Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans.

TLDR

Stereotype threat refers to the risk of confirming a negative group stereotype, and its impact on standardized test performance of ability‑stigmatized groups is examined. The study manipulated whether Black participants’ verbal test performance was presented as diagnostic of ability to vary their stereotype vulnerability. Results showed that diagnostic test conditions produced a Black–White performance gap, nondiagnostic conditions eliminated it, and even mere stereotype salience could impair Black performance, indicating that stereotype activation drives underperformance.

Abstract

Stereotype threat is being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group. Studies 1 and 2 varied the stereotype vulnerability of Black participants taking a difficult verbal test by varying whether or not their performance was ostensibly diagnostic of ability, and thus, whether or not they were at risk of fulfilling the racial stereotype about their intellectual ability. Reflecting the pressure of this vulnerability, Blacks underperformed in relation to Whites in the ability-diagnostic condition but not in the nondiagnostic condition (with Scholastic Aptitude Tests controlled). Study 3 validated that ability-diagnosticity cognitively activated the racial stereotype in these participants and motivated them not to conform to it, or to be judged by it. Study 4 showed that mere salience of the stereotype could impair Blacks' performance even when the test was not ability diagnostic. The role of stereotype vulnerability in the standardized test performance of ability-stigmatized groups is discussed.