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Stereotype Threat
and the Nature and Nurture
of Intelligence
Joshua Aronson
New York University
New Orleans ADEA 10-29-2010
The Black-White GapPrison or Missing
Blacks vastly overrepresented in US Prisons/MIA
College
Blacks 1/2 as likely to go; 2x as likely to drop out
High School:
50% drop out rate; 2-4 year reading gap
K-12
Lower standardized test scores and grades
Birth-Preschool
Equal ability test scores
1 Million Black Males Are Missing
Common Explanations for Gap
1. Lower innate IQ
--The Bell Curve
2. Poverty (lower skills and preparation)
3. Subculture that discourages academic success
―Acting White‖
But: Larger Culture of Anti-intellectualism
Larger Culture of Anti-Intellectualism
International Comparisons
―The test was so easy that I think
that if the kids in America couldn‘t
do this, they‘re really stupid‖
Belgian High School Student
Larger Culture of Anti-
IntellectualismSurveys indicate that among Americans:
• 20% Believe that the Sun revolves around Earth
• 20 % Cannot locate the U.S. on a World Map
• 80% believe the government is hiding evidence of space
Aliens
International tests:
• Reveal US students to be surprisingly less educated than
Asian and European countries—but highest in self esteem!
American Anti-Intellectualism
An
American Anti-Intellectualism
An
African Americans fail in school not
because they are African; they fail in
large part because they are American.
Aronson‘s First Law:
All of the traditional explanations fall
short of fully explaining the gap, even
when combined in a regression
analysis; something else must be
involved…
Part One:
Intelligence is both Fragile and
Malleable
Operational Definition: Intelligence = IQ
Scores, Performance in School, Verbal
Fluency, etc.
―Human intelligence is among the most
fragile things in nature. It doesn‘t take
much to distract it, suppress it, or even
annihilate it.‖
--Neil Postman
―A massive body of evidence says that reading
and mathematics achievement have strong ties to
underlying intellectual ability, that we do not
know how to change intellectual ability after
children reach school.‖
Charles Murray, Bell Curve coauthor (2008)
Conceptions of the nature of
Intelligence
“The mind is much more like a muscle than we’ve ever realized… it needs to get cognitive exercise. It’s not some piece of clay on which you put an indelible mark.”
James Flynn, intelligence expert, 2007
―Human intelligence is more fragile and malleable
than most people think—far more so than the than
the makers of the SAT and other tests would have
us believe. ‖
Joshua Aronson (2009)
• Interpersonal Chemistry (feeling smarter,
funnier, etc. with certain people)
• Threatened Safety (Sharkey, 2009)
• Threatened Belongingness (Baumeister, 2002)
• Stereotype Threat/ Identity threat (Steele &
Aronson, 1995)
The Fragility of Intelligence
Some social factors:
Apprehension arising from the awareness of a
negative stereotype or personal reputation in a
situation where the stereotype or identity is
relevant, and thus confirmable
– everyone experiences this in some form
Stereotype/Identity Threat
• Jewish person in a money context
• African American Taking an IQ test
• Woman called upon in math class
• George W. Bush and public speaking
Examples of Identity Threat
―They misunderestimated me‖--G.W. Bush, Nov 6, 2000
Average estimate = 1080 Bush‘s Actual Score = 1330
Estimate Bush‘s SAT Score
Stereotype ThreatAnecdotal Evidence
―When I talk in class, I feel as though I‘m totally on
stage, like everyone‘s thinking, ‗oh what‘s the Black
girl going to say?‘ But I don‘t speak up in class much
anymore, so I guess it‘s not a big deal.‖
—Stanford Undergraduate
Stereotype ThreatAnecdotal Evidence
―Group work was a nightmare. I could tell that no one
thought my ideas were any good because I‘m Puerto
Rican.‖—NYU Undergraduate
Stereotype ThreatAnecdotal Evidence
―Everyone expects me to be good at math because I‘m
Asian, so I feel extra stupid because I‘m not so good at
math.‖—NYU Undergrad
Steele & Aronson (1995). Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology.
