Study Prof

Think you’re smart?  Then you’re also right.  At least that’s what’s indicated by the psychological research on a concept called stereotype threat .

The short version?  People tend to do worse on standardized tests when they’ve been primed to think they will do worse.  In one example, African American students at Stanford did worse on the GRE when subtly reminded of the stereotypical preconceptions about African Americans’ lower performance on such tests (see study).  In another study , when it was suggested to a group of golfers that golf was an intelligence game, white golfers’ performance increased and black golfers’ performance decreased.  When it was suggested that golf was a game of innate physical skill the results were reversed!  Similar studies have shown that stereotypes concerning women’s mathematical abilities affect their test performances on math-related tests.  Indeed, there are more than a hundred of these studies (see http://www.reducingstereotypethreat.org/ for more info).

This effect, however, is not limited to stereotyped groups.  Everyone is affected by this under some circumstances … especially on exams and standardized tests!  There is a simple method to counteract this effect, and to actually make it work FOR you. Please log in or sign up to read the rest of this content. Find out more.