2_5_steele_a threat in the air

8/12/2019 2_5_Steele_A Threat in the Air

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Th r e a t i n the i row Ster eotypes Sh ape n tel l ectua l I den t i ty an d Perf orm ance

C l a u d e M . S t e e l eS t a n f o r d U n i v e r s i t y

A g e n e r a l t h e o r y o f d o m a i n i d e n t if i c a ti o n i s u s e d t o d e -s c r i b e a c h i e v e m e n t b a r r i e r s s t il l f a c e d b y w o m e n i n a d -v a n c e d q u a n t i t a t iv e a r e a s a n d b y A f ri c a n A m e r i c a n s i ns c h o o l. T h e t h e o r y a s s u m e s t h a t s u s t a i n e d s c h o o l s u c c e s sr e q u i r e s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h s c h o o l a n d i t s s u b d o m a i n s ;t h a t s o c i e t a l p r e s s u r e s o n t h e s e g r o u p s ( e . g ., e c o n o m i cd i s a d v a n t a g e , g e n d e r r o l es ) c a n f r u s t r a t e t h i s i d e n ti f ic a -t i o n ; a n d t h a t i n s c h o o l d o m a i n s w h e r e t h e s e g r o u p s a r en e g a t i v e l y s t e r e o t y p e d , t h o s e w h o h a v e b e c o m e d o m a i ni d e n t i fi e d f a c e t h e f u r t h e r b a r r i e r o f s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t ,t h e t h r e a t t h a t o t h e r s j u d g m e n t s o r t h e i r o w n a c t i o n sw i l l n e g a t i v e l y s t e r e o t y p e t h e m i n t h e d o m a i n . R e s e a r c hs h o w s t h a t t h i s t h r e a t d r a m a t i c a l l y d e p r e s s e s t h e s t a n -d a r d i z e d t e st p e r f o r m a n c e o f w o m e n a n d A f r i ca n A m e r i -c a n s w h o a r e i n t he a c a d e m i c v a n g u a r d o f t h e ir g r o up s( o f fe r i n g a n e w i n t e r p r e ta t i o n o f g r o u p d i f f er e n c e s i ns t a n d a r d i z e d t e s t p e r f o r m a n c e ) , t h a t i t c a u s e s d i s i d e n t i -f i c a t i o n w i t h s c h o o l, a n d t h a t p r a c t i c e s t h a t r e d u c e t h isthrea t can reduce these negat ive e f f ec t s .

r o m a n o b s e r v e r ' s s t a n d p o i n t , t h e s i tu a t io n s o f ab o y a n d a g i r l i n a m a t h c l a s s r o o m o r o f a B l a c ks t u d en t a n d a W h i t e s t u d e n t i n a n y c l a s s r o o m a r ee s s e n t i a l l y t h e s a m e . T h e t e a c h e r i s t h e s a m e ; t h e t e x t -b o o k s a r e t h e s a m e ; a n d i n b e t t e r c la s s r o o m s , t h e s e s t u -d e n t s a r e t r e a t e d t h e s a m e . I s i t p o s s i b l e , t h e n , t h a t t h e y

c o u l d s ti ll e x p e r i e n c e t h e c l ~ s r o o m d i ff e re n t ly , s o d i f fe r -e n t l y i n f a c t as t o s i g n i f ic a n t l y a f f e c t th e i r p e r f o r m a n c ea n d a c h i e v e m e n t t h e r e ? T h i s i s t h e c e n t r a l q u e s t i o n o ft h i s a r t ic l e , a n d i n s e e k i n g a n a n s w e r , i t h a s b o t h a p r a c t i -c a l a n d a t h e o r e t i c a l f o c u s . T h e p r a c t i c a l f o c u s i s o n t h ep e r h a p s o b v i o u s n e e d t o b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d t h e p r o c e s s e st h a t c a n h a m p e r a g r o u p ' s s c h o o l p e r f o r m a n c e a n d o nw h a t c a n b e d o n e t o i m p r o v e t h a t p e r f o r m a n c e . T h e t h e o -r e t ic a l f o c u s i s o n h o w s o c i e ta l s t e r e o t y p e s a b o u t g r o u p sc a n i n f l u e n c e t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l f u n c t i o n i n g a n d i d e n t i t y d e -v e l o p m e n t o f in d i v i d u a l g r o u p m e m b e r s . T o s h o w t h eg e n e r a l it y o f t h e s e p r o c e s s e s a n d t h e i r r e le v a n c e t o i m -p o r t a n t o u t c o m e s , t h i s t h e o r y i s a p p l i e d t o t w o g r o u p s :A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n s , w h o m u s t c o n t e n d w i t h n e g a t iv e s t e-r e o t y p e s a b o u t t h e i r a b i li t ie s i n m a n y s c h o l a s ti c d o m a i n s ,a n d w o m e n , w h o m u s t d o s o p r i m a r i l y i n m a t h a n d t h ep h y s i c a l s c i e n c e s . I n t r y i n g t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e s c h o o l i n go u t c o m e s o f th e s e t w o g r o u p s , t h e t h e o r y h a s a d i s ti n c tp e r s p e c t iv e , t h a t o f v i e w i n g p e o p l e , i n S a r t r e ' s ( 1 9 4 6 /

1 9 6 5 ) w o r d s , a s f i r s t o f a l l b e i n g s i n a s i t u a t i o n s u c ht h a t i f o n e w a n t s t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e m , o n e m u s t i n q u ir ef i rs t i n t o t h e s i t u a t i o n s u r r o u n d i n g [ t h e m ] ( p . 6 0 ) .T h e t h e o r y b e g i n s w i t h a n a s s u m p t i o n : t h a t t o s u s -

t a i n s c h o o l s u c c e s s o n e m u s t b e i d e n t i f i e d w i t h s c h o o la c h i e v e m e n t i n th e s e n s e o f it s b e i n g a p a r t o f o n e ' ss e l f - d e f i n i t i o n , a p e r s o n a l i d e n t i t y t o w h i c h o n e i s s e l f -e v a l u a ti v e l y a c c o u n t a b l e . T h i s a c c o u n t a b i l i t y - - t h a t g o o ds e lf - fe e li n g s d e p e n d i n s o m e p a r t o n g o o d a c h i e v e m e n t - -t r a n s l a t e s in t o s u s t a i n e d a c h i e v e m e n t m o t i v a t i o n . F o rs u c h a n i d e n t i f i c a t i o n t o f o r m , t h i s r e a s o n i n g c o n t i n u e s ,o n e m u s t p e r c e iv e g o o d p r o s p e c t s i n t h e d o m a i n , t h a t i s,t h a t o n e h a s t h e i n t e r e s t s, s k i l l s, r e s o u r c e s , a n d o p p o r t u n i -t i e s t o p r o s p e r t h e r e , a s w e l l a s t h a t o n e b e l o n g s t h e r e ,i n th e s e n s e o f b e i n g a c c e p t e d a n d v a l u e d i n t h e d o m a i n .I f th i s r e l a ti o n s h i p t o s c h o o l i n g d o e s n o t f o r m o r g e t sb r o k e n , a c h i e v e m e n t m a y s u ff e r. T h u s , i n t r y i n g t o u n d e r -s t an d w h a t i m p e r i l s a c h i e v e m e n t a m o n g w o m e n a n d A f r i-c a n A m e r i c a n s , t h is l o g i c p o i n t s t o a b a s i c q u e s ti o n : W h a ti n t h e e x p e r i e n c e o f t h e s e g r o u p s m i g h t f r u s t r a te t h e i ri d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h a l l o r c e r t a i n a s p e c t s o f s c h o o la c h i e v e m e n t ?O n e m u s t s u r e l y t u r n f i r s t t o s o c i a l s t r u c t u r e : l i m i t so n e d u c a t i o n a l a c c e s s t h a t h a v e b e e n i m p o s e d o n t h e s eg r o u p s b y s o c i o e c o n o m i c d i s a d v a n t a g e , s e g r e g a t i n g s o -c i a l p r a c t i c e s , a n d r e s t r i c t i v e c u l t u r a l o r i e n t a t i o n s , l i m i t so f b o t h h i s t o r ic a l a n d o n g o i n g e f f e c t. B y d i m i n i s h i n go n e ' s e d u c a t i o n a l p r o s p e c t s , t h e s e l i m i t a t i o n s ( e . g . , i n a d -e q u a t e r e s o u r c e s , f e w r o l e m o d e l s , p r e p a r a t i o n a l d i s a d -v a n t a g e s ) s h o u l d m a k e i t m o r e d i f f i cu l t to i d e n t i f y w i t ha c a d e m i c d o m a i n s . T o c o n t i n u e i n m a t h , f o r e x a m p l e , aw o m a n m i g h t h a v e t o b u c k t h e l o w e x p e c t a t io n s o f t e a c h -e r s , f a m i l y , a n d s o c i e t a l g e n d e r r o l e s i n w h i c h m a t h i ss e e n a s u n f e m i n i n e a s w e l l a s a n t i c i p a t e s p e n d i n g h e re n t ir e p r o f e s s i o n a l l i fe i n a m a l e - d o m i n a t e d w o r l d . T h e s e

Editor s note. Cheryl B. T ravis served as action editor for this article.Author s note. The research reported in this article was supported byNational Institutes of H ealth Grant MH 51977, Russell Sage FoundationGrant 879.304, and Spencer Foundation and Jame s S. M cDonnell Foun-dation postdoctoral fellowships. Com pletion of the research w as aidedby the Cen ter for Advanced Study in the Beha vioral Sciences.Correspondence concerning this article sho uld be addressed toClaude M. Steele, Department of Psychology, Jordan Ha ll, Building420, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. E lectronic ma il may b esent via Inter net to steele@p sych.stanford.edu.

J u n e 1 9 9 7 A m e r i c a n P s y c h o l o g i s tCopyright 1997 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0003-066X/97/ 2.00Vol. 52, No. 6, 613-629

