Stereotype Threat

Lela Strong

The concept of stereotype threat was originally proposed by Claude M. Steele and Joshua A. Aronson in 1995. It is the risk that an individual will confirm a widely known, negative stereotype about his or her group when placed in a situation in which that stereotype is made salient. Concern about making an unfavorable stereotype believable to others outside one's group or to oneself can cause individuals to exhibit decreased performance in these situations. Stereotype threat was initially offered as an explanation for the performance gap between African Americans and European Americans on tests of cognitive abilities such as the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), GRE (Graduate Record Examination), and LSAT (Law School Admission Test). The difference in mean score of European Americans on tests of cognitive abilities has been reported to be as much as one standard deviation higher than that of African Americans. The size of this difference varies ...

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