Why Do Women Underperform Under Stereotype Threat?

Cadinu, Mara; Maass, Anne; Rosabianca, Alessandra; Kiesner, Jeff

doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.01577.x

Cited by 306 publications

(261 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Our work also provides evidence that stereotype threat induces task-related thoughts and worries (for converging evidence, see Cadinu et al, 2005) that target phonological aspects of working memory. Using Baddeley's (1986;Baddeley & Logie, 1999) multicomponent model as a framework, one could unpack verbal working memory into a phonological store capable of holding speech-based information and an articulatory control process based on inner speech mechanisms.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Stereotype threat and working memory: Mechanisms, alleviation, and spillover.

Beilock

Rydell

McConnell

2007

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

482

387

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Stereotype threat (ST) occurs when the awareness of a negative stereotype about a social group in a particular domain produces suboptimal performance by members of that group. Although ST has been repeatedly demonstrated, far less is known about how its effects are realized. Using mathematical problem solving as a test bed, the authors demonstrate in 5 experiments that ST harms math problems that rely heavily on working memory resources-especially phonological aspects of this system. Moreover, by capitalizing on an understanding of the cognitive mechanisms by which ST exerts its impact, the authors show (a) how ST can be alleviated (e.g., by heavily practicing once-susceptible math problems such that they are retrieved directly from long-term memory rather than computed via a working-memory-intensive algorithm) and (b) when it will spill over onto subsequent tasks unrelated to the stereotype in question but dependent on the same cognitive resources that stereotype threat also uses. The current work extends the knowledge of the causal mechanisms of stereotype threat and demonstrates how its effects can be attenuated and propagated.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Stereotype threat and working memory: Mechanisms, alleviation, and spillover.

Beilock

Rydell

McConnell

2007

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

482

387

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Indeed, stereotype threat has been shown to activate thoughts of self-doubt (Steele & Aronson, 1995), negative expectancies (Stangor, Carr, & Kiang, 1998), feelings of dejection (Keller & Dauenheimer, 2003;Marx & Stapel, 2006b), and task-related worries (Beilock et al, 2007). Similarly, Cadinu, Maass, Rosabianca, and Kiesner (2005) showed that women taking a difficult math test reported having more negative thoughts under stereotype threat. Moreover, the number of negative thoughts they had during the first half of the test mediated the effect of stereotype threat on lower performance during the second half of the test.…”

Section: Thought-suppression Processes Tax Working Memorymentioning

confidence: 98%

An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance.

Schmader

Johns

Forbes

2008

Psychological Review

1,319

1,175

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Research showing that activation of negative stereotypes can impair the performance of stigmatized individuals on a wide variety of tasks has proliferated. However, a complete understanding of the processes underlying these stereotype threat effects on behavior is still lacking. The authors examine stereotype threat in the context of research on stress arousal, vigilance, working memory, and selfregulation to develop a process model of how negative stereotypes impair performance on cognitive and social tasks that require controlled processing, as well as sensorimotor tasks that require automatic processing. The authors argue that stereotype threat disrupts performance via 3 distinct, yet interrelated, mechanisms: (a) a physiological stress response that directly impairs prefrontal processing, (b) a tendency to actively monitor performance, and (c) efforts to suppress negative thoughts and emotions in the service of self-regulation. These mechanisms combine to consume executive resources needed to perform well on cognitive and social tasks. The active monitoring mechanism disrupts performance on sensorimotor tasks directly. Empirical evidence for these assertions is reviewed, and implications for interventions designed to alleviate stereotype threat are discussed.

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“…Perhaps some kind of general anxiety causes a general decrement in women's math performance (8). Stereotype threat (ST) has been shown to increase arousal (9), increase negative thoughts (3,10), decrease cognitive resources (5), and increase the perseverance of incorrect problem-solving strategies (11)(12)(13); all of these reactions partially explain performance decrements. Given the varied negative responses to threat, it seems a natural extrapolation to guess that it might inhibit women's ability to learn new information.…”

Section: Gender | Math | Visual Searchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stereotype threat prevents perceptual learning

Rydell

Shiffrin

Boucher

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Stereotype threat (ST) refers to a situation in which a member of a group fears that her or his performance will validate an existing negative performance stereotype, causing a decrease in performance. For example, reminding women of the stereotype "women are bad at math" causes them to perform more poorly on math questions from the SAT and GRE. Performance deficits can be of several types and be produced by several mechanisms. We show that ST prevents perceptual learning, defined in our task as an increasing rate of search for a target Chinese character in a display of such characters. Displays contained two or four characters and half of these contained a target. Search rate increased across a session of training for a control group of women, but not women under ST. Speeding of search is typically explained in terms of learned "popout" (automatic attraction of attention to a target). Did women under ST learn popout but fail to express it? Following training, the women were shown two colored squares and asked to choose the one with the greater color saturation. Superimposed on the squares were task-irrelevant Chinese characters. For women not trained under ST, the presence of a trained target on one square slowed responding, indicating that training had caused the learning of an attention response to targets. Women trained under ST showed no slowing, indicating that they had not learned such an attention response.A cross all cultures that have been examined there is a persistent stereotype held by both men and women that "women are bad at math." This stereotype is consequential: Women's math achievement and performance is lower in cultures where this stereotype is stronger (1). Although there are many reasons why women underperform at math, one important factor that affects not only math performance but also career choices and career achievement is stereotype threat: The mental and behavioral states that accompany the activation of this stereotype in women (2). Most notably, when this stereotype is activated in women's minds, they worry about confirming this pejorative stereotype and their math performance drops (3-5). Similar findings exist for other performance stereotypes held about other populations (5-7). The reasons for the performance drop are not entirely clear. Perhaps some kind of general anxiety causes a general decrement in women's math performance (8). Stereotype threat (ST) has been shown to increase arousal (9), increase negative thoughts (3, 10), decrease cognitive resources (5), and increase the perseverance of incorrect problem-solving strategies (11-13); all of these reactions partially explain performance decrements. Given the varied negative responses to threat, it seems a natural extrapolation to guess that it might inhibit women's ability to learn new information. That theory is the target of the present research.Demonstrating that ST reduces or inhibits learning is important because it broadens the domain of ST and provides a specific unstudied mechanism by which ST impacts performance. ...

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Why Do Women Underperform Under Stereotype Threat?

Cited by 306 publications

References 29 publications

Stereotype threat and working memory: Mechanisms, alleviation, and spillover.

Stereotype threat and working memory: Mechanisms, alleviation, and spillover.

An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance.

Stereotype threat prevents perceptual learning

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