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Claude MSteeleCopyright by L A .Cicero Stanford NewsService

reali t ies, imposed on her by societa l structure , could soreduce he r sense of good prospec ts in ma th as to makeidentifying with i t dif f icult .But this ar t ic le focu ses on a fu r ther barrier , one thathas i t s e f fec t on the a l ready ident i fied , those members ofthese groups who, having survived structural obstacles,have achieved identi f ica t ion wi th the domain (of the pres-en t groups , school- ident i f ied Af r ican Amer icans andmath- ident i f ied women) . I t i s the soc ia l -psychologica lthreat that ar ises when one is in a si tuation or doingsometh ing for which a nega t ive s te reo type about one ' sgroup appl ie s . This predicament threa tens one wi th be ingnega t ive ly s te reo typed , wi th be ing judged or t r ea ted s te -reo typica l ly , o r wi th the prospec t of conforming to thestereotype. Called stereotype threat, i t is a si tuationalthrea t - -a threa t in the a i r - - tha t , in genera l form, canaf fec t the members of any group about whom a nega tivestereoty pe exists (e .g. , skateboarders, older adults , Whitemen, gang members) . Wh ere bad s te reo types about thesegroups apply , members of these groups can fea r be ingreduced to tha t s te reo type . And for those who ident i fywi th the dom ain to which the s te reo type i s r e levant , th ispredicament can be self- threatening.Nega t ive s te reo types about women and Af r icanAmer icans bea r on impor tan t academic ab i l i t ie s . Thus ,for members of these groups who a re ident i f ied wi thdomains in which these stereotypes apply, the threat ofthese stereo types can be sharply fe lt and, in several ways,hampers the i r achievement.F i r st , i f the threa t i s exper ienced in the mids t o fa d o m a in p e r f o r m a n c e - - c l a s s r o o m p r e se n t at i o n o r t e st -t a k in g , f o r e x a m p le - - t h e e m o t io n a l r e a c t i o n i t c a u se scould d i rec t ly in te r fe re wi th pe r formance . My col leaguesand I (Spencer , Steele , & Quinn, 1997; C. M. Steele &Aronson, 1995) have te s ted th is poss ib i li ty wi th womentaking s tandard ized math te s ts and Af r ican Amer icanstaking stand ardized verbal tests . Second, when this threat

becomes chronic in a s i tua t ion , a s for the woman whospends considerable t ime in a competit ive , male-or ientedmath envi ronment , i t can pressure disidentification, a re-conceptua l iza t ion of the se l f and of one ' s va lues so a sto remove the domain as a se lf- identi ty, as a basis ofself-evaluation. Disidentif ication offers the re treat of notcar ing about the domain in re la tion to the self . But as i tprotects in this way, i t can undermine susta ined motiva-t ion in the domain , an adapta t ion tha t can be cos t ly whenthe domain is as important as schooling.Stereotype threat is especially f rustra ting because,a t each level of schooling, i t affects the vangu ard o f thesegroups, those w ith the skil ls and self-confiden ce to haveidentif ied with the dom ain. I ronically, their susceptibil i tyto this threat der ives not f rom internal doubts about theirabil i ty (e .g. , their internalization of the stereotype) butf rom the i r ident i f ica t ion wi th the d omain and the re su l t ingconcern they have about be ing s te reo typed in i t . (Thisa rgument has the hopefu l impl ica t ion tha t to improve thedomain pe r form ance of these s tudents, one should focuson the feasib le task of r if t ing this si tuational threat ra therthan on alter ing their internal psych ology .) Yet, as school-ing progresses and the obstacles of structure and stereo-type threat take their cumulative toU, more of this van-guard wi l l l ike ly be pressured in to the ranks of the un-identi f ied . These s tudents , by not ca r ing about the domainvis-a-vis the self , are l ikely to un derpe rform in i t regard-less of whether they are stereot ype threatened there . Thus,a lthough the identif ied among these groups are l ikely tounderpe r form only under s te reo type threat , the unident i -f ied (casualt ies of sociocultural disadvantage or pr ior in-ternalization of stereotype threat) are l ikely to underper-form and not pe r s is t in the domain even when s te reo typethrea t has been removed.In these ways, then, the present analysis sees socialstructure and stereotypes as shaping the academic identi-f ie s and pe r form ance outcomes of la rge segments of soc i -e ty. But f irst , for the two groups under consideration,wha t a re these outcomes?As is much discussed , these outco mes are in a cr isiss ta te for Af r ican Amer icans . Al though Black s tudentsbegin school wi th s tandard ized te s t scores tha t a re nottoo fa r behind those of the i r Whi te counte rpa rts , a lmostimmediate ly a gap begins to appear (e .g. , Alexander &Entwistle , 1988; Burton & Jones, 1982; Coleman et a l . ,1966) that , by the sixth grade in most school distr ic ts , istwo full grade levels (Gerard, 1983) . There have beenencouraging inc reases in the num ber of Af r ican Amer i -cans comple t ing h igh school or i t s equiva lence in r ecentyea rs: 77 for B lack s tudents ve r sus 83 for Whi tes tudents (Amer ican Counc i l on Educa t ion , 1995-1996) .And the re have been modes t advances in the numberof Af r ican Amer ican h igh school gradua tes enro l ling incollege, a l though these have not been as substantia l asin o the r groups (Amer ican Counc i l on Educa t ion , 1 995 -1996) . Perhaps mos t discouraging has been the high drop-out r a te for Af r ican Amer ican co l lege s tudents : Thosewho do not f inish college within six years is 62 , corn-

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pared with a national dropout rate of 41 (AmericanCouncil on Education, 1995-1996). And there is evi-dence of lower grade performance among those who dograduate of, on average, two thirds of a letter grade lowerthan those of other graduating students (Nettles, 1988).On predominantly White campuses, Black students arealso underrepresented in math and the natural sciences.Although historically Black colleges and universities nowenroll only 17 of the nation 's Black college students,they produce 42 of all Black BS degrees in naturalscience (Culotta & Gibbons, 1992). At the graduate level,although Black women have recently shown modest gainsin PhDs received, the number awarded to Black men hasdeclined over the past decade more than for any othersubgroup in society (American Council on Education,1995-1996).Women clearly thrive in many areas of schooling.But in math, engineering, and the physical sciences, theyoften endure lesser outcomes than men. In a meta-analysis involving over 3 million participants, Hyde, Fen-nema, and Lamon (1990), for example, found thatthrough elementary and middle school, there are virtuallyno differences between boys and girls in performance onstandardized math tests but that a trend toward men doingbetter steadily increases from high school SD = .29)through college SD = :41) and into adulthood SD =.59). And, as their college careers begin, women leavethese fields at a rate two and a half times that of men(Hewitt & Seymour, 1991). Although White women con-stitute 43 of the U.S. population, they earn only 22of the BS degrees and 13 of the PhDs and occupy only10 of the jobs in physical science, math, and engi-neering, where they earn only 75 of the salary paid tomen (Hewitt & Seymour, 1991).

These inequities have compelled explanations rang-ing from the sociocultural to the genetic. In the caseof African Americans, for example, past and ongoingsocioeconomic disadvantage, cultural orientations (e.g.,Ogbu, 1986), and genetic differences (e.g., Herrnstein &Murray, 1994; Jensen, 1969) have all been proposed asfactors that, through singular and accumulated effect,could undermine their performance. In the case of wom-en' s performance in math and the physical sciences, thereare parallel arguments: structural and cultural gender roleconstraints that shunt women away from these areas;culturally rooted expectations (e.g., Eccles, 1987; Eccles-Parsons et al., 1983); and, again, genetic limitations (Ben-bow & Stanley, 1980, 1983). But, like crumbs along theforest floor, several findings lead away from these analy-ses as fully sufficient.For one thing, minority student achievement gapspersist even in the middle and upper socioeconomicclasses. Using data from the Coleman report (Colemanet al., 1966) and a more recent College Board study ofScholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores, Miller (1995,1996) found that the gaps in academic performance(grades as well as standardized test scores) betweenWhites and non-Asian minorities (e.g., African Ameri-

cans, Hispanics, and Native Americans) were as large, orlarger, in the upper and middle classes (as measured byparental education and occupation) than in the lowerclasses. Group differences in socioeconomic status(SES), then, cannot fully explain group differences inacademic performance.Another point is that these differences are not evenfully explained by group differences in skills. This isshown in the well-known overprediction or underperfor-mance phenomenon of the test bias literature. Overpre-diction occurs when, at each level of performance on atest of preparation for some level of schooling (e.g, theSAT), students from one group wind up achieving le ss --getting lower college grades, for example--than otherstudents with the same beginning scores. In this sense,the test scores of the low-performing group overpredicthow well they will actually achieve, or, stated anotherway, the low-performing group underperforms in relationto the test 's prediction. But the point here is that becausethe students at each test-score level have comparable ini-tial skills, the lower eventual performance of one groupmust be due to something other than skill deficits theybrought with them.In the case of African Americans, overpredictionacross the academic spectrum has been so reliably ob-served as to be almost a lawful phenomenon in Americansociety (e.g., Jensen, 1980; Vars & Bowen, 1997). Per-haps the most extensive single demonstration of it comesfrom a recent Educational Testing Service study (Ramist,Lewis, & McCamley-Jenkins, 1994) that examined thepredictiveness of the SAT on 38 representative collegeand university campuses. As is typically the case, thestudy found that the predictive validity to the SAT- -i tscorrelation with subsequent grades--was as good forAfrican American, Hispanic, and Native American stu-dents as for White and Asian students. But for the threenon-Asian minority groups, there was sizable overpre-diction (underperformance) in virtually all academicareas. That is, at each level of preparation as measuredby the SAT, something further depressed the grades ofthese groups once they arrived on campus.As important, the same s tudy found evidence of SAToverprediction for female students (i.e., women per-forming less well than men at comparable SAT levels)in technical and physical science courses such as engi-neering, economics, and computer science but not in non-technical areas such as English. It is interesting thoughthat women in this study were not overpredicted in mathper se, a seeming exception to this pattern. The overpre-diction of women's college math performance has gener-ally been unreliable, with some studies showing it (e.g.,Benbow & Arjmand, 1990; Levin & Wyckoff, 1988;Lovely, 1987; Ware, Steckler, & Leserman, 1985) andothers not (e.g., Adelman, 1991; DeBoer, 1984; Ware &Dill, 1986). However, a recent study (Strenta, Elliott,Adair, Scott, & Mailer, 1993) involving over 5,000 stu-dents at four prestigious northeastern colleges identified apattern of effects that suggests why these different results

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o c c u r : U n d e r p e r f o r m a n c e r e l i a b l y o c c u r r e d a m o n gw o m e n w h o w e r e t a l en t e d in m a t h a n d s c i e n c e a n d w h o ,p e r h a p s f o r t h a t r e a s o n , t o o k c o u r s e s i n t h e s e a r e a s t h a tw e r e i n t e n d e d f o r m a j o r s, w h e r e a s i t d id n o t o c c u r a m o n gw o m e n w i t h l e s s m a t h a n d s c i e n c e p r e p a r a t io n w h o t o o kc o u r s e s i n t h e s e a r e a s i n t e n d e d f o r n o n m a j o r s . T h u s ,w o m e n m a y b e r e l i a b l y o v e r p r e d i c t e d i n m a t h a n d t h ep h y s i c a l s c i e n c e s , j u s t a s B l a c k s t u d e n t s a r e m o r e g e n e r -a ll y, b u t o n l y w h e n t h e c u r r i c u l u m i s m o r e a d v a n c e d a n do n l y a m o n g w o m e n w h o a r e m o r e i d e n t i f i e d w i t h t h ed o m a i n . A m o n g t h i s v a n g u a r d , t h o u g h , s o m e t h i n g o t h e rt h a n s k i l l d e f i c i t s d e p r e s s e s t h e i r p e r f o r m a n c e . W h a t a r et h e s e f u r t h e r p r o c e s s e s ?

o S i a ln d S t e m O ~ r p e S t ru c t u re a ss ta c le s t o c h i e v e m e n t I d e n t i f ic a t i o nT h e p r o p o s e d a n s w e r i s t h a t a t l e a s t o n e o f t h e s e p r o -c e s s e s i s a s e t o f s o c i a l p s y c h o l o g i c a l p h e n o m e n a t h a to b s t r u c t s t h e s e g r o u p s ' i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h d o m a i n s o fschool ing . 1 I tu rn f i r s t to s c hoo l iden t i f i ca t ion .A c a d e m i c Id e n t i f ic a l io nA s n o t e d , t h i s a n a l y s i s a s s u m e s t h a t s u s t a i n e d s c h o o la c h i e v e m e n t d e p e n d s , m o s t c e n t r al l y , o n i d e n t i f y i n g w i t hs c h o o l , t h a t i s , f o r m i n g a r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n o n e s e l fa n d t h e d o m a i n s o f s c h o o l i n g s u c h t h a t o n e ' s s e l f - r e g a r ds i g n i f i c a n t l y d e p e n d s o n a c h i e v e m e n t i n t h o s e d o m a i n s .E x t r i n s i c r e w a r d s s u c h a s b e t t e r c a r e e r o u t c o m e s , p e r -s o n a l s e c u r i t y , p a r e n t a l e x h o r t a t i o n , a n d s o o n , c a n a l s om o t i v a t e s c h o o l a c h i e v e m e n t . B u t i t is p r e s u m e d t h a t s u s -t a i n i n g m o t i v a t i o n t h r o u g h t h e e b b a n d f l o w o f t h e se o t h e rr e w a r d s r e q u i r e s s c h o o l i d e n t i f i c at i o n . H o w , t h e n , i s t h isi d e n t i f i c a t i o n f o r m e d ?

