Picture of author.
5+ Works 819 Membros 30 Críticas

About the Author

Image credit: "Claude Steele - TeachAIDS Interview" from the Flickr account of the TeachAIDS organization.

Obras por Claude M. Steele

Associated Works

Doing Race: 21 Essays for the 21st Century (2010) — Contribuidor — 40 exemplares
Foundations of Critical Race Theory in Education (2009) — Contribuidor — 25 exemplares
Confronting Racism: The Problem and the Response (1998) — Contribuidor — 10 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Membros

Críticas

So many interesting studies and perspectives in here! I did find my attention wandering on occasion but that has more to do with me.
 
Assinalado
Fatula | 27 outras críticas | Sep 25, 2023 |
This book defines stereotype threat and discusses the evidence that stereotype threat causes measurable differences in outcomes for those subject to negative stereotypes. It also discusses evidence that indicates that stereotype threat can be quite situational.

Steele starts with the discussion of identity contingencies. Identity contingencies are "the things you have to deal with in a situation because you have a given social identity." We are all subject to contingencies ("If you don't do your homework, you can't go out."). However, identity contingencies differ from other contingencies in that they are based on who you appear to be, implicit, and generally outside of your control ("If you are a woman, then you are probably bad at math.").

Steele argues that identity contingencies are negative. I tend to disagree -- for example, there are identity contingencies that associate masculinity with bravery. While these can be negative in so far as they imply that women may lack in bravery, the contingency itself is positive for the stereotyped group -- men, in this case. However, where Steele and I agree is that it is the negative contingencies that lead to stereotype threat.

Stereotype threat is the idea that a negative identity contingency causes people to perform worse on tasks when the stereotype is salient. And, as many studies in different settings show, evoking stereotypes leads to worse performance for the stereotyped group. Throughout the book, Steele relates enough studies using different methodologies in different domains that, even given the reproducibility crisis in experimental psychology, it seems fair to conclude that something is going on.

How does stereotype threat work? In Steele's model, lower performance isn't caused by personal factors (such as having internalized the negative stereotype). Rather, it's because of environmental factors. The mechanism by which stereotype threat impairs performance is that it induces anxiety which occupies the working memory with scanning for threats. That reduction of working memory leads, in turn, to reduced performance. This seems to happen even when people are not consciously aware of the anxiety caused by the stereotype threat.

Stereotype threat appears to be triggered by cues in the environment that evoke the stereotype. These cues need not be overt like hate speech or racism. Instead, they can take the form of indications that only a particular type of person belongs there or that particular types of people do not. They are indicators, not absolutes. If the cues point often enough in an unsettling direction, stereotype threat is likely to ensue. Some examples of cues that reduce stereotype threat include a critical mass of people with your identity, powerful people with your identity, how a setting is organized by identity (e.g. how friendships are grouped), signals of inclusiveness, and presence/absence of explicit prejudice.

There's a caveat to all of this. Stereotype threat does not explain the whole performance gap between groups. Rather, stereotype threat seems to be an effective way to explain performance differences between individuals who are motivated to succeed relative to those outside the stereotyped group who have the same overall skill and preparedness level.

Can stereotype threat be overcome? There are encouraging, although as of yet sparse, indications that it can. Various research teams have tested interventions to reduce stereotype threat. These fall into two broad categories. One category works to reduce the environmental cues that trigger identity threat. Another category works to increase the salience of an individual's personal identity so that it dominates over the stereotyped identity (e.g. by having folks right about values they think will be applicable in a particular class or emphasizing the importance of a growth mindset or having students from different groups talk about their shared problems to emphasize that identity isn't the cause).

Perhaps the most important thing that I took away from this book is that interventions may backfire if they evoke identity without providing visible evidence that people are valued and able to succeed. Without that evidence, such interventions merely make identity more salient without overcoming the contingency associated with the identity. To pull from a personal example, there's an important difference between hearing someone say "This class has a record number of women, one-third" and actually looking around and seeing other women succeed there. Sometimes, the line between these two outcomes is blurry, so it's important to proceed thoughtfully when working to counteract stereotype threat.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
eri_kars | 27 outras críticas | Jul 10, 2022 |
WSU Tech staff who participated in the Spring '22 professional development DEI book club read Whistling Vivaldi and held weekly discussions. I think we all took ideas from the book that ranged from recognizing our own personal experiences to coming away with ideas to minimize stereotype threat as we work with students and colleagues.

