The proposed research investigates the psychological and intergroup effects of stereotype threat, toward the broader goals of encouraging positive evaluations of self and others, reducing anxiety in intergroup contexts, and promoting positive expectations for cross-group collaborations among members of stereotyped and non-stereotyped groups. Stereotype threat research has traditionally focused on individual performance outcomes (e.g., Steele & Aronson, 1995; Steele, Spencer, & Aronson, 2002), but conditions of stereotype threat may also have profound effects on how group members perceive and evaluate themselves and each other, and how they feel about working with members of the other group. Such extensions of stereotype threat research are especially important to consider, given the difficulties group members often face when relating to each other as educational and organizational contexts become increasingly diverse (Crocker, Major, & Steele, 1998; Brewer, Von Hippel, & Gooden, 1999). Three experimental studies will explore these issues in the context of gender relations, where men and women will be asked to collaborate in the gender-stereotyped domain of mathematics (see Eccles & Jacobs, 1986; Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999). The first study will examine how stereotyped and non-stereotyped group members' emotional states, evaluations of their own and others' abilities, and expectations for crossgroup collaborations are affected by conditions of stereotype threat. A second study will investigate whether conditions of stereotype threat promote different patterns of verbal and non-verbal behavior among members of stereotyped and non-stereotyped groups, as such behavior can often reveal underlying beliefs regarding group status and relative ability (see Carli & Eagly, 1999; Henley, 1977; LaFrance & Mayo, 1978); verbal and nonverbal behaviors will then be examined in relation to group members' self-reported responses, to assess how emerging patterns of behavior contribute to group members' evaluations of their own abilities, their beliefs about how they are perceived, and their feelings toward future cross-group interactions. The third study tests different strategies for implementing equal status between the groups during such collaborations, in order to mitigate the deleterious effects of stereotype threat on self- and intergroup perceptions and evaluations among members of both groups. Future research will extend this work by replicating observed patterns of findings in other intergroup contexts, and by examining how the beliefs that group members bring to cross-group collaborations may moderate their responses to conditions of stereotype threat. ? ? ?
| Frey, Frances E; Tropp, Linda R (2006) Being seen as individuals versus as group members: extending research on metaperception to intergroup contexts. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 10:265-80 |
