Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:21:18.710Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

17 - Preventing and Minimizing Stereotype Threat in School Settings

from Part III - Interventions from Educational and Social/Personality Psychology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

By
Jennifer Randall Crosby
Edited by
Frank C. Worrell ,
Tammy L. Hughes  and
Dante D. Dixson
Frank C. Worrell
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Tammy L. Hughes
Affiliation:
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh
Dante D. Dixson
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
Get access

Summary

As described by Steele (1997, p. 614), stereotype threat is “the social-psychological threat that arises when one is in a situation or doing something for which a negative stereotype about one’s group applies.” This chapter reviews research on how stereotype threat affects students in K–12 settings, including members of underrepresented racial groups and women in quantitative fields such as math and computer science. Because of the potential costs of stereotype threat in terms of individual underperformance and reduced participation in various fields by members of underrepresented groups, it is vital to prevent and reduce stereotype threat in schools settings. Efforts at prevention and reduction may be focused on concerns with belonging, concerns with performance, and management of the cognitive and physiological effects of stereotype threat. Partnership with researchers has been shown to increase both the theoretical fidelity and the effectiveness of school-based interventions.

Keywords

stereotype threatstereotypingdisidentificationbelonging uncertaintyclassroom cuesteacher expectationsgrowth mindsetself-affirmation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Applied School Psychology , pp. 277 - 294
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alter, A. L., Aronson, J., Darley, J. M., Rodriguez, C., & Ruble, D. N. (2010). Rising to the threat: Reducing stereotype threat by reframing the threat as a challenge. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 166–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.09.014CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ambady, N., Shih, M., Kim, A., & Pittinsky, T. L. (2001). Stereotype susceptibility in children: Effects of identity activation on quantitative performance. Psychological Science, 12, 385–390. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00371Google Scholar
Aronson, J., Cohen, G., & McColskey, W. (2009). Reducing stereotype threat in classrooms: A review of social-psychological intervention studies on improving the achievement of Black students. Issues & Answers. REL 2009–076. Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/southeast/pdf/REL_2009076.pdfGoogle Scholar
Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 113–125. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.2001.1491Google Scholar
Aronson, J., Quinn, D. M., & Spencer, S. J. (1998). Stereotype threat and the academic underperformance of minorities and women. In Swim, J. K. & Stangor, C. (Eds.). Prejudice: The target’s perspective (pp. 83–103). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012679130-3/50039-9Google Scholar
Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78, 246–263. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00995.xGoogle Scholar
Blascovich, J., Spencer, S. J., Quinn, D., & Steele, C. (2001). African Americans and high blood pressure: The role of stereotype threat. Psychological Science, 12, 225–229. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00340CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borman, G. D., Rozek, C.S., Pyne, J. R., Hanselman, P., & Feldman, R. C. (2016, April). Reappraising adversity improves students’ academic achievement, behavior, and well-being. In Different routes to the similar outcomes: Improving students’ well-being in addition to achievement in school. Symposium presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Brown, R. P., & Josephs, R. A. (1999). A burden of proof: Stereotype relevance and gender differences in math performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 246–257. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.2.246Google Scholar
Cheryan, S., Plaut, V. C., Davies, P. G., & Steele, C. M. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 1045–1060. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016239Google Scholar
Cohen, G. L., Garcia, J., Apfel, N., & Master, A. (2006). Reducing the racial achievement gap: A social-psychological intervention. Science, 313, 1307–1310. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1128317Google Scholar
Cohen, G. L., Garcia, J., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Apfel, N., & Brzustoski, P. (2009). Recursive processes in self-affirmation: Intervening to close the minority achievement gap. Science, 324, 400–403. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1170769CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, G. L., & Steele, C. M. (2002). A barrier of mistrust: How negative stereotypes affect cross-race mentoring. In Cohen, J. (Ed.), Improving academic achievement: Impact of psychological factors on education. (pp. 303–327). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012064455-1/50018-XGoogle Scholar
Cohen, G. L., Steele, C. M., & Ross, L. D. (1999). The mentor’s dilemma: Providing critical feedback across the racial divide. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 1302–1318. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167299258011Google Scholar
Crocker, J., Voelkl, K., Testa, M., & Major, B. (1991). Social stigma: The affective consequences of attributional ambiguity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 218–228. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.2.218Google Scholar
Croizet, J. C., & Claire, T. (1998). Extending the concept of stereotype threat to social class: The intellectual underperformance of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 588–594. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167298246003Google Scholar
Dasgupta, N., & Asgari, S. (2004). Seeing is believing: Exposure to counterstereotypic women leaders and its effect on the malleability of automatic gender stereotyping. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 642–658. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2004.02.003Google Scholar
Dasgupta, N., Scircle, M. M., & Hunsinger, M. (2015). Female peers in small work groups enhance women’s motivation, verbal participation, and career aspirations in engineering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112, 4988–4993. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1422822112Google Scholar
Dweck, C. S. (1999). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development.Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.95.2.256Google Scholar
Good, C., Aronson, J., & Inzlicht, M. (2003). Improving adolescents’ standardized test performance: An intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 645–662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2003.09.002Google Scholar
Good, J. J., Woodzicka, J. A., & Wingfield, L. C. (2010). The effects of gender stereotypic and counter-stereotypic textbook images on science performance. The Journal of Social Psychology, 150, 132–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224540903366552Google Scholar
Gonzales, P. M., Blanton, H., & Williams, K. J. (2002). The effects of stereotype threat and double-minority status on the test performance of Latino women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 659–670. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202288010Google Scholar
Hess, T. M., Auman, C., Colcombe, S. J., & Rahhal, T. A. (2003). The impact of stereotype threat on age differences in memory performance. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58, P3–P11. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/58.1.P3Google Scholar
Huguet, P., & Régner, I. (2007). Stereotype threat among schoolgirls in quasi-ordinary classroom circumstances. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 545–560. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022–0663.99.3.545Google Scholar
