Obama and Stereotype Threat Posted on: January 26, 2009 9:39 AM, by Jonah Lehrer
The NY Times reports on a fascinating new study showing that Obama's election has improved the test scores of African Americans, at least in this one very small study which has yet to undergo peer-review:
Quote:
Now researchers have documented what they call an Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administered before Mr. Obama's nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election.
The inspiring role model that Mr. Obama projected helped blacks overcome anxieties about racial stereotypes that had been shown, in earlier research, to lower the test-taking proficiency of African-Americans, the researchers conclude in a report summarizing their results.
"Obama is obviously inspirational, but we wondered whether he would contribute to an improvement in something as important as black test-taking," said Ray Friedman, a management professor at Vanderbilt University, one of the study's three authors. "We were skeptical that we would find any effect, but our results surprised us."
Claude Steele, a professor of psychology at Stanford, has pioneered the study of this psychological effect, which is known as stereotype threat. (I talk about stereotype threat in my book in the context of explaining why athletes choke under pressure.) When Steele gave a large group of Stanford sophomores a set of questions from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), and told the students that it would measure their innate intellectual ability, he found that the white students performed significantly better than their black counterparts. This discrepancy⎯commonly known as the achievement gap⎯conformed to a large body of data showing that minority students tend to score lower on a wide variety of standardized tests, from the SAT to the IQ test.
However, when Steele gave a separate group of students the same test but stressed that it was not a measure of intelligence⎯he told them it was merely a preparatory drill⎯the scores of the white and black students were virtually identical. The achievement gap had largely been closed. According to Steele, the disparity in test scores was caused by an effect that he calls "stereotype threat". When black students are told that they are taking a test to measure their intelligence, it brings to mind, rather forcefully, the ugly and untrue stereotype that blacks are less intelligent than whites. (Steele conducted his experiments soon after The Bell Curve was published. But the same effect also exists when women take a math test that supposedly measures "cognitive differences between the genders," or when white males are exposed to a stereotype about the academic superiority of Asians.) The Stanford sophomores were so worried about being viewed through the lens of a negative stereotype that they performed far below their abilities.
If this study is replicated - and that's a big if - it would be tangible proof of this historic moment, evidence that change has filtered all the way down from the White House to the individual mind.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:51 am Posts: 43609 Location: My city smells like Cheerios Gender: Male
what a difference makes when you can no longer say that black people are being kept down after a black president is elected. I guess it kinda shows that the Pygmalion effect is taking place.
_________________ "No matter how hard you kill Jesus, he would always just come back and hit you twice as hard."
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
The Radio Lab podcast has a bit where they have black and white golfers putt. When they tell them it's a test of golfing intelligence, the white golfers outperform the black by 4 strokes. When they tell them it's a test of natural ability, the black golfers outperform the white by 4 strokes.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:51 am Posts: 43609 Location: My city smells like Cheerios Gender: Male
If you expect to do well, you will do better than if you expect to not do as well. Pretty basic stuff. It works with men vs. women things like math testing. Sadly, people get it in their minds that they are inferior to other people and it could hinder their achievements. I know its true that blacks have had to deal with a lot of oppression in the past and to some extent today, but it might be better served if they weren't taught that they are seen as inferior and have to fight against those above them and rather that they have the potential to be the smartest people and are on the same level as everyone else (not on the bottom fighting their way up).
_________________ "No matter how hard you kill Jesus, he would always just come back and hit you twice as hard."
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
The theory put forth in the podcast was that even if you thought you would do well and don't believe stereotypes, they can distract you enough that it messes up your performance.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:51 am Posts: 43609 Location: My city smells like Cheerios Gender: Male
B wrote:
The theory put forth in the podcast was that even if you thought you would do well and don't believe stereotypes, they can distract you enough that it messes up your performance.
so its the Pygmalion effect: you act according to the way people expect you to act.
_________________ "No matter how hard you kill Jesus, he would always just come back and hit you twice as hard."
The theory put forth in the podcast was that even if you thought you would do well and don't believe stereotypes, they can distract you enough that it messes up your performance.
so its the Pygmalion effect: you act according to the way people expect you to act.
no it's not. it's more a case of obama being all godlike and such
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:51 am Posts: 43609 Location: My city smells like Cheerios Gender: Male
rafa_garcia18 wrote:
mecca2687 wrote:
B wrote:
The theory put forth in the podcast was that even if you thought you would do well and don't believe stereotypes, they can distract you enough that it messes up your performance.
so its the Pygmalion effect: you act according to the way people expect you to act.
no it's not. it's more a case of obama being all godlike and such
he was talking about golf because it was a comment about the podcast, not the OP
_________________ "No matter how hard you kill Jesus, he would always just come back and hit you twice as hard."
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 12:10 am Posts: 10993 Gender: Male
Lysander wrote:
Alex wrote:
^ This guy's a sucker for liberty!
Indeed. Giving benefit to one over another merely by race is hardly liberty.
I love the sound of the word "liberty."
The way it rolls off the tongue, especially when spoken by fervent supporters of said word. It's almost tangible... the feel, the smell, the taste of the word. It's so evocative, so authoritative, so... dare I say, sexy. I don't know about you, but it's one of my favorite words to say. Sometimes I shout "LIBERTY" indiscriminately while I masturbate or stroke gold bars in my fortified compound surrounded by electric fences and emaciated Nicaraguan landscapers.
If you do not feed them, they will not reproduce your illegitimate offspring quite so well. You obviously have very little understanding of how to run a private republic.
Sometimes I shout "LIBERTY" indiscriminately while I masturbate or stroke gold bars in my fortified compound surrounded by electric fences and emaciated Nicaraguan landscapers.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
£ wrote:
B wrote:
Turns out, Obama being President has made black people smarter.
Not quite as monumental as the Clinton Effect helping middle aged men score with fat chicks.
Pfffft, what middle aged man CAN'T score with fat chicks.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Indeed. Giving benefit to one over another merely by race is hardly liberty.
I love the sound of the word "liberty."
The way it rolls off the tongue, especially when spoken by fervent supporters of said word. It's almost tangible... the feel, the smell, the taste of the word. It's so evocative, so authoritative, so... dare I say, sexy. I don't know about you, but it's one of my favorite words to say. Sometimes I shout "LIBERTY" indiscriminately while I masturbate or stroke gold bars in my fortified compound surrounded by electric fences and emaciated Nicaraguan landscapers.
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