Stereotype Threat Research Articles

An Analysis of Women’s Underrepresentation in Undergraduate Economics

ABSTRACT This paper is the first to give a comprehensive overview of the various conditions that deter women from pursuing an economics major and that contribute to the low numbers of female students in undergraduate economics. Explanations for women’s underrepresentation in undergraduate economics include a lack of female role models and mentors; misperceptions and misinformation about the discipline; the social climate in economics (classes); the scarcity of same-gender peers; women’s relatively high grade-sensitivity; the stereotype threat that makes women doubt their academic performance; women’s (alleged or actual) discomfort with the math-heaviness associated with an economics major; economics’ relatively high use of abstract and theoretical models; and women’s belief that the subject matter does not relate to their own life experiences and interests. An important contribution of the paper is its review of interventions that have proven successful in attracting and retaining female students to the discipline of economics. The paper thus unravels the underlying structural mechanisms associated with female students refraining from pursuing a degree in economics and offers a review of innovative measures that have been shown to help economics practice greater gender inclusivity at the undergraduate level.

Does Stereotype Threat Contribute to the Political Knowledge Gender Gap? A Preregistered Replication Study of Ihme and Tausendpfund (2018)

AbstractThe gender gap in political knowledge is a well-established finding in Political Science. One explanation for gender differences in political knowledge is the activation of negative stereotypes about women. As part of the Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence (SCORE) program, we conducted a two-stage preregistered and high-powered direct replication of Study 2 of Ihme and Tausendpfund (2018). While we successfully replicated the gender gap in political knowledge – such that male participants performed better than female participants – both the first (N = 671) and second stage (N = 831) of the replication of the stereotype activation effect were unsuccessful. Taken together (pooled N = 1,502), results indicate evidence of absence of the effect of stereotype activation on gender differences in political knowledge. We discuss potential explanations for these findings and put forward evidence that the gender gap in political knowledge might be an artifact of how knowledge is measured.

Examining the moderating role of regulatory fit on stereotype threat among Ugandan adolescents

ABSTRACT Prior research in Western contexts has tested the hypothesis that stereotype threat induces a prevention focus and that in contexts where both prevention focus and stereotype threat are simultaneously activated, members of stereotyped groups experience a performance boost due to the fit between one’s goal orientation and the task demands (i.e. regulatory fit or stereotype fit). The present Study tested this hypothesis with high school students in Uganda, East Africa. Study findings revealed that in this cultural context where high-stakes testing fosters a predominantly promotion-focused testing culture, individual differences in regulatory focus interacted with the broader cultural, regulatory focus test culture to impact student performance.

Stereotype threat and gender differences in statistics

Stereotype threat (ST) has been extensively explored as an explanation for gender disparities in achievement and participation in mathematics. However, there is a lack of research evaluating ST in statistics. The present study evaluated the impact of ST on gender differences in student performance, self-efficacy, and anxiety in statistics using a four-group, quasi-experimental design. Specifically, 102 elementary statistics students at a university in the Southeast United States were randomly assigned to one of four ST conditions including an explicit ST condition, an implicit ST condition, a reverse ST condition, and a nullified ST condition. Results indicated that there were no gender differences by ST condition in statistics self-efficacy, test anxiety, and performance. Analyses of student responses to open-ended questions indicated that females were more likely than males to report that they had fewer opportunities to achieve in statistics. Implications of our findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Whether Informing Participants with High Self-Relevance of Gender Stereotype Alleviates Stereotype Activation Threat

Females, as a minority group, experience social inequalities relative to males in most societies. Part of the inequalities originates from gender-stereotypical thoughts, which impose threats and anxiety on females, worsening their performances. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between the self-relevance level of the stereotypical traits and the performance improvement under the informing women about stereotype threat. Female participants finished a gender role orientation inventory and were exposed to gender stereotype threats before the two-dimensional mental orientation task. The performance of the task was measured by reaction time and the number of correct answers. The participants in the teaching-intervention condition were additionally informed that gender stereotype threat could interfere with their spatial performance. Results showed that women with female gender role orientation performed worse than those without. However, no relation between gender role orientation and teaching-intervention was found. The results suggest a potential problem under the two-dimensional mental rotation tasks and provide future studies with further suggestions.

