Stereotype Threat

[astra_nomer]

Take that, Inherent Differences!

(it apparently holds for minorities, too)

Comments

[capsicumanuum.livejournal.com]

I read about a similar study involving male and female asian-americans. When questioned about their race prior to the test, women and men performed equally well, but when questioned about gender, the women significantly lagged behind the men.

[nuclearpolymer.livejournal.com]

I've heard about this effect, but not that you can erase it by having people think about their strengths. The fact that the performance of men or white students did not improve when triggered to think about their strengths seems to suggest that this technique primarily overcomes subconscious mental blocks to success. So I guess we should all be thinking "Is there some aspect of my life or achievement that I might underperforming" and then figuring out affirmations to get over it...

[remcat.livejournal.com]

So interesting ... so as I read it, if a person thinks poorly of themselves in a stereotypical way, they can be intentionally triggered and made to perform badly on tests.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Wonder if I can help students overcome test anxiety by having the first question be something that primes them to think well of themselves. But it's hard for me to think of a question that would be likely to work for everyone. (You can ask college students "hey, how do you feel about this tremendous privilege you have in attending an awesome school?" but it doesn't work so well for 13-year-olds who have neither the choice nor the perspective.)

[coraline]

you should go check out this entry by a friend of mine... :)