N o t a g r e a t d e a l i s k n o w n a b o u t t h e p r o c e s s . B u ts e v e r a l m o d e l s ( e . g ., S c h l e n k e r & W e i g o l d , 1 9 8 9 ; C . M .S tee le , 1988; Tes se r, 1988) sha r e an im pl ic i t reason ing ,t h e f i rs t a s s u m p t i o n o f w h i c h i s th a t p e o p l e n e e d p o s i t i v es e l f - r e g a r d , a s e l f - p e r c e p t i o n o f a d a p t i v e a n d m o r a l a d e -q u a c y ( C . M . S t e e l e , 1 98 8 , p . 2 8 9 ) . T h e n , t h e a r g u m e n tg o e s , i d e n t i f i c a ti o n w i t h a g i v e n d o m a i n o f l i f e d e p e n d s ,i n l a r g e p a r t , o n t h e s e l f - e v a l u a t i v e p r o s p e c t s i t o f f e r s .J a m e s ( 1 8 9 0 / 1 9 5 0 ) d e s c r i b e d t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e s e l fa s a p r o c e s s o f p i c k i n g f r o m t h e m a n y , o f t e n in c o m p a t i -b l e , p o s s i b l e s e lv e s , t h o s e o n w h i c h t o s t a k e o n e ' s s a l v a-t i o n ( p . 3 1 0 ) . T h i s c h o i c e a n d th e a s s e ss m e n t o f p r o s -p e c t s t h a t g o e s i n t o i t a r e , o f c o u r s e , m u l t i f a c e t e d : A r et h e r e w a r d s o f t h e d o m a i n a t t r a c t i v e o r i m p o r t a n t ? I s a na d e q u a t e o p p o r t u n i t y s t r u c t u r e a v a i l a b l e ? D o I h a v e t h erequ i s i t e sk i l l s , t a l en t s , and in te re s t s ? Have o the rs l ikem e s u c c e e d e d i n t h e d o m a i n ? W i l l I b e s e e n a s b e l o n g i n gi n t h e d o m a i n ? W i l l I b e p r e j u d i c e d a g a i n s t i n t h e d o -m a i n ? C a n I e n v i s i o n w a n t i n g w h a t t h i s d o m a i n h a s t oo f f e r ? a n d s o o n . S o m e o f t h e s e a s s e s s m e n t s u n d e r g i r da s e n s e o f e f f i c a c y i n t h e d o m a i n ( e . g ., B a n d u r a , 1 9 7 7 ,1 9 8 6 ) . O t h e r s h a v e t o d o w i t h t h e r e w a r d s , i m p o r t a n c e ,a n d a t t r a c t i v e n e s s o f t h e d o m a i n i t s e l f . A n d s t i l l o t h e r sh a v e t o d o w i t h t h e f e a s i b i l i t y a n d r e c e p t i v e n e s s o f t h e

d o m a i n . T h e p o i n t h e r e i s t h a t s t u d e n t s t a c i t ly a s s e s s t h e i rp r o s p e c t s i n s c h o o l a n d i t s s u b d o m a i n s , a n d , r o u g h l ys p e a k i n g , t h e i r i d e n t i f i c a t i o n s f o l l o w t h e s e a s s e s s m e n t s :i n c r ea s i n g w h e n t h e y a r e f a v o r a b l e a n d d e c r e a s i n g w h e nt h e y a r e u n f a v o r a b l e . A s f o r t h e t w o g r o u p s u n d e r c o n s i d -e ra t ion , then , th i s ana lys i s sugges t s tha t som eth ing sys -t e m a t i c a l l y d o w n g r a d e s t h e i r a s s e s s m e n t s o f , a n d t h u st h e i r i d e n t i f ic a t i o n w i t h , c r i t i c a l d o m a i n s o f s c h o o l i n g .T h r e a t s o A c a d e m i c Id e n t i f ic a H o n

S t r u c t u r a l a n d c u l t u r a l th r e a t s . B o t h g r o u p sh a v e e n d u r e d a n d c o n t i n u e t o e n d u r e s o c i o c u l t u r a l i n f l u -e n c e s t h a t c o u l d h a v e s u c h e f f e c t s . A m o n g t h e m o s t r e p l i -c a b l e f a c t s i n t h e s c h o o l i n g l i t e r a t u r e i s t h a t S E S i ss t r o n g l y r e l a t e d t o s c h o o l s u c c e s s a n d c o g n i t i v e p e r f o r -m a n c e ( e . g . , C o l e m a n e t a l . , 1 9 6 6 ; M i l l e r , 1 9 9 6 ) . A n db e c a u s e A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n s h a v e l o n g b e e n d i s p r o p o r -t i o n a t e l y r e p r e s e n t e d i n l o w e r s o c i o e c o n o m i c c l a s s es , t h i sf a c t o r s u r e l y c o n t r i b u t e s t o t h e i r a c h i e v e m e n t p a t t er n s i ns c h o o l , b o t h t h r o u g h t h e m a t e r i a l l i m i t a t i o n s a s s o c i a t e dw i t h l o w e r S E S ( p o o r s c h o o l s , l a c k o f r e s o u r c e s f o rs c h o o l p e r s i s t e n c e , e tc . ) a n d t h r o u g h t h e a b i l i ty o f t h e s el i m i t a ti o n s , b y d o w n g r a d i n g s c h o o l - r e l a t e d p r o s p e c t s , t ou n d e r m i n e i d e n ti f ic a t io n w i t h s c h o o l. A n d b e y o n d s o c i o -e c o n o m i c s t r u c t u r e , t h e r e a r e c u l t u r a l p a t t e r n s w i t h i nt h e s e g r o u p s o r i n t h e r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n t h e s e g r o u p s a n dt h e l a r g e r s o c i e t y t h a t m a y a l s o f r u s t r a t e t h e i r i d e n t if i c a -t i o n w i t h s c h o o l o r s o m e p a r t o f i t , fo r e x a m p l e , O g b u ' s( 1 9 8 6 ) n o t i o n o f a l o w e r - c l a ss B l a c k c u l t u r e t h a t i s o p -p o s i t i o n a l t o s c h o o l a c h i e v e m e n t o r t ra d i ti o n a l f e m i n i n eg e n d e r r o l e s t h a t e s c h e w m a t h - r e l a t e d f i e ld s ( e .g . , E c c l e s -P a rsons e t a l . , 1983; L inn , 1994) .~ r e o ~ f h re at. B e y o n d th e s e t h r e a ts , w a i t i n gf o r t h o s e i n t h e s e g r o u p s w h o h a v e i d e n t i f i e d w i t h s c h o o l ,i s y e t a n o t h e r t h r e a t t o t h e i r i d e n t i f i c a t i o n , m o r e s u b t l ep e r h a p s b u t n o n e t h e l e s s p r o f o u n d : t h a t o f s t e r e o t y p et h r e a t . I d e f i n e i t a s f o l l o w s : t h e e v e n t o f a n e g a t i v es t e r e o ty p e a b o u t a g r o u p t o w h i c h o n e b e l o n g s b e c o m i n gs e l f - r e l e v a n t , u s u a l l y a s a p l a u s i b l e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n f o rs o m e t h i n g o n e i s d o i n g , f o r an e x p e r i e n c e o n e i s h a v i n g ,o r f o r a s i t u a t i o n o n e i s i n , t h a t h a s r e l e v a n c e t o o n e ' ss e l f - d e f i n i t i o n . I t h a p p e n s w h e n o n e i s i n t h e f i e l o ft h e s t e r e o t y p e , w h a t C r o s s ( 1 9 9 1 ) c a l l e d a s p o t l i g h ta n x i e t y ( p . 1 95 ) , s u c h th a t o n e c a n b e j u d g e d o r t r e a t e di n t e r m s o f a r a c i a l s t e r e o t y p e . M a n y a n a l y s t s h a v e r e -f e r r e d t o t h i s p r e d i c a m e n t a n d t h e p r e s s u r e i t c a u s e s ( e .g . ,A l l p o r t , 1 9 5 4 ; C a r t e r, 1 9 9 1 ; C o s e , 1 9 9 3 ; G o f f m a n , 1 9 6 3 ;H o w a r d & H a m m o n d , 1 9 8 5; E . E . J o n e s e t a l. , 1 9 8 4;S a r t r e , 1 9 4 6 / 1 9 6 5 ; C . M . S t e e l e , 1 9 7 5 ; C . M . S t e e l e &

Other factors may also contribute. For example, here are persis-tent reports of women and m inorities being treated differently n theclassroom and in other aspects of schooling (e.g., Hew itt & Seymour,1991). This treatment ncludes both the chilly-climate sins of omis-sio n- the failure o call on them n class or to recognizeand encouragetheir talents, and so o n--and, in the ca se of low -income minorities,sins of comm ission--disproportionateexpulsion from school, assign-ment to special educationclasses, and administration or corp oral pun-ishment ( National Coalitionof Advocates or StudentsReport, 1988).