Integrating evidence-based teaching practices into the Mammalogy classroom

Abstract The teaching practices used in college science classrooms have a profound influence on which students pass their courses (and continue to major in science) and which are ‘weeded out.’ Students from traditionally marginalized backgrounds have lower grades and learning gains compared to their nonmarginalized peers in courses that rely heavily on lecture and high-stakes exams. This achievement gap narrows or disappears when instructors use student-centered, evidence-based teaching practices. These teaching practices can include actions that shape our classroom environment, communicate course material, and assess student learning. In this paper, we provide a summary of the evidence supporting the use of student-centered teaching practices, followed by examples of several effective evidence-based teaching practices that can be integrated into organismal courses. Examples include faculty mindset for inclusion, teaching practices to increase student confidence and to reduce stereotype threat, increasing course structure by spreading points among several different types of activities, several active learning methods, jigsaws, Scientist Spotlights, course-based undergraduate research experiences, and inquiry-based labs. Each example is linked to supporting resources to help instructors easily implement these practices in their classrooms. The American Society of Mammalogists endeavors to be equitable and inclusive through numerous initiatives, and modifying our teaching practices can increase equity and inclusion of future mammalogists into our own classrooms.

The Research on the Marital Dilemmas and Ways of Coping with Gender Stereotypes of Highly Educated Women

In the context of the modernization process and in particular, the expansion of higher education, the proportion of women among postgraduate students is on the rise and exceeds that of men. The opportunity cost of higher education for highly educated women is their late entry into society, which has resulted in many highly educated women not being able to marry or find a suitable partner at a marriageable age. Based on socialization theory and gender theory, this paper explores and analyzes the gender stereotypes and marital dilemmas faced by highly educated women and their ways of coping with them based on interviews and literature research, and learns about the gender stereotypes faced by highly educated women and their responses to the threat of stereotypes. The study also explores the links between the marital behaviour of highly educated women and gender stereotypes, and proposes policy implications for the marriage of highly educated women, starting with individual psychological counselling, and then improving social policies and laws and creating a favourable cultural atmosphere, in order to provide a theoretical basis and practical support for society to correctly understand the marriage of highly educated women and reduce gender stereotypes.

Comparing the Efficacy of Two Forms of Self-Affirmation to Reduce Stereotype Threat Effects on Women’s Math Performance

Comparing the Efficacy of Two Forms of Self-Affirmation to Reduce Stereotype Threat Effects on Women’s Math Performance

Diversity, Dignity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Age of Division, Discord and Disunion: Stereotyping, Sexist, Hegemony in Education

The article addresses diversity issues related to language, gender, and culture. Topics include fundamental areas of research essential to the discussion on language diversity in the context of education with respect to equity, poverty, stereotype threat, Pygmalion Effect, non-sexist language, and Matthews Effect. The discussion on diversity and equity creates a space to think about issues of access, opportunity, voice, and equal participation within society and educational settings. Diversity among humans requires thoughtful considerations, accommodations, and differentiations in educational treatment, yet providing equal opportunities for growth and learning for all.

Gender Stereotype Threat Undermines Dance Performance and Learning in Boys

The objective of the present study was to examine the effects of gender stereotype on the performance and learning of a classical ballet pirouette in 11-year-old boys. Participants in the stereotype threat (ST) group were informed that, in general, boys tend to show worse results when completing the pirouette task in comparison to girls. Participants in the stereotype lift (SL) group were told that girls tend to show worse results in comparison to boys. The control group did not receive stereotype instructions. The results demonstrated worse performance during practice and retention (next day) for the ST group relative to the SL and control groups; the SL and control groups did not differ. The findings indicate that gender stereotype threat can undermine motor performance and learning in boys.

Persistence of incumbents and female access to political positions

This article studies whether the incumbent advantage for reelection reduces female access to political positions. I use a regression discontinuity exploiting close electoral races in French municipalities to randomize the eligibility of incumbent mayors for reappointment. After a male incumbent, I show that incumbency largely reduces the stock of places where women have historically been appointed mayor by about 24%. After a female incumbent, I find that there are fewer women appointed mayor than after a male one. I investigate the mechanisms and argue that this effect is consistent with a backlash or stereotype threat effect penalizing women after a female incumbent.

Randomised Controlled Trial of Self-Affirmation Intervention on Students' Academic Performance: Promising Impacts on Students from Migrant Hukou Status.

