Knowing is half the battle: teaching stereotype threat as a means of improving women's math performance.
We tested whether informing women about stereotype threat is a useful intervention to improve their performance in a threatening testing situation. Men and women completed difficult math problems described either as a problem-solving task or as a math test. In a third (teaching-intervention) condition, the test was also described as a math test, but participants were additionally informed that stereotype threat could interfere with women's math performance. Results showed that women performed worse than men when the problems were described as a math test (and stereotype threat was not discussed), but did not differ from men in the problem-solving condition or in the condition in which they learned about stereotype threat. For women, attributing anxiety to gender stereotypes was associated with lower performance in the math-test condition but improved performance in the teaching-intervention condition. The results suggest that teaching about stereotype threat might offer a practical means of reducing its detrimental effects.
Johns
Michael
M
Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. mjjohns@u.arizona.edu
Schmader
Toni
T
Martens
Andy
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001076:Aptitude; D001077:Aptitude Tests; D001143:Arousal; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice; D011340:Problem Solving; D012649:Self Concept; D012718:Set, Psychology; D013223:Statistics as Topic / Q000193:education*; D013240:Stereotyping