L - 25 The Self IX

Question 1

What is stereotype threat?

Answer 1

Refers to the risk of confirming negative stereotypes about an individual’s group.

Question 2

What are the effects of stereotype threat?

Answer 2

• Produces worry and anxiety.
• Impairs performance.
• Disidentification from the particular domain.

Question 3

What are the features of stereotype threat?

Answer 3

• Not tied to any one group.
• Driven by situational relevance of stereotypes.
• Does not require internalisation.
• Overcoming it requires new proof with every new challenge.

Question 4

What is the importance of identification? What happens in relation to Stereotype Threat Theory if identification does not occur?

Answer 4

Individuals need to feel like they are accepted and are valuable/ valued- a woman working in the field of science needs to feel like she is accepted, otherwise this will cause her performance to be affected and she will confirm negative stereotypes even though they are untrue, such as women not being as competent in science as men= stereotype theory

Question 5

How did Spencer et al. (1997) provide evidence towards stereotype threat in women completing a maths test?

Answer 5

They matched women and men on maths ability, and manipulated stereotype threat by either saying the test they were going to complete did or did not show gender differences.

They measured performance and showed that gender differences were only found in the stereotype threat condition.

Question 6

How did Steel and Aronson (1995) demonstrate stereotype threat in black and white Stanford students?

Answer 6

Black and white Stanford students took a test of verbal ability, after being told it was a test of verbal ability (stereotype threat cond.) or a general problem solving task.

Racial differences were only observed in the stereotype threat condition to the detriment of black students.

In a follow up fragment word completion task with race-related words, they showed that racial stereotypes were activated more in blacks in the stereotype threat condition.- black individuals think about stereotypes and race-related concepts more

Question 7

What was the way in which Johns et al. (2005) reduced stereotype threat in a maths test?

Answer 7

Prior to the test, the test was framed in 3 ways:

1. Problem solving (control)
2. Maths test (stereotype threat).
3. Teaching intervention (told about stereotype).

They showed that by educating women about the stereotype, performance was not significantly different to the control!!!

Question 8

What did Dar Nimrod and Heine (2006) show between genetic vs. experiential effects of stereotype threat to women on a maths test?

Answer 8

The conditions were manipulated by having the participants over hear a briefing about an ‘unrelated’ study, which either mentioned:
1. gender differences.
2. the lack there of.
3. a genetic basis for gender differences.
or
4. an experiential basis of gender differences.

Showed that the genetic explanation and gender differences resulted in a worse performance, but this difference was eliminated in the experiential condition.
(Fuck these answers got long in the end ay Maz)