Stereotype threat

I have been researching and trying to figure out how my last post could find an angle to draw these posts to a close, and give a concrete effect of stereotypes on student learning. I think the best way to do that is to examine the concept of stereotype threat.

Stereotype threat, according to ReducingStereotypeThreat.org refers to being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group. The idea is that the cognizance of one's potential alignment with those negative stereotypes has specific and measured effects. It turns out that these effects (to be discussed below) can and likely do effect every aspect of classroom interactions to some extent.

This video does a good job of summarizing, and gives a concrete example from an academic study:

The specific effects range from decreased performance, internalizing attributions for failure, reactance, self-handicapping, task discounting, distancing the self from the stereotyped group, disengagement and disidentification with the threatening domain and altered professional identities and aspirations. (big words, I know; look to reducingstereotypethreat.org for useful breakdowns and explanations

For brevity's sake, I'm only going to really delve into self handicapping, discussion of which lends itself to the others and all of the effects' presence schools. There is ample literature in peer-reviewed journals about the prevalence and effect of Stereotype Threat and its discrete effects should you like to investigate further.

Self-handicapping is pretty self-explanatory, no pun intended. It can be thought of as (again, according to ReducingStereotypeThreat.org) a defensive strategy in which individuals erect barriers as attributions for failure. If and when these barriers undermine performance, individuals have a ready made justification for deficiencies in ability or effort.

For instance, " Keller (2002) showed that girls who performed poorly on a math test under stereotype threat were more likely to invoke stress they had been experiencing before the taking test, and Steele and Aronson (1995) showed that African-American students under stereotype threat also tended to produce a priori excuses for possible failure (reducingstereotypethreat.org)

Several causes of that handicapping are possible; most powerful involve lowered performance expectation, reduced effort and reduce self-control. for example, studies have shown that black students who report anxious expectations of encountering racial prejudice also reported lower ability to regulate their academic behavior; stereotype threat reduced their ability to regulate attentional and behavioral resources. Minortiy students also often report that academic subjects are "meant for" or best suited to white students; minority students therefore often relegate themselves to arts, entertainment and athletics.

So what?

Studies of stereotype threat are immediately relevant in the classroom and in academe in general. If your assessments or tasks, or your predisposition towards your class, or the physical classroom or school space itself reifies stereotypes and makes students think about those stereotypes, you could be doing irreparable harm to your students as thinkers and participants in class. and with a list of effects like disengagement, high arousal, lowered expectations, and discounting the validity of the task or experience, it's easy to see how stereotype threat could be misdiagnosed and how it could really impact students' levels of achievement.

There are implications for achievement testing outlined here, starting at 5:20,,and the rest of the video is useful to help think about contexts for stereotype threat:

So what do we do?

As teachers, our responses to stereotype threat could be multiple. First is to provide or stand as role models, as members of a group who defy stereotypes and exhibit proficiency in an area where stereotypes imply they should not. This would reinforce the fact that the stereotypes that the student may be anxious about have nothing to do with him or her, and that his or her ability to achieve is strictly individual.

We could teach students to externalize attributions for difficulty, such that learn that their difficulties are not innate, but can be overcome with time and due diligence. This goes hand in hand with another possible response, and a good teaching practice in general, which is emphasizing an incremental view of intelligence.

Perhaps most difficult, we could redesign and represent our assessments, tasks, classroom spaces and behaviors such that we do not present the threat of stereotypes to students; we should be on the lookout for disparities so we can identify problems and address them effectively.

Making that list really feels like a good place to stop, because not only does it outline ways to deal with stereotype threat, but it outlines good teaching practices in general. As we enter classrooms this fall and beyond, it can only beneficial to keep those things in mind.