This article
examines the role of collective identity (i.e., when
thoughts about one's social groups are prominent in
one's thoughts) in stereotype threat. It was
reasoned that if stereotype threat affects
performance by increasing the prominence or
accessibility of a group-based stereotype, then the
accessibility of stereotype-relevant group memberships
should be higher in settings in which a stereotype
might apply than in situations in which it could not.
Experiment 1 tested this notion by leading male and
female undergraduates to expect that they would complete
a math test that was described either as "diagnostic of math
ability" (stereotype threat for women) or as a
"reasoning exercise" (control). Before taking the
supposed math test, students completed a "reading
comprehension" exercise in which they were asked to list
group-based pronouns (e.g., "we," "us") that had been
underlined in a written passage. Consistent with
predictions, women under stereotype threat produced more
group-based pronouns than did women in the control
condition. Men listed fewer pronouns than women in the
threat condition, and their number of listings did not
vary by condition. These results confirmed the
hypothesis that collective social identities become
highlighted by stereotype threat. Experiment 2 used a
similar method but just with female undergraduates to
assess the kinds of social identities that are
highlighted by stereotype threat. Stereotype threat
increased the accessibility of women's gender category
but not other categories that were irrelevant to the
stereotype (e.g., friend, family member, student).
Moreover, the degree of gender identification was
negatively related to performance expectations for the
upcoming math test. In Experiment 3, female
undergraduates in the stereotype threat or in the
control condition read a fictitious newspaper article
that described a female student who either excelled in
math or did less
well in math. One-third of the students
did not receive any information about another student
(control). When the test was described as
diagnostic of ability (and gender identity was
presumably most accessible), women were strongly
affected by whether they had been exposed to a positive
role model. Their expectations of academic success
were higher, their concerns about others' evaluations
were lower, and their actual math performance was better
than when they had been exposed to a less impressive
role model. Moreover, these effects were generally
reversed in the nondiagnostic condition, where social
identities would not have been accessible, showing that
role models can actually reduce expectations and
performance if a shared social identity is not obvious
or highlighted. Experiment 4 extended this research by
providing female students with a role model
demonstrating excellence in math or an unrelated domain
(sports). Role models only improved expectations of
success and actual performance if they demonstrated
excellence in the relevant domain of math. These
studies point to the important role of accessible
collective identities in stereotype threat and highlight
that role models can eliminate performance decrements
under threat (and, in fact, can improve performance)
when they are viewed as sharing a collective identity
with a person under threat.
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