cause stereotype threat. Documented consequences of stereotype threat include decreased performance; blaming failure on internal, rather than external, causes; and distancing oneself from a setting that generates stereotype threat (e.g. changing one's major from engineering or computer science). Given the plethora of research available on practices that increase or reduce stereotype threat, a set of recommended practices can now be used in engineering education to reduce stereotype threat and thereby increase the performance of potentially threatened groups. In this paper, we provide an easy to use and research supported list of best practices to reduce stereotype threat in engineering education.