Stereotype threat in the classroom: dejection mediates the disrupting threat effect on women's math performance.
Research on stereotype threat, which is defined as the risk of confirming a negative stereotypic expectation about one's group, has demonstrated that the applicability of negative stereotypes disrupts the performance of stigmatized social groups. While it has been shown that a reduction of stereotype threat leads to improved performance by members of stigmatized groups, there is a lack of clear-cut findings about the mediating processes. The aim of the present study is to provide a better understanding of the mechanisms that stereotype threat causes in women working on mathematical problems. In addition, the study set out to test stereotype threat theory in a natural environment: high school classrooms. The experiment involved the manipulation of the gender fairness of a math test. The results indicate that the stereotype threat effect exists in this everyday setting. Moreover, it appears that dejection emotions mediate the effect of threat manipulation.
Keller
Johannes
J
Mikrosoziologie & Sozialpsychologie, University of Mannheim, D-68131 Mannheim, Germany. jkeller@uni-mannheim.de
Dauenheimer
Dirk
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D004493:Education; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D013240:Stereotyping; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*