Knowing Is Half the Battle

Michael Andrew Johns, Toni Schmader, Andy Martens

2005-02-22articlePsychological Science552 citationsgreen

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Social and Intergroup Psychology Education, Achievement, and Giftedness Career Development and Diversity

Abstract

We tested whether informing women about stereotype threat is a useful intervention to improve their performance in a threatening testing situation. Men and women completed difficult math problems described either as a problem-solving task or as a math test. In a third (teaching-intervention) condition, the test was also described as a math test, but participants were additionally informed that stereotype threat could interfere with women's math performance. Results showed that women performed worse than men when the problems were described as a math test (and stereotype threat was not discussed), but did not differ from men in the problem-solving condition or in the condition in which they learned about stereotype threat. For women, attributing anxiety to gender stereotypes was associated with lower performance in the math-test condition but improved performance in the teaching-intervention condition. The results suggest that teaching about stereotype threat might offer a practical means of reducing its detrimental effects.

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2006Stereotype threat in classroom settings: The interactive effect of domain identification, task difficulty and stereotype threat on female students' maths performance

2012Can Stereotype Threat Explain the Gender Gap in Mathematics Performance and Achievement?

2009Choking vs. Clutch Performance: A Study of Sport Performance under Pressure

2013Mathematics anxiety and stereotype threat: shared mechanisms, negative consequences and promising interventions

2021Instructor Strategies to Alleviate Stress and Anxiety among College and University STEM Students