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Key points
- Stereotype threat theory understands human behavior through the influences of the social settings.
- Members of marginalized groups are often stereotyped as being inadequate at certain tasks.
- Simultaneously performing the task and trying to disprove the stereotype leads to an “extra cognitive load.”
- This mental burden often impairs the individual’s performance and learning.
Stereotype threat theory provides a novel mechanism through which the performance of stigmatized groups can be impaired. The fundamental principle of stereotype threat theory is that groups of people who have been historically associated with negative stereotypes underperform in social spaces in which the negative stereotype is evoked. Researchers Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson formulated stereotype threat theory in 1995 and it has been corroborated in many other studies since.
Here's how it works: When people perform a task for which their social group has been stereotyped as inadequate, they will have to simultaneously perform two mental activities. First, they must focus on the task at hand; second, they must focus on disconfirming the negative stereotype. This creates an “extra cognitive load” that often impairs the individual’s performance and learning.
Where Stereotype Theory Plays Out
Social psychologists strive to understand human behaviors not through the dispositions or practices of the individual but through the social conditions in which behaviors unfold. To understand how negative stereotypes can impair the performance of stigmatized groups of people, studies have examined, among many areas of research, women’s performance in math classes.
Women have historically been stereotyped as inherently lacking the mental aptitude to excel in mathematical disciplines. Whenever women perform math problems in the presence of men, then, that negative stereotype might be activated. The performance of these women in such conditions has been found in some studies to be impaired; stereotype theory posits that this impairment is not attributable to a woman’s inherent weak math ability but to the social conditions in which the math exercise was undertaken.
In Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do, Steele (2011) discussed studies of white students enrolling in African American history classes. White students are often stereotyped as lacking adequate knowledge about the history of Black people in the United States. When white students participated in a class on Black history, then, their performances might be impaired due to the stereotype that white students are not competent in the subject matter. Steele found that this limited their participation in the class and, as a consequence, their learning process.
Stereotype threat theory in the context of K-12 education can apply to both white teachers and to Black students, to name just two examples. Many white novice teachers, according to stereotypes held by some members of society, are neither comfortable with nor prepared to explicitly discuss race with Black students. More specifically, stereotype threat theory focuses on the cognitive attention of white teachers as they approach conversations about race with Black students. It explains how the social setting under which a discussion of race takes place (i.e., a diverse classroom setting) may compromise the performance of white teachers.
The mechanics through which the performances of white teachers are compromised may appear counterintuitive at first. On the surface, the white teacher holds the power, both in the role of teacher and as a member of a white racial group. However, the negative stereotype that the white teacher is inherently racist or uncomfortable with race creates an “extra cognitive load” that demands attention from the individual. As a result, the attention of the individual may be diverted and hijacked by an added pressure to disconfirm the said negative stereotype.
Stereotype threat theory aligns with Howard Stevenson’s work on racial stress. He argues that engaging in racial discourse is a competence and when someone experiences stress—which, for white people, typically manifests as the fear of being considered racist—they assess themselves as having low efficacy in that competence.
Whether the stereotype is factually correct or incorrect is not pertinent to stereotype threat theory; what matters is that the stereotype is upheld by people as a “threat” looming in the air. When novice white teachers lead discussions about race, then, their cognitive attention may be hijacked by the pressure to disconfirm negative stereotypes, that is, by causing an “extra cognitive load” in which the mental attention of the person is compromised.
As I noted earlier, stereotype threat can apply to both teachers and students. Students who have been historically marginalized may, as a result, struggle with an extra cognitive load that impairs their performance.
Stereotype threat theory has been corroborated in different settings—with white students, who are not traditionally seen as a marginalized group; with women in math and science; with older people doing memory-related tasks; and with white people in sports predominated by people of color—as well as in many countries. Steele (2010) even argues that stereotype threat is a universal predicament that all humans, under certain social and cultural circumstances, may experience, because individual behaviors are always mediated by the social conditions in which they occur.
Conclusion
Stereotype threat theory provides a window to understanding human achievement in many domains, namely through the analysis of how our identities either promote or hinder our performance. Whether it is women taking math classes, white students taking African American history classes, or Black students in predominantly white institutions—all of them may be faced with an extra cognitive load that could hinder their performance. Being aware of this social dynamic is the first step to recognizing that individual problems have social causes that cannot be ignored.
