Stereotype Threat

What is Stereotype Threat?

Stereotype threat is transmitted through culture in a variety of ways: Mass media, environment, peers, and teachers are just a few examples. Although adults are also unconsciously affected, children are the vehicles by which stereotypes and stereotype threat are reborn in every generation. The toys children play with, the books they choose to read, the way their classmates treat them, the classes they choose to take, and the careers they decide to pursue are all avenues through which stereotype threat survives from generation to generation.

Children's gender-typed beliefs are thought to develop early and increase rapidly throughout childhood. Once children differentiate between the sexes, they begin forming gender stereotypes that inevitably result in behavior influenced by gender-associated expectations. Although the origins of these beliefs are poorly understood, they may pose unconscious stereotype threats in myriad areas including play and various preferences.

Stereotype threat is present in academia, for example, in the belief that females (regardless of race) and minorities are somehow less capable than are Caucasian males in mathematical ability. However erroneous the beliefs relating to race, gender, and academic ability, common stereotypes pervade U.S. society.

The Impact of Stereotype Threat

When stereotypes such as these are found among teachers at all levels of the educational system, consciously or unconsciously, the seeds of stereotype threat are planted. About 63% of high school teachers believe that males have superior math skills when compared with their female classmates. When the academic environment and parents support such a stereotypical belief, females may have low confidence in their math abilities regardless of their actual or potential competence.

The gender and minority academic gap continues into college and adulthood, as evidenced by career choice, and is especially prominent in the fields of math, physics, and engineering. Although women represent 50% of the population, they account for only 22% of those who receive bachelors degrees and 13% of those who have doctorates; finally, women hold only 10% of the jobs in the field of math, physics, and engineering. Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians are underrepresented in colleges at all levels, especially as math and science majors, earning 7%, 5%, and less than 1%, respectively, of the degrees awarded. Why do they perform less well than their White male colleagues?

Explaining the Gap

Several factors contribute to the performance gap, among them anxiety, low self-esteem, and stereotype threat—social psychological states that are created by situational cues in susceptible individuals. In addition, African Americans and other minorities may show performance differences because of comparative socioeco-nomic disadvantage, segregation, and discrimination.

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