Hi everyone,
Happy New Year! Sorry for the disappearance (yeah right, as if people are on the edge of their seat waiting to read this). I’ve been dealing with a lot of health issues and PhD applications. The health struggles are on-going, but now that the applications are in, I have a bit more time to write again!
Last time, I talked about cultural discontinuity; or how when marginalized people don’t feel represented or respected in educational contexts, they disengage. Today I want to talk about stereotype threat and pride practices.
Theory 2: Stereotype Threat
Cultural discontinuity is not the only cause of minority student disengagement. Part of it comes from the disproportionate belief held by African American students that their teachers are not invested in their academic performance (Thompson, 2008). This belief is not unfounded! Teachers in both majority white and majority minority schools hold disproportionately low expectations for minority students (see: Thompson, Warren, & Carter, 2004; Landsman, 2004; Oakes, 1999). Black students – and especially Black male students – in academic contexts are viewed as incapable and unintelligent at worst, or disadvantaged and likely to struggle and fail at best.
Being aware of these stereotypes can result in stereotype threat, which occurs when a negative stereotype about a certain group activates performance concerns in a member of that group, which undermines their task performance (Steele & Aronson, 1995; Spencer, Logel, & Davies, 2016). Under stereotype threat, people are motivated to disconfirm the stereotype, increasing the pressure to succeed (Kray et al., 2002, 2004; Nussbaum & Steele, 2007; Vandello et al., 2008). In trying to be deliberate and disconfirm any negative stereotypes, people do things consciously that they would otherwise perform automatically. This depletes working memory, or the amount of ‘space’ in your head available to focus and do tasks (Schmader et al., 2008; Schmader 2010; Beilock et al., 2006). In this way, stereotype threat can contribute to poorer academic performance, and ultimately, have been shown to contribute to disparities in educational outcomes for members of different racial groups (Gopaul-McNichol, 1988; Sleeter, 2016).
Theory 3: Pride Practices
Obviously, if we got rid of stereotypes, stereotype threat wouldn’t happen. But unfortunately, that is not immediately possible. So, what else can we do? Studies have found that creating self-affirmation in the targets of stereotype threat—the recognition of one’s value and contributions—has been shown to reduce the effects of stereotype threat and improve performance (Frantz et al., 2004; Martens et al., 2006; Schimel et al., 2004). Specifically, self-affirmation is effective at restoring self-integrity, or the stable internal concepts through which people explain themselves (see Steele, 1988).
Can collective self-affirmation processes yield similar results in people? That is, if students are exposed to community-based affirmations in their environment, would they experience positive psychological and emotional outcomes? Brannon & Lin (2020) investigated the benefits of these racially-affirming processes on the social, emotional, and academic outcomes of college students over several years of study. They examined academic interventions they call pride practices, which are actions or programs that affirm or positively depict the identities of marginalized communities. Examples of pride practices include affinity groups or racially inclusive literature classes.
Pride practices were found to promote in-group closeness, which is positively associated with a sense of institutional belonging and inclusion (Brannon & Lin, 2020). This process is thought to occur through the facilitation of identity safety, working to alleviate concerns tied to a negatively stereotyped identity in a specific setting (Markus, Steele & Steele, 2000). In-group closeness that resulted from pride practices enacted on students in their sophomore year was found to be positively correlated with higher GPA and 4-year graduation rates in students (Brannon & Lin, 2020).
Summary and Conclusion
Systems of bigotry and white supremacy are well apparent in our educational system. Marginalized students can recognize these stereotypes and respond accordingly. With blacademics, I hope to provide students with the tools and affirmations they need to understand their experiences and navigate through them.
Works Referenced (in alphabetical order)
Beilock, S. L., Jellison, W. A., Rydell, R. J., McConnell, A. R., & Carr, T. H. (2006). On the causal mechanisms of stereotype threat: can skills that don’t rely heavily on working memory still be threatened?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(8), 1059-1071.
Brannon, T. N., & Lin, A. (2020). “Pride and prejudice” pathways to belonging: Implications for inclusive diversity practices within mainstream institutions. American Psychologist.
Frantz, C. M., Cuddy, A. J., Burnett, M., Ray, H., & Hart, A. (2004). A threat in the computer: The race implicit association test as a stereotype threat experience. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(12), 1611-1624.
Gopaul-Mc. Nicol, S. A. (1988). Racial identification and racial preference of Black preschool children in New York and Trinidad. Journal of Black Psychology, 14(2), 65-68.
Kray, L. J., Reb, J., Galinsky, A. D., & Thompson, L. (2004). Stereotype reactance at the bargaining table: The effect of stereotype activation and power on claiming and creating value. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(4), 399-411.
Markus, H. R., Steele, C. M., & Steele, D. M. (2000). Colorblindness as a barrier to inclusion: Assimilation and nonimmigrant minorities. Daedalus, 129(4), 233-259.
Martens, A., Johns, M., Greenberg, J., & Schimel, J. (2006). Combating stereotype threat: The effect of self-affirmation on women’s intellectual performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42(2), 236-243.
Nussbaum, A. D., & Steele, C. M. (2007). Situational disengagement and persistence in the face of adversity. Journal of experimental social psychology, 43(1), 127-134.
Landsman, J. (2004). Confronting the racism of low expectations. Educational Leadership, 62, 28-33.
Oakes, J. (1999). Limiting students’ school success and life chances: The impact of tracking. Contemporary issues in curriculum, 224-237.
Schimel, J., Arndt, J., Banko, K. M., & Cook, A. (2004). Not all self-affirmations were created equal: The cognitive and social benefits of affirming the intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) self. Social Cognition, 22(1: Special issue), 75-99.
Schmader, T., Johns, M., & Forbes, C. (2008). An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance. Psychological review, 115(2), 336.
Schmader, T. (2010). Stereotype threat deconstructed. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(1), 14-18.
Sleeter, C. (2016). Wrestling with problematics of whiteness in teacher education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29(8), 1065-1068.
Spencer, S. J., Logel, C., & Davies, P. G. (2016). Stereotype threat. Annual review of psychology, 67, 415-437.
Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of personality and social psychology, 69(5), 797.
Thompson, G. (2008). Beneath the apathy. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 50-54.
Thompson, G. L., Warren, S., & Carter, L. (2004). It’s not my fault: Predicting high school teachers who blame parents and students for students’ low achievement. The High School Journal, 87(3), 5-14.
Vandello, J. A., Bosson, J. K., Cohen, D., Burnaford, R. M., & Weaver, J. R. (2008). Precarious manhood. Journal of personality and social psychology, 95(6), 1325.