Stereotype Threat

 Stereotype threat is a situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social group. These stereotypes can take form in many ways such as gender and racial stereotypes. One study of stereotype threat showed that if before a math test students were informed that males usually perform better then the males would perform better. Not because males become better at math but because the females would conform to that negative stereotype. This is largely Neurological as the perceived threat stimulates cortisol production in the brain having the effect of reducing the available working memory for completing tasks. For Stereotype threat, they also found that the negative stereotype must be personal to a person and the action being disproved must be difficult. Unlike Self Fufillinf Prophicy where negative thoughts about oneself make those thoughts true. For stereotype threat, it is actually the action of trying to disprove a negative stereotype that is detrimental to performance.

 In class, we discussed how stereotype threat is in an example of how racial issues are psychologically holding minorities back. This is proven in another study that found if black students were asked to indicate their race before taking a test then they would perform worse. They found that the most achievement-oriented students were actually impacted the most. This is because they became self-conscious, and suffered from more test anxiety, due to the stereotype.

 Moving forward if we know that negative stereotypes may be constantly looming over minority students or disadvantaged groups what could be done to counteract them? Should race not to be a question on the SAT if it has negative impacts? or should those questions come after the test has been taken?

https://serc.carleton.edu/sage2yc/stereotype/stereotype.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype_threat