SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AND THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

Social Psychology and Theoretical Perspectives

Social Psychology and Theoretical Perspectives

Abstract

The article examines that the aim of a negative stereotype about a major social feature is stressful and supports a quantity of self-protective feedbacks. While some of the detailed reactions described by Allport have yet to be investigated empirically, the obtainable literature proposes that being the target of an unenthusiastic stereotype is a sign of a major threat to self-interest.

Introduction

The article that has been selected is “Stereotype Threat Effects on Black and White Athletic Performance”. It was written by Stone J., Lynch I. C., Sjomeling M., and Darley M. J. The purpose of this study was to examine whether majority group members such as White college students also experience concern and suffer distress when they are the target of a negative stereotype about their racial identity.

Theoretical Background

It was observed that being the target of a negative stereotype about a significant social characteristic is stressful and supports a number of self-protective reactions (Allport G., 1954). While several of the detailed reactions described by Allport have yet to be investigated empirically, the existing literature proposes that being the target of a negative stereotype is a symbol of a significant threat to self-regard (Crocker, Major, & Steele, 1998).

Stereotype threat can be defined as "the immediate situational threat that derives from the broad dissemination of negative stereotypes about one's group--the threat of possibly being judged and treated stereotypically, or of possibly self-fulfilling such a stereotype" When a situation creates stereotype threat, members of the negatively stereotyped group perform poorly relative to their actual level of competence. Performance deficits from stereotype threat have been found for African Americans on verbal tests, Latino/a students on spatial ability tasks, people of lower income on verbal tests, Black students in tasks that require "sports intelligence", White students in tasks that require "natural athletic ability", and women on mathematics tests.

Researchers have discovered several effective techniques to alleviate the performance deficits associated with stereotype threat. These techniques include lessening the importance of the task, reducing the salience of the stereotype, claiming the test is not susceptible to the stereotype, providing excuses for poor performance, reducing opportunities to self-handicap, altering ability conceptions from static to fluid, and presenting group members with information that suggests that members of their group can be successful on the task.

Important Concepts

Current conjecture and study on the idea of stereotype threat proposes that reminders of a negative stereotype about racial identity can obstruct performance in a pertinent domainchesSteele (1997) described that when a negative stereotype about a group turns into salient as a criterion for test assessment, individual group members can turn into concerned about corroborating the negative stereotype.

The alleviation technique of particular interest for the present research involves making salient other social identities. Asian American women were reminded either of their identity as women or of their identity as Asians, and then took a math test. Those who were reminded of their identity as Asians got a larger percentage of items correct than did ...