6 1 6 J u n e 1 9 9 7 A m e r i c a n P s y c h o l o g i st


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A r o n s o n , 1 9 9 5 ; S . S t e e l e , 1 9 9 0 ) . T h e p r e s e n t d e f i n i t io ns t r e s s e s t h a t f o r a n e g a t i v e s t e r e o t y p e t o b e t h r e a t e n i n g ,i t m u s t b e s e l f - r e l e v a n t . T h e n , t h e s i t u a t i o n a l c o n t i n g e n c yi t e s t a b l i s h e s - - t h e p o s s i b il i ty o f c o n f o r m i n g t o t h e s t e-r e o t y p e o r o f b e i n g t r ea t e d a n d j u d g e d i n t e r m s o f i t - -b e c o m e s s e l f- t h r ea t e n in g . I t m e a n s t h a t o n e c o u l d b e l i m -i t e d o r d i m i n i s h e d i n a d o m a i n t h a t i s s e l f - d e f i n i t i o n a l .F o r s t u d e n t s f r o m g r o u p s i n w h i c h a b i l i t i e s a r e n e g a t i v e l ys t e r e o t y p e d i n a l l o r s o m e s c h o o l d o m a i n s a n d y e t w h or e m a i n i d e n t i f i e d w i t h t h o s e d o m a i n s , t h i s t h r e a t m a y b ek e e n l y f e l t , f e l t e n o u g h , I a r g u e , t o b e c o m e a f u r t h e rb a r r i e r t o t h e i r i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h t h e d o m a i n .T h e r e i s , h o w e v e r , a m o r e s t a n d a r d e x p l a n a t i o n o fh o w n e g a t i v e s t e r e o t y p e s a f f e c t t h e i r t a r g e t s . B e g i n n i n gw i t h F r e u d ( a s c i t e d i n B r i l l , 1 9 3 8 ) i n p s y c h o l o g y a n dC o o l e y ( 1 9 5 6 ) a n d M e a d ( 1 9 3 4 ) i n s o c i o l o g y , t r e a t i s e so n t h e e x p e r i e n c e o f o p p r e s s i o n h a v e d e p i c t e d a f a i r l ys t a n d ar d s e q u e n c e o f e v e n ts : T h r o u g h l o n g e x p o s u r e t on e g a t iv e s t e r e o t y p e s a b o u t t h e i r g r o u p , m e m b e r s o f p r e j u -d i c e d - a g a i n s t g r o u p s o f t e n i n t e r n a l i z e t h e s t e r e o t y p e s ,a n d t h e r e s u lt i n g s e n s e o f i n a d e q u a c y b e c o m e s p a r t o ft h e i r p e r s o n a l i t y ( e , g ., A l l p o r t , 1 9 5 4 ; B e t t e l h e i m , 1 9 4 3 ;C l a r k , 1 9 6 5 ; G r i e f & C o o b s , 1 9 6 8 ; E r i k s o n , 1 9 5 6 ; F a n o n ,1 9 5 2 / 1 9 6 7 ; K a r d i n e r & O v e s e y , 1 9 5 1 ; L e w i n , 1 9 4 1 ) .I n r e c e n t y e a r s , th e t o n e o f t h i s a r g u m e n t h a s c o n -s t r u c t i v e l y l i g h t e n e d , r e p l a c i n g t h e n o t i o n o f a b r o a d s e l f -h a t r e d w i t h t h e i d e a o f a n i n f e r i o r i t y a n x i e t y o r l o w e x -p e c t a t i o n s a n d s u g g e s t i n g h o w s i t u a t i o n a l f a c t o r s c o n t r i b -u t e t o th i s e x p e r i e n c e . S . S t e e l e ' s ( 1 9 9 0 ) e s s a y s o n racialvulnerability ( i .e . , a v u l n e r a b i l i t y o f b o t h B l a c k s a n dW h i t e s t h a t s t e m s , i n p a r t , f r o m t h e s i t u a t i o n a l p r e s s u r e so f r e p u t a t i o n s a b o u t t h e i r g r o u p s ) o f f e r e d a n e x a m p l e .T h i s w o r k d e p i c t s t h e w o r k i n g s o f t h is a n x i e t y a m o n gA f r i c a n A m e r i c a n s i n a n i n t e r c o n n e c t e d s e t o f i d ea s : integrat ion shock t h a t , l i k e G o f f m a n ( 1 9 6 3 ) , p o i n t s t o s e t -t i n g s t h a t i n t e g r a t e B l a c k s a n d W h i t e s a s p a r t i c u l a r l ya n x i e t y a r o u s i n g ; objective correlatives o r r a c e - r e l a t e ds i t u a t io n a l c u e s t h a t c a n t r i g g e r t h is a n x i e t y ; a n d t h e i n -h e r e n t s e n s e o f ri s k , s t e m m i n g f r o m a n i n t e r n a l i z e d inferiority anxiety a n d f r o m a myth of infer iori ty p e r v a d i n gi n t e g r a t e d s e t t i n g s , o f b e i n g j u d g e d i n f e r i o r o r o f c o n -f i rm i n g o n e ' s o w n f e a r e d i nf e r io r i ty . H o w a r d a n d H a m -m o n d ( 1 9 8 5 ) e a r l i e r m a d e t h i s a r g u m e n t s p e c i f i c a l ly i nr e l a t i o n t o t h e s c h o o l a c h i e v e m e n t o f B l a c k s t u d e n t s .T h e y a r g u e d t h a t o n c e r u m o r s o f i n f e r i o r i t y ( s t er e o -t y p e s ; p . 1 8 ) a b o u t B l a c k s t u d e n t s ' a b i l i t i e s p e r v a d e t h ee n v i r o n m e n t - - t h r o u g h , f o r e x a m p l e , n a t i on a l d e b a t e so v e r th e g e n e t ic b a s is o f r a ci a l d if f e r e n c e s i n I Q - - t h e yc a n i n t i m i d a t e B l a c k s t u d e n t s ; b e c o m e i n t e r n a l i z e d b yt h e m ; a n d , i n t u r n , l e a d t o a l o w s e n s e o f s e l f - e f f i c a c y ,d e m o t i v a t i o n , a n d u n d e r p e r f o r m a n c e i n s c h o o l . A n a l o -g o u s a r g u m e n t s h a v e b e e n a p p l i e d t o w o m e n i n t e r e s t e di n m a t h - r e l a t e d a r e a s ( c f . E c c l e s - P a r s o n s e t a l ., 1 9 8 3 ) .T h e s e m o d e l s r e c o g n i z e t h e s i t u a t i o n a l i n f l u e n c e o fn e g a t i v e s t e r e o t y p e s ( e . g . , A l l p o r t , 1 9 5 4 ; H o w a r d &H a m m o n d , 1 9 8 5 ; S. S t e e l e , 1 9 9 0 ) b u t m o s t o f t e n d e s c r i b ei t a s a p r o c e s s i n w h i c h t h e s t e r e o t y p e , o r m o r e p r e c i s e l yt h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f b e i n g s t e r e o t y p e d , t r i g g e r s a n i n t e r n a l -

i z e d i n f e r i o r i ty d o u b t o r l o w e x p e c t a n c y . A n d b e c a u s et h i s a n x i e t y i s b o r n o f a s o c i a l i z a t i o n p r e s u m e d t o i n f l u -e n c e a l l m e m b e r s o f t h e s t e r e o t y p e d g r o u p , v i r t u a l l y a l lm e m b e r s o f t h e g r o u p a r e p r e s u m e d t o h a v e t h i s a n x i e ty ,t o o n e d e g r e e o r a n o t h e r .S t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t, i n c o n t r a s t , r e f e r s t o t h e s t r i c t l ys i t u a t i o n a l t h r e a t o f n e g a t i v e s t e r e o t y p e s , t h e t h r e a t t h a td o e s n o t d e p e n d o n c u i n g a n i n t e r n a l iz e d a n x i e t y o r e x -p e c t a n c y . I t i s c u e d b y t h e m e r e r e c o g n i t i o n t h a t a n e g a -t iv e g r o u p s t e r e o t y p e c o u l d a p p l y t o o n e s e l f i n a g i v e ns i tu a t i o n . H o w t h r e a t e n i n g t h i s r e c o g n i t i o n b e c o m e s d e -p e n d s o n t h e p e r s o n ' s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h t h e s t e r e o t y p e -r e l e v a n t d o m a i n . F o r t h e d o m a i n i d e n t i f i e d , t h e s i t u a t i o n a lr e l e v a n c e o f t h e s t e r e o t y p e i s t h r e a t e n i n g b e c a u s e i tt h r e a t e n s d i m i n i s h m e n t i n a d o m a i n t h a t i s s e l f - d e f i n i -t i o n a l. F o r t h e l e s s d o m a i n i d e n t i f i e d , th i s r e c o g n i t i o n i sl e s s t h r e a t e n i n g o r n o t t h r e a t e n i n g a t a l l, b e c a u s e i t t h r e a t -e n s s o m e t h i n g t h a t i s l e s s s e l f - d e f i n i ti o n a l .S t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t , t h e n , a s a si t u a t io n a l p r e s s u r e i nt h e a i r s o t o s p e a k , a f f e c t s o n l y a s u b p o r t i o n o f t h es t e r e o t y p e d g r o u p a n d , in t h e a r e a o f s c h o o l in g , p r o b a b l ya f f e c t s c o n f i d e n t s t u d e n t s m o r e t h a n u n c o n f i d e n t o n e s .R e c a l l t h a t t o b e i d e n t i f i e d w i t h s c h o o l i n g i n g e n e r a l , o rm a t h i n p a r t i c u la r , o n e m u s t h a v e c o n f i d e n c e i n o n e ' sd o m a i n - r e l a t e d a b i l i t i e s , e n o u g h t o p e r c e i v e g o o d p r o s -p e c t s i n t h e d o m a i n . T h i s m e a n s t h a t s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a ts h o u l d h a v e i t s g r e a t e s t e f f e c t o n t h e b e t te r , m o r e c o n f i -d e n t s t u d e n t s i n s t e r e o t y p e d g r o u p s , t h o s e w h o h a v e n o ti n t e rn a l i z ed t h e g r o u p s t e r e o ty p e t o t h e p o i n t o f d o u b t i n gt h e i r o w n a b i l i t y a n d h a v e t h u s r e m a i n e d i d e n t i f i e d w i t ht h e d o m a i n - - t h o s e w h o a r e i n t h e a c a d e m i c v a n g u a r do f t h e i r g r o u p . 2

S e v e r a l g e n e r a l f e a t u r e s o f s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t f o l lo w :1 . S t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t i s a g e n e r a l t h r e a t n o t t i e d t ot h e p s y c h o l o g y o f p a r t i c u l a r s t i g m a t i z e d g r o u p s . I t a f f e c t st h e m e m b e r s o f a n y g r o u p a b o u t w h o m t h e r e e x i st s s o m eg e n e r a l l y k n o w n n e g a t i v e s t e r e o t y p e ( e . g . , a g r a n d f a t h e rw h o f e a r s th a t a n y f a l t er i n g o f m e m o r y w i ll c o n f i r m o re x p o s e h i m t o s t e r e o t y p e s a b o u t t h e a g e d ) . S t e r e o t y p et h r e a t c a n b e t h o u g h t o f a s a s u b t y p e o f t h e t h r ea t p o s e db y n e g a t i v e r e p u t a t i o n s i n g e n e r a l .2 . T h a t w h i c h t u r n s s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t o n a n d o f f , t h ec o n t r o l li n g m e c h a n i s m s o t o s p e a k , i s a p a r t i c u la rc o n c u r r e n c e : w h e t h e r a n e g a t iv e s t e r e o ty p e a b o u t o n e ' sg r o u p b e c o m e s r e l e v a n t to i n t e r p r et i n g o n e s e l f o r o n e ' sb e h a v i o r i n a n i d e n t i f i e d - w i t h s e t t i n g . W h e n s u c h a s e t -

2The point s not that negativestereotypesare never nternalizedaslow self-expe ctancies nd self-doubts. It is tha t in such internalization,disidentification s the more primaryadaptation. Tha t s, once he stereo-type-relevant domain (e.g., math) is dropped as a self-definition, henegative stereotype e.g., that wom en are lim ited in m ath) can be ac-cepted as more self-descriptive i.e., internalized) without it much af-fecting one's self-regard as for the wom an who, not caring about math,says she is lou sy at it). But this internalization is probably resisted(e.g., Crocke r & Major, 198 9) until disidentificationmakes it less self-threatening. Once this has happened, the perso n is likely to avoid thedomain because of both disinterest and low confidence egardless ofwhether stereotype hreat is present.

