Stereotype threat, stereotype obligation, and the intellectual test performance of African Americans and European Americans.

Abstract

Stereotypes and the process of stereotyping have received a great deal of attention from researchers over the last several decades. It is not clear, however, under what circumstances an activated stereotype will influence behavior in a stereotype-related domain. The purpose of the current research was to examine the manner in which differences in type and level of schooling, type of stereotype prime, and racial identity alleviate or exacerbate the influences of intellectual stereotypes on test performance. According to Steele & Aronson's (1995) theory of <italic>stereotype threat</italic>---a predicament in which individuals are at risk of confirming a negative group stereotype---salience of the negative stereotype regarding African Americans' (AAs) intellectual ability impairs AAs' academic performance. Study 1 assessed whether racial composition of the institution (predominantly Black/predominantly White), length of time spent in college (first year/seniors), and racial identity moderated the relationship between stereotype threat and performance among African American college students. The results revealed no effects of racial composition of the school on performance. The stereotype threat manipulation impaired performance among first-year students at both types of schools. This effect was most pronounced among first-year students with high regard for their racial group (a dimension of racial identity). Seniors at both types of schools were unaffected by the stereotype threat manipulation and no moderating effects of racial identity were present. Studies 2, 3, and 4 investigated the extent to which the relationship between stereotype activation and academic performance of European Americans (EA) was moderated by the race of test administrator (African American/European American), the type and combination of stereotype primes (describing the test as diagnostic of ability, asking participants to indicate their race, or both), and mediated by the presence of positive intellectual stereotypes of EAs' intellectual ability. Among participants exposed to EA test administrators, the positive stereotype, primed by either a diagnostic description or race salience, impaired performance. Underperformance was theorized to result from <italic> stereotype obligation</italic>---a predicament in which individuals are at risk of not confirming a positive stereotype. Comparisons between stereotype obligation and stereotype threat as well as implications for research that examines the stereotype-performance relationship were discussed.