Browsing by Subject "Stereotype threat"
Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Communicative strategies for organizational survival : an analysis of stereotype threat of women in petroleum engineering(2012-05) Heller, Abigail A.; Stephens, Keri K.; McGlone, Matthew; Ballard, Dawna; Riegle-Crumb, Catherine; Berkelaar, BrendaThis study investigated stereotype threat of women in petroleum engineering, a traditionally male-dominated industry. There were two main purposes to understanding communicative aspects of stereotype threat: 1) the creation of a typology of stereotype threats received and 2) the elaboration of coping strategies used to mitigate threats. This research examined contextual factors that influence women’s coping, including socialization, psychological inoculations, and memorable messages. This work is a contribution to communication research as it examines these components through the lens of scripts, which considers stereotype threat from a new perspective that suggests people are active participants in mitigating threats. To complete this study, I performed 61 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with current or former female petroleum engineers. Through constant comparison (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) I analyzed the data and produced an initial set of 13 different stereotype threats and 11 distinct coping strategies. Upon further comparison, the threats and coping strategies were each consolidated further to five core categories. This typology aligns threats on a spectrum that runs from passive actions to overt actions, and threats closely adhere to the underperformance benchmarks of previous stereotype threat research (Aronson & McGlone, 2009). The coping strategies address specific actions women take to mitigate threats, and the strategies align with the long-term responses to stereotype threat proposed by Block, Koch, Liberman, Merriweather, and Roberson (2011). In addition, the coping strategies execute problem- and emotion-based coping (Folkman and Lazarus, 1980). A distinctive feature of coping is dualistic subversions, which is when women use a subverted stereotype threat to mitigate it. Finally, this study suggests that stereotype threats and coping strategies result from childhood socialization practices, a process that writes scripts workers rely upon throughout their careers. This study is a contribution to organizational communication in how it examines ways messages are communicated in male-dominated careers and how women can use communication to mitigate negative expectations that arise in those environments. In addition, it looks at communication events that encourage women to enter male-dominated careers. Finally, it adds to communication theory because it uncovers additional ways that people use scripts to mitigate stereotyping.Item Examining multiple identities under stereotype threat : a regulatory fit perspective(2014-05) Reinhart, Alyssa Lynne; Bentley, Keisha L.; Beretvas, Natasha; Cokley, Kevin O; Markman, Arthur B; Robinson, Daniel HThis study sought to examine how underlying characteristics of multiple social identities could explain why some people are not affected by stereotype threat. Specifically, it proposed that different identities are not only associated with positive or negative stereotypes, but also different regulatory foci. It additionally sought to address a common methodological issue in the literature by including non-targets of stereotype threat as a comparative group. Using a quantitative experimental design, math-identified male (N=104) and female (N=172) university students were randomly assigned to take a difficult math test under circumstances which varied both reward structure and salient identities. For math- identified females, their gender identity was believed to invoke a negative stereotype about female math ability and thus stereotype threat. However, college identity was proposed to be positively stereotyped about ability. When both were made salient, females would suppress their gender identity in order to maintain a good self-concept and would thus be protected from stereotype threat effects. Furthermore, it was predicted females under threat would enter into a prevention regulatory focus and thus perform better under a reward structure which focused on minimizing losses. A major criticism of stereotype threat research is that it fails to differentiate itself enough from stereotype priming. While the two are similarly activated, stereotype threat only affects those for whom the stereotyped identity is relevant. Thus it is important to include non-targets of threat to ensure that the experimental manipulations do not affect them. Males were included in this study because the negative stereotype about female math ability is not relevant. Results indicated that when gender identity was made salient, math-identified females performed worse than a control group. However, when both gender and college identity were made salient, math-identified females performed better than those only reminded of their gender, and equivalent to those in a control group. Reward structure showed no main effect on performance. While the interaction between identity salience and reward structure was marginally significant, more research is needed to determine if there is a true relationship. Males showed no differences across conditions however, which indicates this was a more valid manipulation of threat.Item "The illegal alien" : how stereotypes in the media can undermine communication performance(2011-05) Breckinridge, Barbara LeDoux; McGlone, Matthew S., 1966-; Donovan-Kicken, ErinThis report explored the effects of stereotype threat—i.e., the apprehension associated