• Method: Reducing Evaluative Scrutiny
• Measure: Blacks‘ and Whites‘ Verbal GRE
Performance
Laboratory Experiment on Stereotype Threat
Verbal Test Performance
black s
w hites
1
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
"Measuring Your Ability" "Not Measuring Your Ability"
# o
f it
em
s s
olv
ed
Verbal Test Performance
black s
black s
w hitesw hites
1
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
"Measuring Your Ability" "Not Measuring Your Ability"
# o
f it
em
s s
olv
ed
Verbal Test Performance
Corrected for SAT
black s
black sw hites w hites
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
STEREOTYPE THREAT NO STEREOTYPE THREAT
# o
f it
em
s s
olv
ed
Steele & Aronson (1995)
Method: Inducing the Relevance of Race
Measure: Blacks‘ and Whites‘ Verbal GRE
Performance
Laboratory Experiment on Stereotype Threat
Verbal Test Performance
black s
black sw hites w hites
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Asked to Indicate Race Not Asked to Indicate Race
# o
f it
em
s s
olv
ed
Math Test Performance
Of College Men and Women(Spencer, Steele & Quinn, 1999)
Math Test Performance
Of College Men and Women(Spencer, Steele & Quinn, 1999)
Additional Studies Finding Performance Effects
• Women Taking Math Tests
• Latinos taking verbal tests
• Elderly taking short-term memory tests
• Low SES Students taking verbal tests
• Blacks and Miniature Golf
• Women taking tests of Political Knowledge, Driving, Chess
• White males taking tests of social sensitivity
• Princeton Students from Non-preppy Backgrounds on math tests
• White Males Taking Math Tests
When White Men Can‘t Do MathAronson, et al., (1999). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Test of Your Math Ability Test of Your Math AbilityRelative to Asians
Item
s S
olv
ed
When White Men Can‘t Do MathAronson, et al., (1999). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Test of Your Math Ability Test of Your Math Ability Relative
to Asians
Item
s S
olv
ed
d = .93
Conclusions From 350 Published Studies
• Impairment occurs both on IQ tests and in terms of GPA
• Impairment on tests results from anxiety, arousal, reduced
working memory capacity, impaired self-regulation; not
typically a function of reduced effort
• fMRI studies show that women use different regions of the
brain when doing math under ST; higher blood pressure
• Can affect elite or non-elite students
• Can arise as a function of simply mixing students
• ST is much more likely to affect African Americans than
immigrant black students; effects are smaller at HCBU‘s
Stereotype Threat in the
―Real World‖
Educational Testing Service
Field Study:
The AP Calculus Test
Asking About Gender or After Before
Taking AP
ETS Field Study:Asking Gender Before Taking AP Calculus
Test Hurts Girls
(Stricker, 2002). Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
Educational Testing Service Study:Asking Gender Before AP Calculus Test
Hurts Girls, Helps Boys
Danaher and Crandall (2008)
Reanalysis of ETS Study
“Women benefited substantially on the
calculus test when demographics were
asked after testing rather than before. This
simple, small, and inexpensive change
could increase U.S. women receiving AP
Calculus AB credit by more than 4,700
every year.”
California Exit Study Experiment:
Comparing performance on High
and Low Stakes Tests
High Stakes Tests Hurt Minorities
Effects of High Stakes on High School
Graduation
Field Experiment: Women in the
Science Pipeline
Highest Level Calculus Students
Highest Level College Calculus Students
Good, Aronson, & Harder (in press) Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
Field Study: Women in the Science Pipeline
Advanced Level Women Outperform Advanced Men
in Calculus When Threat Reduced
Good, Aronson, & Harder (2008) Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
Field Study: Women in the Science Pipeline
End of Part One
Part Two:Reducing Stereotype Threat
Improving Performance
Reducing Stereotype Threat
Mindset Matters
Identity Salience
• Largest sex differences: Spatial Ability
• May account for most of the math test score gap
• Testosterone?
