Stereotype threat

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Stereotype threat is when an individual is at risk of confirming a negative stereotype about his or her own group. Therefore, an individual may not perform according to his or her innate ability, rather this ability is impacted by generally held beliefs regarding this individual's grouping, whether it is by sex, age, gender, race, etc. Click Here to learn more.

Examples of Stereotype Threat

Steele & Aronson, 1995

Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002

Ambady, Paik, Steele, Owen-Smith, & Mitchell, 2004


What Economists Have to Say about Stereotype Threat

two sentences link to whole page of abstracts and suggested readings


-How men and women respond differently in competitive situations, whether their response differences can be attributed to perceptions that women do not have the ability to equally compete against men ect.

http://www.economics.harvard.edu/files/faculty/21_Stereotype_Jan_16%20(PDF).pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268110000855 http://www.uibk.ac.at/economics/bbl/teaching_ss09/schwieren_women_cant_innsbruck.pdf


sites.google.com/site/cscotton/research/CMP_GenderTheory.pdf "Policy makers should recognize that the performance differ- ences during competition are likely not the result of females responding negatively to competition, but rather the result of males responding favorably to competition. They are also not likely due to misperception of relative ability, either because of self confidence differences or gender stereotypes. This suggests that efforts to expose females to competition in an effort to decrease underconfidence or improve misperceptions about ability differences may not have a significant effect on the gender gap."

How to Reduce Stereotype Threat

Stereotype threat.jpg
  • Reframing the task
  • Deemphasizing threatened social identities
  • Encouraging self-affirmation
  • Emphasizing high standards with assurances of capability
  • Providing role models
  • Providing external attributions for difficulty
  • Emphasizing an incremental view of ability


Click Here for details in how to implement the above solutions.






Conclusion

In order to create a more inclusive classroom environment, economics professors should be aware of stereotype threat and its potential effects upon students. To explore more information concerning stereotype threat, please go to this website

Sources

Stroessner, Steven, and Catherine Good. ReducingStereotypeThreat.org. Consortium of High Achievement and Success (CHAS) and Barnard College. Web. 11 July 2011. <http://www.reducingstereotypethreat.org/>.