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t i n g i n t e g r a te s s t e r e o t y p e d a n d n o n s t e r e o t y p e d p e o p l e , i tm a y m a k e t h e s t e r e o t y p e , a s a d i m e n s i o n o f d i f f e r e n c e ,m o r e s a l i e n t a n d t h u s m o r e s t r o n g l y f e l t ( e , g . , F r a b l e ,B l a c k s t o n e , S h e r b a u m , 1 9 9 0 ; G o f f m a n , 1 9 6 3 ; K l e c kS t r en ta , 1980; S a r t r e , 1946/1965; S . S tee le , 1990) . Buts u c h i n t e g r a t i o n i s n e i t h e r n e c e s s a r y n o r s u f f i c i e n t f o rt h i s t h r e a t to o c c u r . I t c a n o c c u r e v e n w h e n t h e p e r s o n i sa l o n e , a s f o r a w o m a n t a k i n g a n i m p o r t a n t m a t h t e s ta l o n e i n a c u b i c l e b u t u n d e r t h e t h r e a t o f c o n f i r m i n g as t e r e o t y p e d l i m i t a t i o n o f a b i l it y . A n d , i n i n t e g r a t e d s e t -t i n g s , i t n e e d n o t o c c u r . R e d u c i n g t h e i n t e r p r e t i v e r e l e -v a n c e o f a s t e r e o t y p e i n t h e s e t ti n g , s a y i n a c l a s s r o o mo r o n a s t a n d a r d i z e d t e s t , m a y r e d u c e t h i s t h r e a t a n d i t sd e t r i m e n t a l e f f e c t s e v e n w h e n t h e s e t t i n g i s i n t e g r a t e d . 33 . T h i s m e c h a n i s m a l s o e x p l a i n s t h e v a r ia b i l i t ie s o fs t e r e o t y p e t h re a t : t h e f a c t t h a t t h e t y p e a n d d e g r e e o f t h i st h r e a t v a r y f r o m g r o u p t o g r o u p a n d , f o r a n y g r o u p ,a c r o s s s e t ti n g s . F o r e x a m p l e , t h e t y p e a n d d e g r e e o f s te -r e o t y p e t h r e a t e x p e r i e n c e d b y W h i t e m e n , B l a c k p e o p l e ,a n d p e o p l e w h o a r e o v e r w e i g h t d i f f e r c o n s i d e r a b l y , b e a r -i n g o n s e n s i ti v i t y a n d f a i r n e s s i n t h e f i rs t g r o u p , o n s c h o o lp e r f o r m a n c e i n t h e s e c o n d , a n d o n s e l f - c o n t r o l i n t h et h i r d . M o r e o v e r ; f o r a n y o f t h e s e g r o u p s , t h i s t h r e a t w i l lv a r y a c r o s s s e t t in g s ( e . g ., G o f f m a n , 1 9 6 3 ; S . S t e e l e ,1 9 9 0 ). F o r e x a m p l e , w o m e n m a y r e d u c e t h e i r s t e re o t y p et h r e a t s u b s t a n t ia l l y b y m o v i n g a c r o s s t h e h a l l f r o m m a t ht o E n g l i s h c l a s s . T h e e x p l a n a t i o n o f t h i s m o d e l i s s t ra i g h t -f o r w a r d : D i f f e r e n t g r o u p s e x p e r i e n c e d i f f er e n t f o rm s a n dd e g r e e s o f s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t b e c a u s e t h e s t e r e o t y p e s a b o u tt h e m d i f f e r i n c o n t e n t , i n s c o p e , a n d i n t h e s i t u a ti o n s t ow h i c h t h e y a p p l y .4 . T o e x p e r i e n c e s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t, o n e n e e d n o t b e -l i e v e t h e s t e r e o t y p e n o r e v e n b e w o r r i e d t h a t i t is t r u e o fo n e s e l f . T h e w e l l - k n o w n A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n s o c i a l p s y -c h o l o g i s t J a m e s M . J o n e s ( 1 9 9 7 ) w r o t e ,When I go t the ATM machine and a woman is making atransaction, I think abou t whether she will fear I ma y rob her.S ince I have no such intent ion, how do I put her a t ease? MaybeI can' t . . . and maybe she has no such expectation. But itgoes through my mind. (p. 262)J o n e s f e l t s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t in t h i s s i t u a t i o n e v e n t h o u g hh e d i d n o t b e l i e v e t h a t t h e s t e r e o t y p e c h a r a c t e r i z e d h i m .O f c o u r s e , th i s m a d e i t n o l e s s a li f e - s h a p i n g f o r c e . O n e ' sd a i l y l i f e c a n b e f i l l e d w i t h r e c u r r e n t s i t u a t i o n s i n w h i c ht h i s t h r e a t p r e s s u r e s a d a p t i v e r e s p o n s e s .5 . T h e e f f o r t to o v e r c o m e s t e r e o ty p e t h r e a t b y d i s-p r o v i n g th e s t e r e o t y p e - - f o r e x a m p l e , b y o u t p e r f o r m i n gi t i n t h e c a s e o f a c a d e m i c w o r k w c a n b e d a u n ti n g . B e -c a u s e t h e s e s t e r e o t y p e s a r e w i d e l y d i s s e m i n a t e d t h r o u g h -o u t s o c i e t y , a p e r s o n a l e x e m p t i o n f r o m t h e m e a r n e d i no n e s e t t i n g d o e s n o t g e n e r a l i z e t o a n e w s e t t i n g w h e r ee i t h e r o n e ' s r e p u t a t i o n i s n o t k n o w n o r w h e r e i t h a s t ob e r e n e g o t i a t e d a g a i n s t a n e w c h a l l e n g e . T h u s , e v e n w h e nt h e s t e r e o t y p e c a n b e d i s p r o v e n , t h e n e e d t o d o s o c a ns e e m S i s y p h e a n , e v e r l a s t i n g l y r e c u r r e n t . A n d i n s o m ec r i t ic a l s i t u a ti o n s , i t m a y n o t b e d i s p r o v a b l e . T h e s t e r e o -t y p e s c o n s i d e r e d i n t h i s w o r k a l l e g e g r o u p - b a s e d l i m i t a -

t i o n s o f a b i l i t y t h a t a r e o f t e n r e i n f o r c e d b y t h e s t r u c tu r a lr e a l i t y o f i n c r e a s i n g l y s m a l l g r o u p r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s a tm o r e a d v a n c e d l e v e l s o f t h e s c h o o l i n g d o m a i n . T h u s , f o rg r o u p m e m b e r s w o r k i n g a t t h e s e a d v a n c e d l e v e l s , n oa m o u n t o f s u c c e s s u p t o t h a t p o i n t c a n d i s p r o v e t h e s t e -r e o t y p e ' s r e l e v a n c e to t h e i r n e x t , m o r e a d v a n c e d p e r f o r -m a n c e . F o r t h e a d v a n c e d f e m a l e m a t h s t u d en t w h o h a sb e e n b r i l l ia n t u p t o t h a t p o i n t , a n y f r u s t r a t i o n s h e h a s a tt h e f r o n t i e r o f h e r s k i l l s c o u l d c o n f i r m t h e g e n d e r - b a s e dl i m i t a t i o n a l l e g e d i n t h e s t e r e o t y p e , m a k i n g t h i s f r o n ti e r,b e c a u s e s h e i s s o i n v e s t e d i n i t , a m o r e t h r e a t e n i n g p l a c et h a n i t i s f o r t h e n o n s t e r e o t y p e d . T h u s , t h e w o r k o f d is p e l -l i n g s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t t h r o u g h . p e r fo r m a n c e p r o b a b l y i n -c r e a s e s w i t h t h e d i f f i c u l t y o f w o r k i n t h e d o m a i n , a n dw h a t e v e r e x e m p t i o n i s g a i n e d h a s t o b e r e w o n a t t h e n e x tn e w p r o v i n g g r o u n d .Em pi ri ca l Su ppo r t f o r a Th e or y o fSte reotype Th rea t an d is ident i fica fionI n t e s t i n g th e s e i d e a s , t h e r e s e a r c h o f m y c o l l e a g u e s a n dI h a s h a d t w o f o c i : T h e f i r st i s o n i n t e l l e c t u a l p e r f o r m a n c ei n t h e d o m a i n i n w h i c h n e g a t i v e g r o u p s t e r e o t y p e s a p p ly .H e r e , t h e a n a l y s i s h a s t w o t e s t a b l e i m p l i c a t i o n s . O n e i st h a t f o r d o m a i n - i d e n t i f i e d s t u d e n ts , s t e r e o t y p e th r e a t m a yi n t e r f e r e w i t h t h e i r d o m a i n - r e l a t e d i n t e l l e c t u a l p e r f o r -m a n c e . A n a l y s t s h a v e l o n g a r g u e d t h a t b e h a v i n g i n as i t u a t i o n in w h i c h o n e i s a t r i s k o f c o n f i r m i n g a n e g a t i v es t e r e o ty p e a b o u t o n e ' s g r o u p , o r o f b e i n g s e e n o r t r e a t e ds t e r e o t y p i c al l y , c a u s e s e m o t i o n a l d i s t r e s s a n d p r e s s u r e( e . g . , C r o s s , 1 9 9 1 ; F a n o n , 1 9 5 2 / 1 9 6 7 ; G o f f m a n , 1 9 6 3 ;H o w a r d H a m m o n d , 1 9 8 5 ; S a r tr e , 1 9 4 6 / 1 9 6 5; C . M .S t e e l e A r o n s o n , 1 9 9 5 ; S . S t e e l e , 1 9 9 0 ) . T h e a r g u m e n th e r e i s t h a t f o r t h o s e w h o i d e n t i f y w i t h t h e d o m a i ne n o u g h t o e x p e r i e n c e th i s t h r e a t , t h e p r e s s u r e i t c a u s e sm a y u n d e r m i n e t h e i r d o m a i n p e r f o r m a n c e . D i s r u p t i v ep r e s s u r e s s u c h a s e v a l u a t i o n a p p r e h e n s i o n , t e s t a n x i e t y ,c h o k i n g , a n d t o k e n s t a t u s h a v e l o n g b e e n s h o w n t o d i s r u p tp e r f o r m a n c e t h r o u g h a v a r i e t y o f m e d i a t in g m e c h a n i s m s :i n t e r f e r i n g a n x i e t y , r e t i c e n c e t o r e s p o n d , d i s t r a c t i n gt h o u g h t s , s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s , a n d s o o n ( B a u m e i s t e rS h o w e r s , 1 9 8 4 ; G e e n , 1 9 9 1 ; L o r d S a e n z , 1 9 8 5 ; S a r a -s o n , 1 9 8 0 ; W i n e , 1 9 7 1 ) . T h e a s s u m p t i o n o f t h i s m o d e li s t h a t s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t i s a n o t h e r s u c h i n t e r f e ri n g p r e s -s u r e. T h e o t h e r t e s t a b le i m p l i c a t i o n i s t h a t r e d u c i n g t h i st h r e a t i n t h e p e r f o r m a n c e s e t ti n g , b y r e d u c i n g i t s i n t e rf e r -i n g p r e s s u r e , s h o u l d i m p r o v e t h e p e r f o r m a n c e o f o t h e r -w i s e s t e r e o t y p e - t h r e a t e n e d s tu d e n t s .

T h e s e c o n d r e s e a r c h f o c u s i s t h e m o d e l ' s i m p l i c a -a As a process of so cial devaluation, stereotype hreat is b oth asubform of stigmatization and something more general. It is that formof stigmatization h at is mediated by co llectivelyheld, devaluing groupstereotypes. Th is mean s that it doe s not include stigmatization thatderives from nonstereotyped eatures such as a facial disfigurementor,for exam ple, what G offman (1963) called abominations of the body.Stereotype hreat is a situational predicament.And , in this sense, it isalso mo re general than stigmatization. It is a threat tha t can befallanyone about whom a negative reputation or group stereotypeexists.