with the possibility of confirming a self-relevant negative stereotype—on the stigmatized group Latinos as they were interviewed about their academic achievements and career aspirations. Latino participants were exposed to a self-relevant negative stereotype in the news, an illegal immigrant crossing the Mexican-American border smuggling drugs, as a stimulus activating stereotype threat. The study used deception as participants were unaware of the connection between the news article and the interview thus ensuring stereotype threat activation. Latino participants in the illegal immigrant/criminal condition displayed more verbal disfluency and tentative language than those in the control condition demonstrating evidence for media’s ability to stereotype threat.Item Reframing the academic trends of African American college students : applications of academic disidentification(2013-05) Hurst, Ashley Nicole; Bentley, Keisha L.The current report examines the components and implications of the existing research utilizing the theory of academic disidentification. The theory of academic disidentification proposes a process that accounts for the academic disparity between the academic achievement levels of White and ethnic minority students. The premise hypothesizes that academic achievement only results from an individual’s adaptive integration of their performance in the academic domain with their identity. For ethnic minority students the academic domain presents frequent exposure to stereotype threat whether it occurs on exams or in class participation. Over time, the accumulation of these experiences promote a maladaptive process by which ethnic minority students separate their overall identity from the academic domain, thus undermining the importance of academic achievement. In addition to the analysis of the research, this paper propose a process of academic disidentification and present implications for counselors working with ethnic minority students.Item The relation of stereotype threat to African American and Latino performance on the WAIS-IV : an intelligence malleability intervention approach(2011-08) Hall-Clark, Brittany Nicole; Ramírez, Manuel, 1937-; Awad, Germine; Bigler, Rebecca; Cokley, Kevin; Telch, MichaelStereotype threat is defined as a sociopsychological threat evoked by an evaluative situation in which a negative stereotype about one's group could be confirmed (Steele, 1997). While the deleterious effects of stereotype threat have been demonstrated numerous times in laboratory settings (McKay, Doverspike, Bowen-Hilton, & Martin, 2002; Ngyuen & Ryan, 2008; Spencer, Steele & Quinn, 1999; Steele & Aronson, 1995), generalization to actual testing situations has been limited (Stricker & Ward, 2004). The current study sought to increase ecological validity by examining stereotype threat among racial/ethnic minority students undergoing assessment using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV (WAIS-IV) without explicit priming. Another aim was to reduce stereotype threat by emphasizing the malleability of intelligence, as recommended by previous researchers (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002; Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003). Additionally, the relationship of ethnic identity to stereotype threat and test performance and the role of anxiety, a proposed mechanism of stereotype threat, were examined. Participants were also interviewed about their experiences of stereotype threat using a phenomenological approach. A 2(condition) x 3(race/ethnicity) experimental design was used, and 138 college students were randomized to the control or malleability conditions. Due to manipulation failure, the hypothesis that African and Latino American students would experience less stereotype threat and perform better on the WAIS-IV in the malleability condition could not be tested. Qualitative findings suggested that while participants endorsed perceptions of stereotype threat in general societal settings, they did not report stereotype threat while undergoing the WAIS-IV. The hypothesis that ethnic identity moderates the relationship between stereotype threat and performance received mixed support: ethnic identity-affirmation interacted with perceived stereotype threat on Digit Span, but all other interactions were nonsignificant. Lastly, the hypothesis that anxiety mediates the relationship between perceived stereotype threat and WAIS-IV performance was not supported. However, post-hoc analyses suggested that perceived stereotype threat mediates the relationship of anxiety and WAIS-IV performance. Correlational results revealed that perceived stereotype threat and stereotype vulnerability were related to WAIS-IV scores. In addition, students of color reported greater test and state anxiety than their European American counterparts. Implications for researchers, test administrators, and admissions officers are discussed.Item Revisiting Rydell, McConnell, & Beilock (2009) : a case for the inclusion of non-targets of stereotype threat(2014-05) Reinhart, Alyssa Lynne; Borich, Gary D.; Bentley-Edwards, Keisha LThis study sought to examine the role of multiple identities as a possible protective factor against stereotype threat for females taking a difficult math test. Specifically, it sought to replicate the findings of Rydell, McConnell, and Beilock (2009), who found that making a positively stereotyped identity salient (college) at the same time a negatively stereotyped identity (female) was salient, buffered the effects of stereotype threat. This study also attempted to evaluate the validity of a common experimental stereotype threat manipulation, which is to make explicit statements about performance which remind test