Inzlicht, M., & Ben-Zeev, T. (2000). A threatening intellectual environment: Why females are susceptible to experiencing problem-solving deficits in the presence of males. Psychological Science, 11, 365–371. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00272Google Scholar
Jamieson, J. P., Nock, M. K., & Mendes, W. B. (2012). Mind over matter: reappraising arousal improves cardiovascular and cognitive responses to stress. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141, 417–422. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025719Google Scholar
Johns, M., Schmader, T., & Martens, A. (2005). Knowing is half the battle: Teaching stereotype threat as a means of improving women’s math performance. Psychological Science, 16, 175–179. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00799.xGoogle Scholar
Latu, I. M., Mast, M. S., Lammers, J., & Bombari, D. (2013). Successful female leaders empower women’s behavior in leadership tasks. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 444–448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.01.003Google Scholar
Lin-Siegler, X., Ahn, J. N., Chen, J., Fang, F. F. A., & Luna-Lucero, M. (2016). Even Einstein struggled: Effects of learning about great scientists’ struggles on high school students’ motivation to learn science. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108, 314–328. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000092Google Scholar
Mangels, J. A., Butterfield, B., Lamb, J., Good, C. D., & Dweck, C. S. (2006). Why do beliefs about intelligence influence learning success? A social-cognitive-neuroscience model. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience, 1, 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsl013Google Scholar
Martens, A., Johns, M., Greenberg, J., & Schimel, J. (2006). Combating stereotype threat: The effect of self-affirmation on women’s intellectual performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 236–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2005.04.010Google Scholar
Massey, D. S., Charles, C. Z., Lundy, G. F., & Fischer, M. J. (2003). The source of the river: The social origins of freshmen at America’s selective colleges and universities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Master, A., Cheryan, S., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2016). Computing whether she belongs: Stereotypes undermine girls’ interest and sense of belonging in computer science. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108, 424–437. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000061Google Scholar
McKown, C., & Weinstein, R. S. (2003). The development and consequences of stereotype consciousness in middle childhood. Child Development, 74, 498–515. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.7402012Google Scholar
Mendes, W. B., Blascovich, J., Hunter, S. B., Lickel, B., & Jost, J. T. (2007). Threatened by the unexpected: Physiological responses during social interactions with expectancy-violating partners. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 698–716. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.4.698Google Scholar
Miyake, A., Kost-Smith, L. E., Finkelstein, N. D., et al. (2010). Reducing the gender achievement gap in college science: A classroom study of values affirmation. Science, 330, 1234–1237. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1195996Google Scholar
O’Brien, L. T., & Crandall, C. S. (2003). Stereotype threat and arousal: Effects on women’s math performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 782–789. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203029006010Google Scholar
Osborne, J. W. (1997). Race and academic disidentification. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 728–735. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.89.4.728Google Scholar
Paunesku, D., Walton, G. M., Romero, C., et al. (2015). Mind-set interventions are a scalable treatment for academic underachievement. Psychological Science, 26, 784–793. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615571017Google Scholar
Pronin, E., Steele, C. M., & Ross, L. (2004). Identity bifurcation in response to stereotype threat: Women and mathematics. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 152–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1031(03)00088-XGoogle Scholar
Schmader, T., Johns, M., & Forbes, C. (2008). An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance. Psychological Review, 115, 336–356. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.115.2.336Google Scholar
Sherman, D. K., Cohen, G. L., Nelson, L. D., et al. (2009). Affirmed yet unaware: Exploring the role of awareness in the process of self-affirmation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 745–764. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015451Google Scholar
Shih, M., Pittinsky, T. L., & Ambady, N. (1999). Stereotype susceptibility: Identity salience and shifts in quantitative performance. Psychological Science, 10, 80–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00111Google Scholar
Spencer, S. J., Steele, C. M., & Quinn, D. M. (1999). Stereotype threat and women’s math performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 4–28. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.1998.1373Google Scholar
Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52, 613–629. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.52.6.613Google Scholar
Steele, C. M. (2010). Whistling Vivaldi. New York, NY: WW Norton & Co.Google Scholar
Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797–781. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.797Google Scholar
Stone, J., Perry, W., & Darley, J. M. (1997). “White men can’t jump”: Evidence for the perceptual confirmation of racial stereotypes following a basketball game. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 19, 291–306. https://doi.org/10.1207/15324839751036977Google Scholar
Stout, J. G., Dasgupta, N., Hunsinger, M., & McManus, M. A. (2011). STEMing the tide: Using ingroup experts to inoculate women’s self-concept in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 255–270. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021385Google Scholar
Walton, G. M. (2014). The new science of wise psychological interventions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 73–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721413512856Google Scholar
Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2007). A question of belonging: Race, social fit, and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 82–96. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.1.82Google Scholar
Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2011). A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students. Science, 331, 1447–1451. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1198364Google Scholar
Yeager, D. S., Johnson, R., Spitzer, B. J., et al. (2014). The far-reaching effects of believing people can change: Implicit theories of personality shape stress, health, and achievement during adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 867–884. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036335Google Scholar
Yeager, D. S., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Garcia, J., et al. (2014). Breaking the cycle of mistrust: Wise interventions to provide critical feedback across the racial divide. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143, 804–824. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033906Google Scholar
Yeager, D. S., & Walton, G. M. (2011). Social-psychological interventions in education: They’re not magic. Review of Educational Research, 81, 267–301. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311405999Google Scholar
Yeager, D. S., Walton, G. M., Brady, S. T., et al. (2016). Teaching a lay theory before college narrows achievement gaps at scale. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113, E3341–E3348. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1524360113Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×