Whistling Vivaldi is an easy, approachable read. If you've been unsure about diving into the literature surrounding race in the United States, this would be a great place to start.… (mais)
 
Assinalado
IVLeafClover | 27 outras críticas | Jun 21, 2022 |
Steele describes years' worth of work with many research partners on the topic of what they call "stereotype threat": that when people are at risk of confirming a negative stereotype about their group, the stress of that negatively interferes with their performance. What can be done to alleviate this? Sometimes, reminders of positive role models who broke the stereotype help; a good working relationship with a respectful mentor with high expectations; and/or a critical mass of minorities in a setting.

Quotes/notes

We had to compare a group's intellectual performance when its members were stigmatized with their intellectual performance when they were not stigmatized. (30)

Analogy is often the best route to empathetic insight. (60)

The reality of stereotype threat also made the point that places like classrooms, university campuses, standardized-testing rooms...though seemingly the same for everybody, are, in fact, different places for different people. (60)

importance of social identity and the contingencies that go with them (61)

Identity threat is diffuse....A diffuse threat is preoccupying. (71)

"People often see themselves in terms of whichever one of their allegiances [identities] is most under attack." (Amin Maalouf, In the Name of Identity, 72)

Why do we discriminate so easily? ...the need for self-esteem [drives] in-group favoritism. (78)

...the person must care about the performance in question. That's what makes the prospect of confirming the negative stereotype upsetting enough to interfere with that performance. (98)

Disproving a stereotype is a Sisyphean task; something you have to do over and over again as long as you are in the domain where the stereotype applies. (111)

experiments on stereotype threat's physiological effects (132)

A central hope of our research is that identity-integrated settings can be made identity-safe for all students. (footnote, 171)

Prejudice between groups is still a major cause of group segregation throughout the world. [Teaching people to have learning goals when interacting with people from other groups] ...mistakes become just mistakes, not signs of immutable racism. (208)

A central policy implication of the research discussed here is that unless you make people feel safe from the risk of these identity predicaments in identity-integrated settings, you won't succeed in reducing group achievement gaps or enabling people from different backgrounds to work comfortably and well together. (215)
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
JennyArch | 27 outras críticas | Sep 26, 2021 |

Listas

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Asa Grant Hilliard Contributor
Gün Semin Contributor
Eugene Borgida Contributor
Brenda Major Contributor
Audrey J. Murrell Contributor
Myron Rothbart Contributor
Luciano Arcuri Contributor
Lorella Lepore Contributor
Andrew J. Elliott Contributor
R. Glen Hass Contributor
Patricia G. Devine Contributor
Valerie J. Stefan Contributor
Robert K. Gifford Contributor
Daniela Salvi Contributor
Carl O. Word Contributor
Carol T. Miller Contributor
Diane Felicio Contributor
Lisa M. Stallworth Contributor
Margo J. Monteith Contributor
Julia R. Zuwerink Contributor
Madeline Heilman Contributor
Kristin Voelkl Contributor
Jeffrey A. Mann Contributor
Marina Pomare Contributor
Paget H. Gross Contributor
Gordon W. Allport Contributor
Felicia Pratto Contributor
Bernd Simon Contributor
Rupert Brown Contributor
Joel Cooper Contributor
John M. Darley Contributor
Kay Deaux Contributor
Alice H. Eagly Contributor
Steven Fein Contributor
Susan T. Fiske Contributor
Joseph P. Forgas Contributor
Samuel L. Gaertner Contributor
Miles Hewstone Contributor
Esther D. Rothblum Contributor
Jim Sidanius Contributor
Bertram F. Malle Contributor
Maria Testa Contributor
John F. Dovidio Contributor
Mark P. Zanna Contributor
Donald N. Bersoff Contributor
Jennifer Crocker Contributor
Mark Schaller Contributor
Henri Tajfel Contributor
Anne Maass Contributor
Steven J. Spencer Contributor
Oliver P. John Contributor
David L. Hamilton Contributor
Joshua Aronson Contributor
irwin katz Contributor

Estatísticas

Obras
5
Also by
3
Membros
819
Popularidade
#31,142
Avaliação
3.8
Críticas
30
ISBN
7

Tabelas & Gráficos