subjects of existing stereotypes. Using a quantitative experimental design, and replicating the methodology used in the 2009 study, math-identified college students were randomly assigned to take a difficult math test under circumstances which varied salient identities. For the experimental conditions, an explicit statement was made about prior performance by either females or females and college students. For math-identified females, the statement about female performance was believed to invoke a negative stereotype about math ability and thus stereotype threat. However, when the statement was about both their gender as well as their college identity (thought to be positively stereotyped), this would cause the females to suppress their gender identity in order to maintain positive self-esteem and thus would be protected from stereotype threat effects. It was also predicted that non-targets of threat (males) would not be affected by the manipulations, as according to the theory of stereotype threat, a stereotype has to be self-relevant to become a threat. Results failed to replicate the findings of the previous study. While not significant, females actually trended towards better performance when reminded of the negative stereotype about females, as compared to a control group. More importantly, this type of manipulation was shown to significantly affect non-targets of threat, which is a violation of stereotype threat theory. When reminded of the negative stereotype about females, males performed significantly worse than a control group. This evidence supports the idea that making explicit statements about ability is an invalid method of invoking stereotype threat in an experimental setting.Item Stereotype threat in male nurse-patient interactions(2013-05) Tollison, Andrew Craig; McGlone, Matthew S., 1966-Throughout history, men have played a significant role in the field of nursing. However, they currently represent only 12% of nursing students and 9.6% of Registered Nurses. As a minority in their occupation, male nurses experience gender-based barriers and negative stereotypes that female nurses do not. Research has addressed these barriers and stereotypes, but has lagged in identifying the consequences of exposure to them other than men's reluctance to enter or stay in the field. With the nurse-patient relationship at the core of quality healthcare, it is important to further clarify the consequences of stereotype exposure for male nurses in the clinical setting. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the communicative consequences of exposure to gender-based stereotypes among male nurses through the theoretical lens of stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Stereotype threat describes the apprehension individuals experience from the prospect of confirming a negative self-relevant stereotype. In the reported experiment, the salience of gender-based stereotypes (women are more empathic than men; men are better managers than women) was controlled for while male and female nursing students completed a simulated nurse-patient interaction task. Findings from this study highlight the influence of subtle stereotyping in simulated nurse-patient interactions. Specifically, men were less grammatically accurate when participating under conditions of threat than when not under conditions of threat. This finding provides a need for caution as healthcare is experiencing a shift towards e-health, which will rely heavily on both the spoken and written word. Additionally, findings suggest that the disruptive potential of making salient stereotyped attributes (e.g., empathy) may be offset by patient gender. For example, male participants were less tentative under conditions of threat with a female patient than a male patient. The influence of patient gender provides optimism that a shift in gender-based stereotyping is occurring. Therefore, it is an optimal time to increase recruitment and retention efforts of men in the field of nursing. Recommendations for such efforts are offered as well as future directions for stereotype threat research in interpersonal communication and healthcare.Item Stereotype threat vulnerability : a psychometric investigation of the social identities and attitudes scale(2015-05) Smith, Leann Vernice; Cokley, Kevin O. (Kevin O'Neal), 1969-; Bentley, Keisha LStereotype threat is a widely researched phenomenon within psychology that has been proposed as one explanation for the underperformance of minority groups. Stereotype threat is the experience a person has when negative stereotypes about their social group are highlighted, causing them to underperform on the given task. Picho and Brown (2011) created the Social Identities and Attitudes Scale (SIAS), a scale containing six factors that research has determined to be important moderators of stereotype threat. The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the SIAS. Confirmatory factor analyses and group invariance tests of the SIAS were conducted on a diverse sample of 516 college students participating in a university's subject pool. The results revealed good model fit of the data, with minor exceptions. Additionally, the same factor structure emerged across four different ethnic subgroups: African American, Caucasian American, Hispanic American, and Asian American participants. The SIAS is a reliable and valid measure of six moderators of stereotype threat: ethnic and gender identity, ethnicity and gender stigma consciousness, negative affect, and math identification. Researchers and practitioners can more confidently use the SIAS as a measure of an individual's susceptibility to stereotype threat effects. Future research directions and practical implications are discussed.