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This paper reports three studies examining the role of
working memory capacity in stereotype threat.
Working memory capacity refers to a memory system
responsible for focusing attention on task-relevant
information while inhibiting task-irrelevant thoughts.
Effective utilization of working memory capacity is
central for successful performance on cognitive tasks,
and failures in working memory had been suggested as
responsible for performance decrements under stereotype
threat. These studies provided the most direct
test to date of the possibility that stereotype threat
might diminish working memory capacity. In these
studies, participants were presented to solve math
problems while also keeping a set of words in memory.
Later recollection of the words was used as an index of
working memory capacity. If few words could be
recalled, for example, that would suggest that the math
problems required more working memory. Results
confirmed that stereotype threat reduces working memory
capacity that is at least partially responsible for
performance decrements under stereotype threat. In
Experiment 1, participants were presented with a task
described as requiring "quantitative capacity" that
might account for gender differences in math performance
(stereotype threat for females) or as a task
involving working memory capacity (control). Only women in
the stereotype threat condition recalled significantly
fewer word, indicating reduced working memory capacity. Experiment 2 showed similar effects comparing Latino and
White students where stereotype threat was created by
describing the task as reflecting general intelligence; only Latinos under stereotype threat showed lower word
recall. Experiment 3 manipulated stereotype threat
by having women solve math problems in a group of other
female students (control) or as the sole woman in a
group of men (stereotype threat). Working memory
capacity and performance on a math task were both lower
in the latter group, and the reduction on working memory
capacity statistically mediated the relation between
stereotype threat and math performance. These
studies suggest that stereotype threat can disrupt the
ability to maintain proper focus on task-relevant
information.
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