Biological Differences in Spatial Ability
Vandenberg Mental Rotation
Task
A meta-analysis containing 286 data sets and 100,000
subjects found a highly significant male advantage for mental
rotation; this pattern remains stable across age and has not
decreased in recent years.
Identity Salience Influences Women‘s Mental
Rotation Performance
5
10
15
20
25
GENDER ELITE COLLEGE
STUDENT
CONTROL
VM
R S
CO
RE
WOMEN
MEN
McGlone & Aronson (2006). Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.
Identity Salience Influences Women‘s Mental
Rotation Performance
5
10
15
20
25
GENDER ELITE COLLEGE
STUDENT
CONTROL
VM
R S
CO
RE
WOMEN
MEN
McGlone & Aronson (2006). Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.
Identity Salience Influences Mental Rotation
Performance
5
10
15
20
25
GENDER ELITE COLLEGE
STUDENT
CONTROL
VM
R
SC
OR
E
WOMEN
MEN
• Asian women perform better on a math test if you remind them of
their Asian identity, worse if you remind them of their gender
• Stanford undergraduates consume less Alcohol if you suggest to
them that nerdy Stanford Grad students drink a lot
• Girls given the opportunity claim they are ―trailblazers‖ expressed
twice as much interest in science and math courses
• Crellin Elementary School: went from lowest to highest scores
• Being prompted to list ways that women and men are simlilar
reduces math gap by lifting women‘s math scores
Examples of Identity Effects
The Growth Mindset
Conceptions of the nature of
Intelligence
“The mind is much more like a muscle than we’ve ever realized… it needs to get cognitive exercise. It’s not some piece of clay on which you put an indelible mark.”
James Flynn, intelligence expert, 2007
Question:
What if you were led to believe ability is
malleable? Would it reduce effects of
stereotype threat?
Method: Framing test as a measure of a fixed or a
malleable ability
Measure: Blacks‘ and Whites‘ Test Performance
ExperimentAronson, McGlone & Doyle (2010)
Conceptions of Ability and Test
Performance
1
2
3
4
5
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7
8
9
10
11
Non-improvableAbility
Like SAT Verbal Improvable Skill
# o
f it
em
s s
olv
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Conceptions of Ability and Test
Performance
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Non-improvableAbility
Like SAT Verbal Improvable Skill
# o
f it
em
s s
olv
ed
Conceptions of Ability and Test
Performance
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
"Non-improvable
Ability"
"Like SATVerbal"(control)
"ImprovableSkill"
# o
f it
em
s s
olv
ed
African Americans Whites
Reducing the effects of Stereotype Threat In the
real world: Shaping implicit theories
Question: Can getting people to believe in expandable intelligence reduce effects of stereotype threat on GPA?
• Method: Attitude change
• Measure: End of year GPA
Year End Follow-Up:
GPA
Aronson, Fried & Good (2002). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Awareness of Stereotype Threat
Question:
Can understanding Stereotype threat reduce its
effects?
Method: Forewarning about ST or Test Anxiety
Measure: Blacks‘ Test Performance a week later
Reducing Stereotype Threat: The
role of awareness
Aronson & Williams (under review).
African American‘s GRE Performance
8
16
Forewarning-ST Forewarning-TestAnxiety
Control
SC
OR
E
Stereotype threat
No stereotype threat
Conclusion
Human intelligence, motivation, and academic
self-concept are more fragile and malleable than
traditionally thought. People‘s performance and
motivation can rise and fall depending on the
situations and relationships they are in, and the
mindsets they adopt. Understanding this can help
us nurture both the expression—and
development—of intelligence.
What do we have in common?
IQ ≅ 126
"By nature emplanted, for nurture to
enlarge"
Richard Mulcaster, 1581First Headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School in London