Being Stereotyped

Question 1

Stress and Health

Answer 1

Awareness of: Stereotypes and Prejudices —> Stress —> Negative health consequences

Question 2

Stress and health Study

Answer 2

Experimental manipulation: Information indicating a person either is or isn’t prejudiced against ethnic minority groups

Results: Anticipating interactions with a prejudiced person led to increased emotional stress, heart rate, and blood pressure

Question 3

Social Safety

Answer 3

• reliable social connection, inclusion, and protection
• provides an important buffer against stressful and health-imperilling effects of prejudice and stigmatization
• insufficeint social safety = primary cause of stigma-related health disparities and key target for intervention

Question 4

Social identity and fitting in

Answer 4

Awareness of: Stereotypes and prejudices —> Concern about being perceived as one of “them” —> Changes in attitudes and actions to “fit in”

Question 5

You are what you eat experiment

Answer 5

• In-person survey on food preferences
• Initial inquiry of “Do you speak english”
• “I AM from here” “I DO belong here”
• causing them to say an American food in order to fit in

Question 6

Similar experiment (Asian-Americans)

Answer 6

• gave participants opportunity to choose food to rate
• then told them they had to be American to participate
• “I AM American, actually”
• more likely to order American food and ingested more calories

Question 7

Stereotype threat and academic acheivement

Answer 7

• awareness of stereotypes of own group and concern about how own actions might reinforce that stereotypes —> disruption in performance
• e.g. African-Americans underachieve
• Women don’t do well in math as guys

Question 8

Opportunities for intervention can be integrated:

Answer 8

• self-conscious attention to own behaviour (I’m a woman, taking this math test)
• negative thoughts and emotions (What if I reinforce these negative stereotypes?)
• physiological stress response
• ALL lead to consumption of working memory (more likely to make mistakes, take longer)

Question 9

Disruption in performance is less likely to happen when

Answer 9

• academic task presented as non-diagnostic of ability (not a “hardcore test” that depends on math abilities)
• membership in stereotypes group is less salient (when have to record gender during math test)
• the stereotype itself is less salient
• awareness of “stereotype threat” phenomenon

Question 10

The stereotype itself is less salient

Answer 10

• when presented as a math test: men performed better
• when presented as problem solving test: men and women equal performance

Question 11

Awareness of stereotype threat phenomenon

Answer 11

• brief lesson on stereotype threat and then do math test: men and women equal performance

Question 12

Why might learning about stereotype threat affect women’s performance?

Answer 12

• equipped to anticipate stereotype
• provides a way of finding the whole experience less threatening
• provides an excuse if women screw up
• opportunities for intervention

Question 13

If situation primes a sense of uncertainty, they become motivated to not conform to stereotype

Answer 13

BUT this increased vigilance and control hijacks the same central executive processor needed to excel on complex cognitive tasks —> poorer performance

Question 14

Why poorer performance when trying to avoid stereotype?

Answer 14

1. Losing oneself in the moment
2. Searching for signs of failure
3. The view through threat-coloured glasses
4. Never let them see you sweat

Question 15

1. Losing oneself in the moment

Answer 15

• math-identified woman become uncertain about who they are when under stereotype threat

Question 16

2. Searching for signs of failure

Answer 16

makes one vigilant for any evidence that they could be confirming the stereotype

stereotype threat increases sensitivity to mistakes BUT ALSO to one’s internal states
- people assume they feel anxious when things aren’t going well, and so anxiety itself during performance can be interpreted as evidence of failure
- women under stereotype threat were more likely to have their attention drawn toward anxiety-related stimuli

Question 17

3. The view through threat-coloured glasses

Answer 17

stereotype threat activates negative thoughts that can bias the interpretation of what one is thinking, feeling, and doing
- ex. anxiety during a test might be fine if one is confident BUT when experienced with thought of doubt, becomes a distraction
predicted lower working memory

Question 18

4. Never let them see you sweat

Answer 18

individuals under threat are motivated to push negative thoughts out of mind
ex. women exerted most effort to avoid appearing anxious had lowest working memory scores

Question 19

Reconstructing success but reappraising the situation

Answer 19

• when women and minorities are first told that anxiety will not harm their performance, suppression efforts of avoiding anxiety are eliminated