A wealth of research has shown that group stereotypes can have devastating effects on how people perceive and behave in their social environments. Over the past fifteen years, some of the most extensively studied questions in this domain have focused on how negative group stereotypes can influence a person's performance on tasks that involve intellectual abilities. Research on these influences, collectively known as stereotype threat, has shown that women and minorities may perform more poorly when they are made aware of culturally shared, negative stereotypes prior to performing an academic task. While hundreds of studies have examined many factors related to these effects, no research to date has identified the potential ramifications of stereotype awareness that happens only after, rather than before, a person has finished performing.
This project will examine how post-performance stereotype activation can increase the certainty that people have in negative perceptions about their own intellectual performance. This elevated certainty, triggered by stereotypes, is important because it should carry a number of adverse consequences. In essence, when a person becomes more certain that their performance on a task was poor, this should have the potential to decrease beliefs in their abilities, alter academic and career interests, and inhibit future achievement in relevant domains. This project aims to develop a broad understanding of these "stereotype validation" effects within the context of female and minority performance on standardized tests.
The twelve proposed experiments represent a programmatic, theoretically driven approach to investigating potential susceptibility factors, downstream repercussions, and intervention strategies that may reduce this bias. Beyond developments within psychological research, this project should also inform scholarship in other disciplines (e.g., education and business) and has the potential to shape common practices in applied contexts (e.g., standardized testing and employee selection). In addition, the research findings should advance our understanding of the psychological factors that may affect female and minority engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
The undergraduate and graduate student members of the research teams will be afforded many educational opportunities. Through active engagement, these students will acquire valuable skills in the preparation, conduct, and communication of scientific research. Furthermore, the universities where this research will be conducted are racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse. At the University of Iowa, the student body is comprised of individuals from nearly 100 countries. Howard University is a Historically Black University where more than 90% of graduates identify themselves as members of racial or ethnic groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines. Therefore, a high level of diversity should be reflected in the research teams and also among the individuals who will serve as participants in the studies.