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t i o n t h a t s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t , a n d t h e a n t i c i p a t i o n o f h a v i n gt o c o n t e n d w i t h i t u n c e a s in g l y i n s c h o o l o r s o m e d o m a i no f s c h o o l i n g , s h o u l d d e t e r m e m b e r s o f t h e s e g r o u p sf r o m i d e n t i f y i n g w i t h t h e s e d o m a i n s , a n d , f o r g r o u pm e m b e r s a l r e a d y i d e n t i f i e d , i t s h o u l d p r e s s u r e t h e i rd i s iden t i f i ca t ion . 4S t e r e o t y p e T h r e a f a n d n t e l le c t u a l P e r fo r m a n c eS t e v e n S p e n c e r , D i a n e Q u i n n , a n d I ( S p e n c e r e t al ., 1 9 9 7 )f i r st t e s t e d t h e e f f e c t o f s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t o n i n t e l l e c t u a lp e r f o r m a n c e b y t e s ti n g i ts e f f e c t o n t h e s t a n d a rd i z e d m a t ht e s t p e r f o r m a n c e o f w o m e n w h o w e r e s t r o n g i n m a t h .T h e s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t o f w o m e n p e r f o r m i n gm o t h A t b a s e , o f c o u r s e , t h e s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t t h a tw o m e n e x p e r i e n c e i n m a t h - p e r f o r m a n c e s e t ti n g s d e r iv e sf r o m a n e g a t i v e s t e r e o t y p e a b o u t t h e i r m a t h a b i l i ty t h a t i sd i s s e m i n a t e d t h r o u g h o u t s o c i e t y . B u t w h e t h e r t h i s t h r e a ti m p a i r e d t h e i r p e r f o r m a n c e , w e r e a s o n e d , w o u l d d e p e n do n t w o t h i n g s. F i r st , t h e p e r f o r m a n c e w o u l d h a v e t o b ec o n s t r u e d s o t h a t a n y f a l t e r in g w o u l d i m p l y t h e l i m i t a ti o no f a b i l i t y a l l e g e d i n t h e s t e r e o t y p e . T h i s m e a n s t h a t t h ep e r f o r m a n c e w o u l d h a v e t o b e d i f f i c u lt e n o u g h s o th a tf a l t e r i n g a t i t w o u l d i m p l y h a v i n g r e a c h e d a n a b i l i t y li m i tb u t n o t s o d i f f i c u l t as t o b e n o n d i a g n o s t i c o f a b il i ty . A n ds e c o n d , a s h a s b e e n m u c h e m p h a s i z e d , t h e w o m e n i nq u e s t i o n w o u l d h a v e t o b e i d e n t i f i e d w i t h m a t h , s o t h a tf a l t e r i n g a n d i t s s t e r e o t y p e - c o n f i r m i n g i m p l i c a t i o n w o u l dt h r e a t e n s o m e t h i n g t h e y c a r e a b o u t , t h e i r b e l o n g i n g n e s sa n d a c c e p t a n c e i n a d o m a i n t h e y i d e n t i f y w i th . O f c o u r s e ,m e n t o o ( a t l e a s t t h o s e o f e q u a l s k i l l a n d i d e n t i f i c a t i o nw i t h m a t h ) c o u l d b e t h r e a t e n e d i n t h i s s i t u a ti o n ; f a l te r i n gw o u l d r e f l e c t o n t h e i r a b i l i t y t o o . B u t t h e i r f a l t e r i n gw o u l d n o t c a r r y t h e e x t r a t h r e a t o f c o n f i r m i n g a s t e r e o-t y p e d l i m i t a t io n i n m a t h a b i l i ty o r o f c a u si n g t h e m t o b es e e n t h a t w a y . T h u s , t h e t h r e a t t h a t w o m e n e x p e r i e n c e ,t h r o u g h t h e i n t e r f e r i n g p r e s s u r e i t c a u s e s, s h o u l d w o r s e nt h e i r p e r f o r m a n c e i n c o m p a r i s o n t o e q u a l l y q u a l i f i e dm e n . I n t e r e s t i n g l y , t h o u g h , t h e s e o t h e r w i s e c o n f i d e n tw o m e n s h o u l d p e r f o r m e q u a l ly a s w e l l a s e q u a l l y q u al i-f i e d m e n w h e n t h i s s i t u a t i o n a l t h r e a t i s l e s s e n e d .T o e x p l o r e t h e s e q u e s t i o n s , S p e n c e r , Q u i n n , a n d I( S p e n c e r e t a l ., 1 9 9 7 ) d e s i g n e d a b a s i c r e s e a r c h p a r a -d i g m : W e r e c r u i t e d f e m a l e a n d m a l e s t u d e n t s , m o s t l yc o l l e g e s o p h o m o r e s , w h o w e r e b o t h g o o d a t m a t h a n ds t r o n g l y i d e n t i f i e d w i t h i t i n t h e s e n s e o f s e e i n g t h e m -s e l v e s a s s t r o n g m a t h s t u d e n t s a n d s e e i n g m a t h a s i m -p o r t a n t t o t h e i r s e lf - d e f i n i t io n . W e t h e n g a v e t h e m a v e r yd i f f i c u l t m a t h t e s t o n e a t a t i m e . T h e i t e m s w e r e t a k e nf r o m t h e a d v a n c e d m a t h G e n e r a l R e c o r d s E x a m i n a t i o n( G R E ) a n d w e a s s u m e d w o u l d f r u s t r a t e th e s k i ll s o f t he s es t u d e n t s w i t h o u t t o t a l l y e x c e e d i n g t h e m . A s e x p e c t e d ,a n d p r e s u m a b l y r e f l e c t in g t h e i m p a i r i n g e f f e c t s o f s te r e o -t y p e t h r e a t , w o m e n s i g n i f i c a n t l y u n d e r p e r f o r m e d i n r e l a -t i o n t o e q u a l l y q u a l i f i e d m e n o n t h i s d i f f i c u lt m a t h t e s t .B u t m o r e i m p o r t a n t , i n a n o t h e r c o n d i t io n o f t h i s e x p e r i -m e n t i n w h i c h t h e t e s t w a s a n a d v a n c e d l i t e r a t u r e t e s tr a t h e r t h a n a m a t h t e s t a n d i n w h i c h p a r t i c i p a n t s h a db e e n s e l e c t e d a n d m a t c h e d f o r t h e i r s t r o n g l i te r a t u r e s k i ll s

a n d i d e n t if i c at i on , w o m e n p e r f o r m e d ju s t a s w e l l a se q u a l l y q u a l i f i e d m e n . T h i s h a p p e n e d , w e r e a s o n e d , b e -c a u s e w o m e n a r e n o t s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t e n e d i n t h i s a r e a .A s e c o n d e x p e r i m e n t r e p li c a t e d w o m e n s u n d e rp e r -f o r m a n c e o n t h e d i f f i c u l t m a t h t e s t a n d s h o w e d t h a t i td i d n o t h a p p e n w h e n t h e t e s t w a s e a s i e r, t h a t is w h e n t h ei t e m s , t a k e n f r o m t h e r e g u l a r q u a n t i t a t iv e s e c t i o n o f t h eG R E , w e r e m o r e w i t h i n t h e s k i ll s o f t h e s e s t ro n g m a t hs t u d e n ts . T h e l a c k o f p e r f o r m a n c e f r u s t r a t i o n o n t h i s e a s-i e r t es t , p re s u m a b ly , r e d u c e d w o m e n s s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a tb y m a k i n g t h e s t e r e o t y p e l e ss r e l e v a n t a s a n i n t e r p r e t a t io no f t h e i r p e r f o r m a n c e .S t e r e o l y p e t h r e a t ve r s u s g en e s o w e n t o u ri n t e r p r e t a t i o n . B u t a n a l t e r n a t i v e w a s p o s s i b l e : T h e b i o -l o g i ca l l im i t s o f w o m e n s m a t h a b i li t y d o n o t e m e r g eu n t i l t h e m a t e r i a l t e s t e d i s d i f f ic u l t . I t i s t h i s v e r y p a t t e r no f e v i d e n c e t h a t B e n b o w a n d S t a n l e y ( 1 9 8 0 , 1 9 8 3 ) u s e dt o s u g g e s t a g e n e t i c l i m i t a t i o n i n w o m e n s m a t h a b i l i ty .T h u s , t h e f i r s t t w o e x p e r i m e n t s r e p r o d u c e d t h e g e n d e re f f e c t s o n m a t h p e r f o r m a n c e r e p o r t e d i n t h e l i t e ra t u re :t h a t w o m e n u n d e r p e r f o r m p r i m a r i l y i n m a t h a n d m a i n l yw h e n t h e m a t e r i a l i s d i ff i c u l t. B u t t h e y f a l l s h o r t o f e s t a b -l i s h in g o u r i n t e r p r e t a ti o n .T o d o t h is , w e w o u l d n e e d t o g i v e w o m e n a n d m e na d i f f ic u l t m a t h t e s t ( o n e c a p a b l e o f p r o d u c i n g w o m e n su n d e r p e r f o r m a n c e ) b u t t h e n e x p e r i m e n t a l l y v a r y s t e r e o -t y p e t h re a t , th a t i s, v a r y h o w m u c h w o m e n w e r e a t r i s ko f c o n f i r m i n g t h e s t e r e o t y p e w h i l e t a k i n g t h e t e st . A t h i r de x p e r i m e n t d i d t h i s b y v a r y i n g h o w t h e t e s t ( t h e s a m ed i f f i c u l t o n e u s e d i n t h e e a r l i e r e x p e r i m e n t s ) w a s r e p r e -s e n t e d . P a r t i c ip a n t s w e r e t o l d e i t h e r t h a t t h e t e s t g e n e r a l l ys h o w e d g e n d e r d i f fe r e n c e s , im p l y i n g t h a t t h e s t e r e o t y p eo f w o m e n s l i m i ta t i o n s i n m a t h w a s r e l e v a n t to i n t e r p r e -t i n g t h e i r o w n f r u s t r a t i o n , o r t h a t i t s h o w e d n o g e n d e rd i f f e r e n c e s , i m p l y i n g t h a t th e g e n d e r s t e r e o t y p e w a s n o tr e l e v a n t t o t h e ir p e r f o r m a n c e a n d t h u s c o u l d n o t b e c o n -f i r m e d b y i t o n t h i s p a r t i c u l a r te s t . T h e n o - g e n d e r - d i f f e r -e n c e s r e p r e s e n t a t i o n d i d n o t c h a l l e n g e t h e v a l i d i t y o f t h es t e r e o t y p e ; i t s i m p l y e l i m i n a t e d t h e r i s k t h a t t h e s t e r e o -t y p e c o u l d b e f u l f i l le d o n t h i s t e s t . I n t h e g e n d e r - d i f f e r -e n c e s c o n d i t io n , w e e x p e c t e d w o m e n ( s ti ll s t e r e o t y p et h r e a t e n e d ) t o u n d e r p e r f o r m i n r e l a t i o n t o e q u a l l y q u a l i -f i e d m e n , b u t i n t h e n o - g e n d e r - d i f f e r e n c e s c o n d i t i o n , w ee x p e c t e d w o m e n ( w i t h s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t r e d u c e d ) t o p e r -f o r m e q u a l t o s u c h m e n . T h e g e n e t i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , o fc o u r s e , p r e d i c t s t h a t w o m e n w i l l u n d e r p e r f o r m o n t h i sd i f f i c u l t t e s t r e g a r d l e s s o f h o w i t is r e p r e s e n t e d .I n d r a m a t i c s u p p o r t o f o u r r e a s o n i n g , w o m e n p e r -f o r m e d w o r s e t h a n m e n w h e n t h e y w e r e t o l d t h a t th e t e s tp r o d u c e d g e n d e r d i ff e r e n c e s, w h i c h r e p l i c a t e d w o m e n s

4 Moreover,a protectiveavoidanceof identificationcan become agroup norm. In reaction to a shared sense of threat in school, forexample, it can becom e a shared reaction that is transmitted to groupmembers as the normative elation o school. Both research (e.g., Ogbu,1986; Solomon, 1992) and the m edia have documented his reaction nminority students from inner-cityhigh schools o H arvard University scampus. Th us, disidentificationcan be sustained by normativepressurefrom the in-group as w ell as by stereotype h reat in the setting.

