The uniformity of stereotype threat: Analyzing the moderating effects of premeasured performance

Abstract

Stereotype threat theory states that female and minority test-takers underperform on cognitive tests because they experience pressure by negative stereotypes about their group's performance. The theory hypothesizes that this effect is larger for test-takers who strongly identify with an academic domain, and for whom the test is the most difficult. These moderators can create treatment-by-covariate interactions when premeasured performance (e.g., the SAT) serves as covariate, as is common practice in stereotype threat experiments. In this preregistered Bayesian meta-analysis, we used the raw data from 31 stereotype threat studies involving 3357 negatively stereotyped participants to investigate whether stereotype threat effects are moderated by premeasured performance. Results yield evidence for no moderation. Correlations between premeasured performance and test scores are similar across conditions, indicating uniformity of stereotype threat with respect to premeasured performance. This suggests that domain identification or test difficulty as both operationalized by premeasured performance fail to moderate stereotype threat effects, and that previous findings on the effect of these moderators may be false positives.