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

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Steele & Aronson, 1995

Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002

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

How to Prevent Stereotype Threat

  • 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.

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/>.