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the thinking and information processing of stereotype-threatened test takers and whether it produc es in th em aspecific motivation to avoid being seen stereotypically.Again, Black and White participants were run in eitheran ability-diagnostic or ability-nondiagnostic condition,except that just after the condition instructions and com-pletion of the sample test items (so that participants co uldsee how difficult the items were) and just before partici-pants expected to take the test, they com pleted measuresof stereotype activation and avoidance. The stereotype-activation measure asked them to complete 80 w ord frag-ments, 10 of which we knew from pretesting could becompleted with, among other words, words sym bolic o fAfrican American stereotypes (e,g. , _ _ce [race] , la__[lazy], or _ _or [poor]) and 5 of which could be com-pleted with, among other words, words signifying self-doubts (e.g. , 1o__ _ [ loser] , du__ [dumb], or sha_ __[shame]). The measure o f participants' motivation toavoid being seen stereotypically simply asked them h owmuch they preferred various types of music, activities,sports, and personality traits, some of which a pretestsamp le had rated as stereotypic o f African Am ericans. 5If expecting to take a difficult ability-diagnostic testis enough to activate the racial stere otype in the thinkingof Black participants and to motivate them to avoid beingstereotyped, then these participants, more than those inthe other conditions, should s ho w more stereotype andself-doubt wo rd completions and fewer preferences forthings that are African American. This is precisely whathappened. Black participants in the diagnostic conditioncompleted more w or d fragments with stereotype- andself-doubt-related w or ds and had fewer preferences forthings related to African American ex perience (e.g., jazz,basketball, hip-hop) than B lack participants in the nondi-agnostic condition or White participants in either condi-

I II I I

tion, all of whom were essentially the same (see Figure4). Also, as a last item before participants expected tobegin the test, they were given the option of recordingtheir race, a measure we thought might further tap intoan apprehension about being Viewed stere0typicaUy. In-terestingly, then, all of the Blac k participants in the nondi-agnostic condition and all of the White participants inboth conditions listed their race, whereas only 25 ofthe Black participants in the diagnostic condition did so.Se lbr ei ei io n o r s e l b p r e ~ n t o ~ ? A troublingimplication o f the earlier mentioned internalization mod-els (e.g., Allport, 1954; Bettelh eim, 1943; Clark, 1965;Grier & Coobs, 1968; Erikson, 1956; Fan0n, 1952/1967;Kardiner & Ovesey, 1951) is that negative stereotypesabout one's group eventually become internalized andcause re jec t ion of one ' s own group , even of onese l f - -self-hating preferences. The famo us finding of Clark andClark (1939) that Black children preferred White dollsover Black dolls has been interpreted this way. The pref-erences of Black participants in the diagnostic conditionfit this pattern; with negative stereotypes about theirgroup cognitively activated, they valued things that wereAfrican American less than any other group. But the fullset of results suggests a different interpretation. In thoseconditions in which Black participants did not have toworry about tripping a stereotypic perception of them-selves, they valued things that were African Americanmore strongly than did other participants. Thus, ratherthan reflecting self- or own-group rejection, their devalu-ing of things that were African American in the diagnostic

s Par t ic ipants d id not actual ly take the tes t in th is exper im ent asco mp le t in g th es e meas u r es w o u ld l ik e ly h av e ac t iv a ted th e s t e r eo ty p ein al l condit ions .

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I I I I I I II

condition was apparently a strategic self-presentationaimed at cracking the stereotypic lens through which theycould be seen. So it could be, then, in the general case,rather than reflecting real self-concepts, behavior thatappears group rejecting or self-rejecting may reflect situ-ation-bound, self-presentational strategies.S t e r eo t y p e t h r e a t a n d d o m a i n i den t i f i ca t ion .Not being identified with a domain, our (C. M. Steele &Aronson, 1995) theory reasons, means that one's experi-ence of stereotype threat in the domain is less self-threat-ening. Although we have yet to complete a satisfactorytest of this prediction, partially completed experimentsand pretests show that stereotype threat has very little,if any, effect on participants not identified with the do-main of relevance. Most typically, these participants give

up and underperform on the difficult test regardless ofwhether they are under stereotype threat. Although notyet constituting a complete test of this implication of thetheory, these data do emphasize that the above resultsgeneralize only to domain-identified students.

g r o u S pn c e s t h n m tn d J t e . i n ~ o fi n s l a n d o r d i ze d t e s t p e r f e r

ma nc e. Inherent to the science of quantifying humanintelligence is the unsavory possibility of ranking societalgroups as to their aggregated intelligence. It is from thiscomer of psychology that the greatest controversy hasarisen, a controversy that has lasted throughout this cen-tury and that is less about the fact of these group differ-ences than about their interpretation (of. Hermstein &Murray, 1994; Kamin, 1974). To the set of possiblecauses for these group differences, our (C. M. Steele &Aronson, 1995) findings add a new one: the differentialimpact of stereotype threat on groups in the testing situa-tion itse lf. Thus, stereotype threat may be a possiblesource of bias in standardized tests, a bias that arises notfrom item content but from group differences in the threatthat societal stereotypes attach to test performance. Ofcourse, not every member of an ability-stereotyped groupis going to be affected by stereotype threat every timethey take a test. As our research has shown, the experi-ence of success as one takes the test can dispel the rele-vance of the stereotype. Nonetheless, among the mostidentified test takers in the stereotype-threatened groupthose in its academic vanguard who have the greatestconfidence and skills mt hi s threat can substantially de-press performance on more difficult parts of the exam.And this depression could contribute significantly to thegroup's underperformance in comparison with nonste-reotype-threatened groups. 6Re a c t io n o f D is i d e n l i f i c a t i o nStereotype threat is assumed to have an abiding effecton school achieveme nt-, an effect beyond its impairmentof immediate perf orma ncemby preventing or breakinga person's identification with school, in particular, thosedomains of schooling in which the stereotype applies.This reasoning has several implications for which empiri-cal evidence can be brought to bear: the resilience ofself-esteem to stigmatization; the relationship betweenstigmatized status and school achievement; and, amongability-stigmatized people, the relationship between theirschool performance and self-esteem.

Seif-esteem s resi l ienc e to sl igm allz at io n. Inrecent review, Croc~r and Major (1989) were able to6 Those w ho are less domain identif ied in the s tereotype-threa tenedgroup m a y a l so un de r p~ orm on s ta nda rd iz e d t e st s . Be ca use the y c a reless about the domain i t represents , they may be undermotiva ted or theymay w ithdraw effo r t in the face of f rus tra t ion. And for a l l o f the reasonsI have discussed , the grea ter port ion o f the s tereotype-threa tened groupmay be academically unidentif ied. This fac t too, then, may contr ibuteto the group 's overa l l weaker performance on these tes ts in comparisonwith nonstereotype-threa teneXt groups.

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make a strong case for the lack o f something that commonsense suggests should exist: a negative effect of stigmatiza-tion on self-esteem. Following the logic of the internaliza-tion models described above and viewing stigmatizationas, among other things, an assault to self-esteem, one mightexpect that people who are stigmatized would have lowerself-esteem than people who are not. Yet, as Crocker andMajor reported, when the self-esteem o f stigmatizedgroups (e.g., Blacks, Chicanos, the facially disfigured,obese people, etc.) is actually measured, one finds thattheir self-esteem is as high as that of the nonstigmatized.Crocker and Major (1989) offered the intriguing ar-gument that stigma itself offers esteem-protective strate-gies. For example, the stigmatized can blame their fail-ures on the prejudice of out-group members, they canlimit their self-evaluative social comparisons to the in-group o f other stigmatized people, and they can devaluethe domains in which they feel devalued. Other modelshave also described esteem-saving adaptations to stigma.For example, models that assume internalization of ste-reotype-related anxieties often posit compensatory per-sonality traits (e.g., grandiosity) that protect self-esteembut leave one poorly adapted to the mainstream (e.g.,Allport, 1954; Clark, 1965; Grief & Coobs, 1968; Kar-diner & Ovesey, 1951; S. Steele, 1990). In the presentreasoning, stigmatization stems from stereotype threatin specific domains. Thus, it adds to the list of stigmaadaptations the possibility of simple domain disidentifi-cation, the rescuing of self-esteem by rendering as self-evaluatively irrelevant the domain in which the stereotypeapplies. Herein may lie a significant source of the self-esteem resilience shown in stigmatized groups. This ideaalso implies that once domain disidentification isachieved, the pressure for adaptations of attribution andpersonality may be reduced.A u n i v e n m l c o n n e c ti o n b e fw e e n s t l g n m z a t l o nn d poo r sc hoo l a c h i e v emen t If disidentificationwith school, and the resulting underachievement, can bea reaction to ability-stigmatizing stereotypes in society,then it might be expected that ability stigmatizationwould be associated with poor school performance wher-ever it occurs in the world. Finding such a relationshipwould not definitively prove the present theory; the direc-tion of causality could be quarreled with, as could themediation of such a relationship. Still, it would be sug-gestive, and, in that respect, Ogbu (1986) reported aninteresting fact: Among the caste-like minorities in indus-trial and nonindustrial nations throughout the world (e.g.,the Maoris of New Zealand, the Baraku of Japan, theHarijans of India, the Oriental Jews of Israel, and theWest Indians of Great Britain), there exists the same15-point IQ gap between them and the nonstigmatizedmembers of their society as exists between Black andWhite Americans. These groups also suffer poorer schoolperformance, higher dropout rates, and related behaviorproblems. Moreover; these gaps appear even when thestigmatized and nonstigmatized are of the same race, asin the case of the Baraku and other Japanese. What these

groups share that is capable of explaining their deficitsis a caste-like status that, through stereotypes in theirsocieties, stigmatizes their intellectual abil ities-- sowingthe seeds, I suggest, of their school disidentification.T h e d i s as s o c i a t i o n o f s e lF e s te em a n d s c h o o l

a c h i e v em e n t . If the poor school achievement of abil-ity-stigmatized groups is mediated by disidentification,then it might be expected that among the ability stigma-tized, there would be a disassociation between schooloutcomes and overall self-esteem. Several kinds of evi-dence suggest this process among African Americans.First, there is the persistent finding that although Blackstudents underperform in relation to White students onschool outcomes from grades to standardized tests (e.g.,Demo & Parker, 1987; Simmons, Brown, Bush, & Blyth,1978; C. M. Steele, 1992), their global self-esteem is ashigh or higher than that of White students (e.g., Porter &Washington, 1979; Rosenberg, 1979; Wylie, 1979). Forboth of these facts to be true, some portion of Blackstudents must have acquired an imperviousness to poorschool performance.Several further studies suggest that this impervi-ousness is rooted in disidentification. In a study of deseg-regated schools in Champaign, Illinois, Hare and Costen-ell (1985) measured students' school achievement; over-all self-esteem; and self-esteem in the specific domainsof home life, school, and peer-group relations. Like oth-ers, they found that although Black students perfor nedless well than White students, they still had comparablelevels o f overall self-esteem. Their domain-specific mea-sures suggested why: Although Black students werelower than White students in school and home-life self-esteem, Blacks slightly exceeded Whites in peer-groupself-esteem. Here then, perhaps, was the source of theiroverall self-regard: disidentification with domains inwhich their evaluative prospects were poor (in this case,school and home life) and identi fcation with domains inwhich their prospects were better (i.e., their peers).A recent study suggests that this may be a not un-common phenomenon. Analyzing data available from theNational Educational Longitudinal Survey (NationalCenter for Educational Statistics, 1992; a nationally rep-resentative longitudinal survey begun in 1988), Osborne(1994) found that from the 8th through 10th grades,Black students had lower achievement and somewhathigher self-esteem than White students, which replicatedthe general pattern of findings described above. But morethan this, he found evidence of increasing Black s tudents'disidentification over this period: The correlation be-tween their school achievement and self-esteem for thisperiod decreased significantly more for Black than forWhite students. Also, using a scale measure of schooldisidentification, Major, Spencer; Schmadei; Wolfe, andCrocker (in press) found that Black students were moredisidentified than White students in several college sam-pies and that for disidentified students of both races,negative feedback about an intellectual task had less ef-fect on their self-esteem than it did for identified students.

