What do I need to know about stereotype threat?

Dear Aggie,

I was in a workshop the other day, and someone mentioned stereotype threat. I didn't want to admit that I only have a vague idea of what that is. Can you please give me a quick primer, and how it might apply to my teaching?

~Always Learning

Dear Always,

I am so glad you asked! Stereotype threat definitely merits our attention because it can have a negative impact on student performance. When we try to mitigate stereotype threat, we contribute to an environment in which all our students can be successful.

What is stereotype threat?

Stereotype threat is a term first described by Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson in 1995. It refers to the risk that people who are members of racial, gender, ethnic or cultural groups that are negatively stereotyped will perform poorly because of the stress associated with possibly confirming that negative stereotype. For example, older people, stereotyped as being forgetful, or women, stereotyped as being poor at math.

In the most succinct definition, stereotype threat "refers to being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group."

How is stereotype threat relevant to teaching and learning?

When students identify as a member of a group that is not good at (your discipline) or doesn't belong in (your discipline), they may be spending precious cognitive resources worrying about whether they belong in your class, or worrying about confirming the negative stereotype associated with their identity. This takes cognitive resources away from learning, which can negatively impact their performance.

What can we do to mitigate it?

(adapted from University of Michigan)

In general, creating a sense of belonging for all students will help mitigate the effects of stereotype threat.

Specific steps that we can take include:

• providing examples of underrepresented individuals who are successful in our fields.
• letting students know that you have high expectations for everyone in the class, and then providing resources and scaffolds for them to be successful.
• reminding students that academic success is the result of hard work and effort (and not just that some people are "just smart", or "just get it"). See the March 9, 2023 Dear Aggie post on growth mindset.
• letting students know that it is OK (and normal) to struggle with the course material, and providing resources for them to meet the challenges presented by the course material.
• facilitating self-affirmation or values-affirmation activities. Even short writing exercises in which students identify important personal values have been shown to mitigate stereotype threat (see e.g. Miyake et al., 2010).

I hope this helps you feel a little more knowledgeable about stereotype threat and provides you with some resources that you can use in your teaching.

~Aggie

Resources

Miyake et al. 2010. Reducing the gender achievement gap in college science: a classroom study of values affirmation. Science 330: 1234-1237.  DOI: 10.1126/science.1195996

Steele and Aronson, 1995 at Stereotypethreat.org

Stereotype Threat at https://www.reducingstereotypethreat.org/home (accessed 3/5/23)

Stereotype Threat at the University of Michigan
https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/inclusive-teaching/stereotype-threat/ (accessed 3/5/23)

Stereotype Threat Resource Guide. University of Michigan (PDF)
https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/inclusive-teaching/wp-content/uploads/sites/853/2021/12/Stereotype-Threat.pdf (accessed 3/5/23)