General
What are stereotypes?
Generalizations about a group of people allowing for assumptions to be made based on limited information.
What is a stereotype boost?
The anticipation of a situation that could potentially affirm a positive stereotype of one’s in-group
What was the criteria for participant selection?
Asian-American women studying in an elite American university
What was the criteria for participant selection?
Male and female students, black and white undergraduates from Stanford University
What is one way that stereotype threat affects the stereotyped group?
Members of stereotyped group may inadvertently reinforce stereotype by changing their behaviour to abide by it
Members of stereotyped group may fear confirming stereotype leading to anxiety and reduced performance in tasks (can also lead to individuals internalizing stereotype)
What are subtle stereotypes?
Simplifications thqt ignore certain details but mostly maintain an accurate representation of reality.
What is a stereotype threat?
The anticipation of a situation that could potentially affirm a negative stereotype of one’s in-group
What was the procedure?
Participants were split into groups and given questionnaires designed to remind them of certain aspects (woman or asian) of their identity before being given a math test
What was the procedure?
Participants given standardized test of verbal ability and told they were being evaluated for their intellectual ability or their problem-solving skills
How many groups were the participants on Shih et al (1999) split into and what were they for?
3 groups:
1 control group with no questionnaire
1 group with questionnaire reminding them of their identities as women
1 group with questionnaire reminding them of their identities as Asians
What are blatant stereotypes?
Biased and/or distorted representations of reality
What is confirmation bias?
Selective attention towards stereotype-consistent information/interpretations
What were the results?
Participants reminded of a positive stereotype associated with their identity did better while the reverse occurred with the participants reminded of a negative stereotype associated with their identity
What were the results?
African American students did worse when they believed they were being tested for intellectual ability which they thought to be worse than their white counterparts, however when they believed they were being tested for problem solving skills, their scored matched the white students
How many groups were participants split into in Steele and Aronson (1995) and what were they told they were being evaluated for?
2 groups:
1 group told they were being evaluated for intellectual ability
1 group told they were being evaluated for problem-solving skills
How are blatant stereotypes formed?
When people identify with their in-group with controlled and conscious thinking
What is self-fulfilling prophecy?
The presence of stereotypes influences interactions with members of the stereotyped group, causing behaviours that reinforce the stereotype
What is one strength of the study?
Effective participant choice, allowed for both stereotype threat and stereotype boost in the same group.
Clear causal relationship between independent and dependent variable.
What is one strength of the study?
Verbal scores from the participants’ SATs were collected prior to the study to ensure they were all within norm of verbal performance to minimize participant variability
How are blatant stereotypes upheld?
Illusory correlation which occurs when we overestimate the correlation between two statistically infrequent events despite there being no relation
How are subtle stereotypes formed?
By the automatic generalization of interpersonal conflicts
What is a heterostereotype?
Categorized stereotypes regarding an out-group; often results of pre-existing stereotypes, further reinforcing them.
What is one limitation of the study?
Sample size was small, need more participants for confirm reliability of study.
Participants were of the same gender and race; results may not be generalized.
What is one limitation of the study?
Participant choice too specific; hard to generalize
Lack of ethical considerations for socially sensitive topic.
Results of study do not justify the belief of black students experiencing stereotype threat.
Participants’ salience (quality of prominence) about their racial identity and their stress levels were not measured during the exam.
What is one way subtle stereotypes are reinforced?
Selective attention, concept formation, and memory