Drawing from the sociocultural-self model, this study aims to examine the influence of self-affirmation on the academic outcomes of lower-class migrant students, as well as the psychological mechanism underlying this phenomenon. A field experiment was conducted at a comprehensive secondary school in the southern region of China. Our study sample comprised 1534 immigrant students from diverse regions across the country, with an average proportion of 59.6% of students registered with a rural hukou. The hukou system plays a pivotal role in measuring social class in China, thus it was used as a proxy for lower and higher social class, with rural hukou students considered to be lower-class and urban hukou students considered to be higher-class. Prior to the English test, students in the self-affirmed group were engaged in a brief writing exercise that focused on their core values, whereas the control group wrote about a neutral topic. The primary outcome of interest was the effect of self-affirmation on English test scores, whereas the secondary outcome was the students' survey stereotype threat. The results exhibit that self-affirmation more significantly improved the English test performance of lower-class students compared to higher-class students, and this positive effect was mediated by reducing stereotype threat. Our findings unravel the impact of self-affirmation on the academic performance of migrant students from different social classes and signify the mediating role of stereotype threat in this process. The present study extends previous findings to students from immigrant families in the Chinese cultural context, and these findings demonstrate that self-affirmation can constitute a promising intervention for stereotype threat and achievement gaps due to social class differences in immigrant family groups. Considering that this intervention takes only about 15 minutes of time, entails almost zero cost, does no harm, and that it focuses on disadvantaged immigrant students, it may provide valuable insights for educational policies to be implemented in a new type of migrant city such as Shenzhen.

A conceptual model to understand and address racial disparities in exclusionary discipline through teacher-child relationships

Young children in the United States, particularly Black boys, are being suspended and expelled from early childhood education programs and primary schools at alarming rates. Teachers describe children's “disruptive” or “challenging” behavior as the most common reason for suspending or expelling a child. For this reason, common efforts to reduce exclusionary discipline target teacher behavior to change child behavior (e.g., improve use of evidence-based practices) or child behavior directly (e.g., learn self-regulation skills). In this paper, we argue that improving the quality of the teacher-child relationship is an alternative mechanism for addressing exclusionary discipline and mitigating racial disparities in the early childhood years. We propose and provide support for a transactional, relational model to account for exclusionary discipline. The proposed conceptual model intentionally names how teachers’ racial bias and children's stereotype threat, resulting from racialized classroom experiences, exacerbate coercive teacher-child interaction cycles for Black children. We apply this model to review and evaluate select teacher-child relationship interventions to identify opportunities and challenges these interventions present to reduce exclusionary discipline and mitigate racial discipline disparities. We end the paper with recommendations for future research to advance relationship-based solutions to the exclusion crisis in early childhood education.

All carrot – no stick: an alternative award framework to enhance ‘international’ students’ sense of belonging and engagement in the extracurricular

A sense of belonging and feeling at home at their institution are key factors in student success at university. Engaging with extracurricular activities is part of this dynamic, and an area in which ‘international’ students face additional barriers. These include institutional and psychological barriers to belonging, resulting in a shortage of meaningful opportunities to belong and a lack of motivation to take part. Increased belonging uncertainty and negative stereotype threat are among the potential concerns for such students. In response, we have developed the Student Extracurricular Engagement Award for pre-sessional undergraduate students at the University of Leeds Language Centre, UK. This scheme draws on theoretical approaches related to co-construction, participation, identity, opportunity and motivation. This innovative educational intervention seeks to address the issues affecting belonging by providing encouragement and guidance in engaging with the university’s extracurricular activities. By validating activities in areas other than academic language and literacies, the award raises student awareness of the value of their successes in those areas. This more holistic and rhizomatic approach to student learning is argued to bring a greater sense of belonging to ‘international’ students.

Better policy interventions through intersectionality

AbstractDeployment of intersectionality frameworks in policy design and implementation is a way to ensure that the means and goals of interventions are congruent with target populations’ understanding of their circumstances, their desired outcomes, and their empowerment. In this paper, we examine the ways concepts from psychology have been used to inform interventions and policies, and we use an intersectional lens to suggest improvements to these interventions to be more inclusive in their impact. We review three social policy interventions that were developed based on social psychological research: (1) sexual assault prevention programs based on bystander interventions; (2) so‐called “wise schooling” programs, intended to ameliorate gaps in academic achievement stemming from stereotype threat; and (3) programs aiming to foster pro‐environmental behavior, specifically, recyling. Following Cole's (2009) recommendations for using intersectionality in research in psychology together with the guiding principles that define Intersectionality‐Based Policy Analysis (Hankivsky et al., 2014), we interrogate how the psychological research that provides the foundation for these policies informs them at different points in the policy cycle and suggest alternatives designed to more equitably address these problems. Our analysis shows that these problems demand a multi‐level analysis that recognizes intersecting identities.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEALTHCARE STEREOTYPE THREAT AND ADVANCE CARE PLANNING AMONG HISPANIC PATIENTS

