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Stereotype Threat
Stereotype Threat: the uncomfortable psychological state where individuals are in or feel at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about their racial, ethnic, gender, or cultural group; usually concerning how stereotypes can harm performance and create self-fulfilling prophecies. The threat arises in relevant situations where the individual is being evaluated (e.g. testing) (Vinney, 2023).
History: The origin of the term “Stereotype Threat” was first mentioned in 1995 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The authors Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson were investigating whether a group of African Americans would be at risk of fulfilling the racial stereotype about their intellectual ability in a difficult verbal test. The article, “Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans”, sheds the first light on stereotype threat awareness and reflects on how certain circumstances can put groups and individuals at risk of fulfilling stereotypes. This pioneering study started the debate on stereotype threat, building this new term to further investigate the harmful effects stereotypes can bring to performance, especially how small actions can trigger stereotype threat. The original article aimed to expose “The role of stereotype vulnerability in the standardized test performance of ability-stigmatized groups is discussed” (Steele & Aronson, 1995), bringing a bigger question as to how stereotype threats affect groups on a daily basis.
Examples: Research has documented a couple of examples of stereotype threat, one of them being a famous study that observed women in college undergoing engineering majors. The women were divided into two groups for an engineering test, where one group would have to mark down the gender they identified as before the test, and the other didn’t. The group where the women had to mark down the gender performed significantly worse than the group who didn’t have to. This study was also replicated with 7th-grade girls with a math test, where the same results were shown, demonstrating how even a small action such as marking down your gender identity can trigger stereotype threats and harm performance.
Controversies: Since the original article that defined stereotype threat and demonstrated how a simple action can lead a group to fulfill their negative stereotypes, many other studies have attempted to observe stereotype threat through different experiences and investigate when this term is applicable to performance. With an abundance of studies being published on stereotype threat, some scientists started to question if there are any positive effects of falling into the confirmation of stereotypes. Articles like “Stereotype Boost: Positive Outcomes from the Activation of Positive Stereotypes” began to observe how stereotype threat can actually boost one’s confidence and performance in tasks when the stereotypes are “positive”. The controversies arose when big studies on Asian American groups labeled as the model minority were published, stating that because of the stereotypes regarding Asian mathematical prowess, Asian Americans would have a positive outcome from these stereotypes, such as a confidence boost, in tests where they would have to state their race and ethnicity. This suggests that because of stereotype threat, Asian Americans would fulfill their mathematical stereotypes and enhance performance, thus creating a positive effect of stereotypes.
Contradicting studies also showed how even with “positive” stereotypes, harmful effects occur, again resulting in a performance decline. The study “When Positive Stereotypes Threaten Intellectual Performance: The Psychological Hazards of ‘Model Minority’ Status” highlighted how there’s no such thing as positive outcomes from stereotype threat. In this study, also with Asian Americans, the group actually succumbed to the pressure of high-performance expectations and had significantly impaired math performance. There’s much debate between these studies, with some believing that there is room for stereotypes to be transformed into a confidence boost and increase performance, others believe there’s no such thing as a positive stereotype threat.
Claude Steele (Berkley.edu) 
Joshua Aronson (NYU.edu)
References:
Cheryan, S., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2000). When Positive Stereotypes Threaten Intellectual Performance: The Psychological Hazards of “Model Minority” Status. Psychological Science, 11(5), 399–402. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00277
Kao, G. (1995). Asian Americans as model minorities? A look at their academic performance. American Journal of Education, 103(2), 121–159. https://doi.org/10.1086/444094
Kujan, S. L. (n.d.). Stereotype Threat. https://philosophy.rutgers.edu/climate-v2/climate-issues-in-academic-philosophy/stereotype-threat#:~:text=The%20term%20%E2%80%9Cstereotype%20threat%E2%80%9D%20was,(5)%3A%20797%E2%80%93811.
Pennington, C. R., Heim, D., Levy, A. R., & Larkin, D. (2016). Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators. PLOS ONE, 11(1), e0146487. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146487
Qin, D. B., Way, N., & Mukherjee, P. P. (2007). The other side of the model minority story. Youth & Society, 39(4), 480–506. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118×08314233
Shih, M., Pittinsky, T. L., & Ho, G. C. (2011). Stereotype BoostPositive Outcomes from the Activation of Positive Stereotypes. In Oxford University Press eBooks (pp. 142–156). https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732449.003.0009
Steele CM, Aronson J. Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1995 Nov;69(5):797-811. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.69.5.797. PMID: 7473032.
Stereotype Threat. (2023, August 31). Center for Teaching & Learning. https://www.colorado.edu/center/teaching-learning/inclusivity/stereotype-threat
