Chapter 9: Prejudice: Disliking Others (2947.0K) - Bad Request

346 Part Three Social Relations
“IF WE FORESEE EVIL IN
OUR FELLOW MAN, WE
TEND TO PROVOKE IT; IF
GOOD, WE ELICIT IT.”
—GORDON ALLPORT, THE
NATURE OF PREJUDICE, 1958
stereotype threat
A disruptive concern,
when facing a negative
stereotype, that one will
be evaluated based on a
negative stereotype. Unlike
self-fulfilling prophecies that
hammer one’s reputation
into one’s self-concept,
stereotype threat situations
have immediate effects.
FIGURE :: 9.10
Stereotype
Vulnerability and
Women’s Math
Performance
Steven Spencer, Claude Steele,
and Diane Quinn (1999) gave
equally capable men and women
a difficult math test. When
participants were led to believe
there were gender differences
on the test, women scored lower
than men. When the threat
of confirming the stereotype
was removed (when gender
differences were not expected),
women did just as well as men.
job applicants. When the applicant was Black, the interviewers sat farther away,
ended the interview 25 percent sooner, and made 50 percent more speech errors
than when the applicant was White. Imagine being interviewed by someone who
sat at a distance, stammered, and ended the interview rather quickly. Would it
affect your performance or your feelings about the interviewer?
To find out, the researchers conducted a second experiment in which trained
interviewers treated people as the interviewers in the first experiment had treated
either the White or the Black applicants. When videotapes of the interviews were
later rated, those who were treated like the Blacks in the first experiment seemed
more nervous and less effective. Moreover, the interviewees could themselves
sense a difference; those treated the way the Blacks had been treated judged their
interviewers to be less adequate and less friendly. The experimenters concluded
that part of “the ‘problem’ of Black performance resides . . . within the interaction
setting itself.” As with other self-fulfilling prophecies (recall Chapter 3), prejudice
affects its targets.
Stereotype Threat
Just being sensitive to prejudice is enough to make us self-conscious when living
as a numerical minority—perhaps as a Black person in a White community or as a
White person in a Black community. As with other circumstances that siphon off
our mental energy and attention, the result can be diminished mental and physical
stamina (Inzlicht & others, 2006). Placed in a situation where others expect you to
perform poorly, your anxiety may also cause you to confirm the belief. I am a short
guy in my 60s. When I join a pickup basketball game with bigger, younger players,
I presume that they expect me to be a detriment to their team, and that tends to
undermine my confidence and performance. Claude Steele and his colleagues call
this phenomenon stereotype threat —a self-confirming apprehension that one will
be evaluated based on a negative stereotype (Steele, 2010; Steele & others, 2002; see
also reducingstereotypethreat.org ).
In several experiments, Steven Spencer, Claude Steele, and Diane Quinn (1999)
gave a very difficult math test to men and women students who had similar math
backgrounds. When told that there were no gender differences on the test and
no evaluation of any group stereotype, the women’s performance consistently
equaled the men’s. Told that there was a gender difference, the women dramatically
confirmed the stereotype ( Figure 9.10 ). Frustrated by the extremely difficult test
Math score (0 to 100)
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Gender difference large
when expected
Men
Women
Gender difference
not expected