When white men can't do math: Necessary and sufficient factors in stereotype threat

Research on "stereotype threat" (Aronson, Quinn, & Spencer, 1998; Steele, 1 997; Steele & Aronson, 1995) suggests that the social stigma of intellectua l inferiority borne by certain cultural minorities can undermine the standa rdized test performance and school outcomes of members of these groups. Thi s research tested two assumptions about the necessary conditions for stereo type threat to impair intellectual test performance. First, we tested the h ypothesis that to interfere with performance, stereotype threat requires ne ither a history of stigmatization nor internalized feelings of intellectual inferiority, but can arise and become disruptive as a result of situationa l pressures alone. Two experiments tested this notion with participants for whom no stereotype of low ability exists in the domain we tested and who, in fact, were selected for high ability in that domain (math-proficient whi te males). In Study 1 we induced stereotype threat by invoking a comparison with a minority group stereotyped to excel at math (Asians). As predicted, these stereotype-threatened white males performed worse on a difficult mat h test than a nonstereotype-threatened control group. Study 2 replicated th is effect and further tested the assumption that stereotype threat is in pa n mediated by domain identification and, therefore, most likely to undermin e the performances of individuals who are highly identified with the domain being tested. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the development of Stereotype threat theory as well as for standardized te sting. (C) 1999 Academic Press.