June 1997 American Psychologist 623


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M a j o r e t a l . f u r th e r s h o w e d t h a t w h e n r a c i a l s t e r e o t y p e sw e r e p r i m e d , n e i t h e r n e g a t i v e n o r p o s i ti v e f e e d b a c k a f -f e c t e d B l a c k s t u d e n t s ' s e l f -e s t e e m , w h e r e a s t h e s e l f - e s-t e e m o f W h i t e s t u d e n t s f o l lo w e d th e d i r e c t i o n o f t h ef e e d b a c k . A b i l i t y s t i g m a t i z a t i o n o f th e s o r t e x p e r i e n c e db y A f r i c a n A m e r i c a n s , t h e n , c a n b e a s s o c i a t e d w i t h ap r o te c ti v e d i s c o n n e c t b e t w e e n p e r f o r m a n c e a n d s e lf -r e g a r d , a d i s c o n n e c t o f t h e s o r t t h a t i s c o n s i s t e n t w i t hd i s i den t i f i ca t i on t heo ry .C a n s t e r e o t y p e th r e a t d i r e c t l y c a u s e t h is d i s c o n n e c t ?T o t e s t th i s q u e s t io n , K i r s t e n S t o u t e m e y e r a n d I v a r i e dt h e s t r e n g t h o f s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t t h a t f e m a l e t e s t t a k e r s( S t a n f o r d s t u d e n ts ) w e r e u n d e r b y v a r y i n g w h e t h e r s o c i -e t a l d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n w o m e n a n d m e n i n m a t h p e r fo r -m a n c e w e r e a t t r ib u t e d t o s m a l l b u t s t a b l e d i f f e r e n c e s ini nna t e ab i l i t y ( sugges t i ng an i nheren t , gender -based l i mi ti n mat h ab i l i t y ) o r t o soc i a l causes such as sex - ro l e p re-s c r i p t i o n s a n d d i s c r i m i n a t i o n ( s u g g e s t i n g n o i n h e r e n t ,g e n d e r - b a s e d l i m i t i n m a t h a b i li t y) . W e t h e n m e a s u r e dt h e i r i d e n t i f i c a i o n w i t h m a t h a n d m a t h - r e l a t e d c a r e e r s ,e i t h e r b e f o r e o r a f t e r t h e y t o o k a d i f f ic u l t m a t h t e s t. R e -g a r d l e s s o f w h e n i d e n t if i c a t io n w a s m e a s u r e d , w o m e nu n d e r s t r o n g e r s t e r e o ty p e t h r e a t d i s id e n t i fi e d w i t h m a t ha n d m a t h -r e la t e d c ar e e rs m o r e t h a n w o m e n u n d e r w e a k e rs t e r e o ty p e t h r e a t . A l t h o u g h d o m a i n i d e n t i f i c a ti o n h a s s e v -e r a l d e t e r m i n a n t s , t h e s e f i n d i n g s s u g g e s t t h a t s t e r e o t y p et h r e a t i s a n i m p o r t a n t o n e o f t h e m .W i s e S c h o o l in g : P r a c tic e a n d P o li c y

A s a d i f f e r e n t d i a g n o s i s , th e p r e s e n t a n a l y s i s c o m e s t o ad i f f e r e n t p re s c r i p ti o n : T h e s c h o o l i n g o f s t e r e o t y p e - t h re a t -e n e d g r o u p s m a y b e i m p r o v e d t h r o u g h s i t u a t i o n a lc h a n g e s ( a n a l o g o u s t o t h o s e m a n i p u l a t e d i n o u r e x p e r i -m e n t s ) t h a t r e d u c e t h e s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t t h e s e s t u d e n t sm i g h t o t h e r w i s e b e u n d e r. A s n o t e d , p s y c h o l o g i c a l d ia g -n o s e s h a v e m o r e t y p i c a l l y a s c r ib e d t h e p r o b l e m s o f t h e s es t uden t s t o in t e rna l p rocesses r a ng i ng f rom genes t o i n t e r -na l i zed s t e r eo t ypes . On t he f ace o f i t , a t l eas t , i n t e rna ls t a te s a r e m o r e d i f f i c u l t t o m o d i f y h a n s i t u a ti o n a l fa c t o r s .T h u s , t h e h o p e o f t h e p r e s e n t a n a l y s i s, e n c o u r a g e d b y o u rr e s e a r c h , i s t h a t t h e s e p r o b l e m s m i g h t b e m o r e t r a c t a b l et h rou gh t he s i t ua t i ona l des i gn o f schoo l i ng , i n par ti cu l a r ,d e s i g n t h a t s e c u r e s t h e s e s t u d e n t s i n t he b e l i e f t h a t t h e yw i l l n o t b e h e l d u n d e r t h e s u s p i c i o n o f n e g a t i v e s t e re o -t y p e s a b o u t t h e i r g ro u p . S c h o o l i n g t h a t d o e s t h i s , I h a v ec a l l e d w i s e a t e r m b o r r o w e d f r o m I r v i n g G o f f m a n( 1 9 6 3 ) , w h o b o r r o w e d i t f r o m g a y m e n a n d l e s b i a n s o ft h e 1 95 0s . T h e y u s e d i t t o d e s i g n a t e h e t e r o s e x u a l s w h ou n d e r s t o o d t h e i r f u l l h u m a n i t y d e s p i t e t h e s t i g m a a t t a c h e dt o t he i r sexua l o r i en t a t i on : f ami l y and f r i ends , u sua l l y ,w h o k n e w t h e p e r s o n b e n e a t h t h e s t i g m a . S o i t m u s tbe , I a rgue , fo r t he e f f ec t i ve schoo l i ng o f s t e r eo t ype-t h r e a t e n e d g r o u p s .A l t h o u g h w i s e d o m m a y b e n e c e s s a r y f o r t h e e f -f e c t i v e s c h o o l i n g o f s u c h s t u d e n t s , i t m a y n o t a l w a y sb e s u f f ic i e n t. T h e c h i e f d i s t in c t i o n m a d e i n t h i s a n a l y s i s( b e t w e e n t h o s e o f t h e se g r o u p s w h o a r e i d e n t if i e d w i t ht h e r e le v a n t s c h o o l d o m a i n a n d t h o s e w h o a r e n o t ) r a i se s

a c a u t i o n . A s n o t e d , s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t is n o t k e e n l y f e l t b yt h o s e w h o i d e n t i f y l it tl e w i t h t h e s t e r e o t y p e - th r e a t e n i n gd o m a i n . T h u s , a l t h o u g h r e d u c i n g t h i s t h re a t i n t h e d o m a i nm a y b e n e c e s s a r y t o e n c o u r a g e t h e i r id e n t i fi c a t io n , i t m a yno t be su f f i c i en t t o bu i l d a n i den t i f i ca t i on t ha t i s no t t here .Fo r t h i s t o occu r , mo re f a r - r each i ng s t r a t eg i es t ha t deve l opt h e b u i l d i n g b l o c k s o f d o m a i n i d e n t i f ic a t i o n m a y b e r e -qu i r ed : be t t e r sk i l l s , g r ea t e r dom ai n se l f - e f f icacy , f ee l i ngso f s o c i a l a n d c u l t u r a l c o m f o r t i n t h e d o m a i n , a l a c k o fsoc i a l p ressu re t o d i s i den t i fy , and so on .B u t f o r t h e i d e n t i fi e d o f t h e se g r o u p s , w h o a r e q u i ten u m e r o u s o n c o l l e g e c a m p u s e s , t h e n e w s m a y b e b e t t e rt han i s t yp i ca l l y app rec i a t ed . Fo r t hese s t uden t s , f eas i b l ec h a n g e s i n t h e c o n d i t i o n s o f s c h o o l i n g t h a t m a k e t h r e a te n -i ng s t e r eo t ype s t ess app l i cab l e t o t he i r behav i o r ( i .e . , w i s -d o m ) m a y b e e n o u g h . T h e y a r e a l r e a d y i d e n t if i e d w i t ht h e r e l e v a n t d o m a i n , t h e y h a v e s k i l l s a n d c o n f i d e n c e i nt h e d o m a i n , a n d t h e y h a v e s u r v i v e d o t h e r b a r r ie r s t o i d e n -t if i c a ti o n . T h e i r r e m a i n i n g p r o b l e m i s s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t .R e d u c i n g t h a t p r o b l e m , t h e n , m a y b e e n o u g h t o b r i n gt h e i r p e r f o r m a n c e o n p a r w i t h t h a t o f n o n s t e r e o t y p e dp e r s o n s i n t h e d o m a i n .T h i s d i s t i n c t i o n ra i s e s a n i m p o r t a n t a n d o f t e n o v e r-l o o k e d i s s u e i n t h e d e s i g n o f s c h o o l i n g f o r s t e r e o t y p e -t h r e a t e n e d s t u d e n t s , t h a t o f t r i a g e t h e i s s u e o f r e n d e r in gon t o t he r i gh t s t uden t s t he r i gh t i n t e rven t i on . Mi s t akesc a n e a s i l y b e m a d e . F o r e x a m p l e , a p p l y i n g a s tr a t e g y t os c h o o l - id e n t i f ie d s tu d e n t s ( o n t h e b a s i s o f t h e i r m e m b e r -s h i p in a s t e r e o t y p e - th r e a t e n e d g r o u p ) t h a t a s s u m e s w e a ki den t i f i ca t i on , poo r sk i l l s , and l i t t l e con f i dence cou l db a c k f ir e . I t c o u l d i n c r e a s e s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t a n d u n d e r p e r -f o r m a n c e b y s i g n a l in g t h a t t h e i r a b i li ti e s a r e h e l d u n d e rs u s p i c i o n b e c a u s e o f t h e i r g r o u p m e m b e r s h i p . B u t t h eo p p o s i t e m i s t a k e c o u l d b e m a d e b y a p p l y i n g a s t r a t e g yt ha t assumes s t rong i den t i f i ca t i on , sk i l l s , and con f i dencet o t h o s e w h o a r e a c t u a l l y u n i d e n t i f ie d w i t h t h e r e l e v a n td o m a i n . M e r e l y r e d u c i n g s t e r e o t y p e t h r e a t m a y n o t a c -c o m p l i s h m u c h w h e n t h e m o r e p r i m a r y n e e d o f t h e s es t uden t s i s t o ga i n t he i n t e r es t s , r esou rces , sk i l l s , con f i -d e n c e s , a n d v a l u e s t h a t a r e n e e d e d t o i d e n t i f y w i t h t h ed o m a i n .S o m e w i s e s t r a te g i e s , t h e n , m a y w o r k f o r b o t h i d e n -t i f i e d a n d u n i d e n t i f i e d s t u d e n t s f r o m t h e s e g r o u p s , b u to t h e rs m a y h a v e t o b e a p p r o p r i a t e ly t a r g e t e d t o b e e f f e c -t iv e . I o f f e r s o m e e x a m p l e s o f b o t h t y p e s .F o r b o t h d o m a i n - i d e n t if i e d a n d d o m

2_5_steele_a threat in the air

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