Abstract Experiencing ethnic/racial stereotype threat, the psychological experience of confronting stereotypes in the healthcare system, has been found to negatively impact healthcare outcomes (e.g. dissatisfaction with healthcare, poorer mental and physical health, higher physician distrust). Few studies have examined healthcare stereotype threat among Hispanics, and no study has tested how it might impact advance care planning outcomes among Hispanic hospitalized patients. This study aims to examine the relationship between healthcare stereotype threat and advance care planning activities among Hispanic hospitalized patients. We analyzed secondary data collected from a feasibility study of a palliative care educational intervention among 50 Spanish-speaking, Hispanic patients, over the age of 40, who were hospitalized in a large public hospital. Fifty percent had discussed future care if they were to become seriously ill, 18% had written instructions about their care (living will or advance directive), and 32% had a durable power of attorney (proxy) for healthcare. Results of logistic regressions revealed that greater healthcare stereotype threat scores were associated with lower odds of having discussed future care or medical treatment with others (OR=0.49, p=.03). However, healthcare stereotype threat scores were not associated with having provided written instructions about future medical care (OR=0.44; p=0.07), or with having a durable power of attorney for healthcare (OR=0.89; p=0.76). Future research should investigate ways to improve the cultural sensitivity in broaching discussions of future medical treatment among seriously ill patients. Additionally, more research and attention to policy implication are needed to reduce racial stereotype threat experienced in the healthcare system.

Performance Comparisons on the Saint Louis University Mental Status Examination Between Black and White Veterans and Education Classification in a Large Outpatient Sample from the Southern United States.

An increasing scientific literature recognizes that traditional cut-off scores for cognitive screeners may not be optimal for use in patients who differ in race/ethnicity from the screeners' normative/reference group. There is also literature on how racial/ethnic contextual factors, such as stereotype threat or perceived discrimination, may influence performance on cognitive testing. The current study examined the characteristics of SLUMS (a cognitive screening measure) performance in a large (n = 602) sample of Black (n = 229) and White (n = 373) veterans in a VA hospital located in the Southern United States. SLUMS data were gathered from retrospective electronic chart review between January 2013 and February 2020. Race/ethnicity of veterans was gathered by chart review and race of hospital providers who administered the SLUMS by personal communication. Black veterans were 1.99 times more likely to be classified by total SLUMS score as being within the dementia range compared with White veterans. Differences in item level performance were only found between Black and White veterans with ≥ high school education. Race of clinical provider (i.e., Black or White) administering the SLUMS did not significantly impact veteran performance on the SLUMS. This is the first large sample study of differences in SLUMS performance between Black and White veterans. Findings replicate earlier research on Black and White performance differences on individual SLUMS items and provide an analysis of examiner-examinee racial discordance. This study underscores the importance of researching cognitive measures in groups who differ from the original normative/references samples.

Toward a New Approach to Investigate the Role of Working Memory in Stereotype Threat Effects.

Stereotype threat arises when the activation of negative stereotypes about a group impairs performance of stigmatized individuals on stereotype relevant tasks. There is ample evidence that stereotype threat leads to performance detriments by consuming executive resources. Several studies indeed showed that working memory (WM) mediates stereotype threat effects among young adults. More recently, researchers have sought to understand whether the same mechanisms underlie age-based stereotype threat, but findings are mixed regarding the role of WM and some authors rather favor a motivational explanation based on regulatory fit. The present review critically appraises the empirical support for distinct forms of stereotype threat effects mediated by distinct mechanisms. We propose a novel approach based on one of the most recent WM models, the time-based resource sharing model, to evaluate the impact of stereotype threat on attentional resources in WM among both young and older adults.

Growth Mindset Training and the Effect of Math-Gender Stereotype Threat on Girl Students

To investigate whether growth mindset training can weaken the effect of math-gender stereotype threat on girl students, this study undertook experimental intervention in a group of grade-11 girl students and found that: (i) Mindsets can moderate the effect of math-gender stereotype threat. Girls with a growth mindset are less likely to be affected by math-gender stereotype threat compared with those with a fixed mindset. (ii) Growth mindset training for girls with a fixed mindset can effectively reduce the effect of math-gender stereotype threat on their math performance.

Stereotype threat to teacher academic performance in Huaulu, North Seram Island: the role of self-efficacy and ethnic identity

Understanding the positives and negatives of teachers' academic performance is an important step in improving academic success in these minority groups. Teachers are faced with a challenge stemming from the experience of ethnic groups, and customary law, in supporting their academic performance. Quantitative design is used through the distribution of questionnaires and direct observation to test whether the threat of stereotypes affects the academic performance of teachers in Huaulu and whether there is a direct influence of ethnic identity and self-efficacy on teacher academic performance. This analysis uses multiple regression and ANOVA to test the sampling method. The results showed that the threat of stereotypes affects teachers in Huaulu and there is a direct influence of the effect of ethnic identity and self-efficacy on teachers' academic performance. Originality in this study as far as the authors are aware, is the first study to dismantle the threat of teacher stereotypes in the hinterlands of the Huaulu ethnicity, little is known as to whether ethnic identity and teacher efficacy affect academic performance against the threat