McKay,
Doverspike, Bowen-Hilton, & Martin, 2002
This study assessed the
impact of stereotype threat on performance on Raven's
Advanced
Progressive Matrices (APM) task, a non-verbal test of
cognitive ability. White and Black
students at both a predominately White and historically
Black college completed a biographical form and then the APM after being told either that it was a "test
diagnostic of intellectual ability" (stereotype threat
for Blacks)
or a "test of pattern completion skill" and that
"ability would not be measured using the test"
(control). The analysis of APM performance showed that
Whites outperformed Blacks overall, but a marginally
significant interaction showed that the difference in
performance was somewhat greater in the stereotype
threat compared with the control condition. Although
these results did not reach standard levels of
statistical significance, they did show the same pattern
as previous studies on stereotype threat but will a
relative "culture reduced" test. The lack of a
significant interaction may reflect the fact that the
biographical form completed before the APM inquired
about participants' age, sex, race, and socioeconomic
status. Any stereotype threat that arose because
race and SES information was solicited might have served
to produce at least some level of stereotype threat in
both experimental conditions.
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