EXTENDING THE CONCEPT OF STEREOTYPE THREAT TO SOCIAL-CLASS - THE INTELLECTUAL UNDERPERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS FROM LOW SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS

Students from poorer families perform worse on intellectual tasks than do other students. The authors tested the stereotype threat hypothesi s as a possible explanation for this difference. Students from relativ ely pow backgrounds, such as members of other stereotyped groups, risk confirming a negative reputation of low intellectual ability. The aut hors predicted that, on a stereotype-relevant test, members of this gr oup would experience apprehension about confirming their negative repu tation and that this susceptibility to the stereotype would impair the ir performance. The study varied stereotype threat by manipulating the instructions accompanying the test that each participant completed. W hen described as a measure of intellectual ability, low socioeconomic status (SES) participants performed worse than high SES participants. However when the test was presented as nondiagnostic of intellectual a bility, low SES participant's performances did not suffer contesting c laims of SES differences in intellectual ability.