title: The roots of stereotype threat: when automatic associations disrupt girls' math performance.
abstract: Although stereotype awareness is a prerequisite for stereotype threat effects (Steele & Aronson, 1995), research showed girls' deficit under stereotype threat before the emergence of math-gender stereotype awareness, and in the absence of stereotype endorsement. In a study including 240 six-year-old children, this paradox was addressed by testing whether automatic associations trigger stereotype threat in young girls. Whereas no indicators were found that children endorsed the math-gender stereotype, girls, but not boys, showed automatic associations consistent with the stereotype. Moreover, results showed that girls' automatic associations varied as a function of a manipulation regarding the stereotype content. Importantly, girls' math performance decreased in a stereotype-consistent, relative to a stereotype-inconsistent, condition and automatic associations mediated the relation between stereotype threat and performance.
authors.affiliation: University of Padova.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galdi
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cadinu
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tomasetto
mesh_terms: D001244:Association; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics / Q000193:education*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013240:Stereotyping; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis