How to avoid the stereotype threat trap

Being fair means treating everyone according to the same principles of justice and impartiality, according to what is due to them. But alas, certain clichés die hard, and we often demonstrate injustice in our decisions, without realizing it. After all, everyone will agree that boys are much better at math. And girls are far more empathetic and able to understand works of art, among other things. No ? At least, that's what the studies "prove" and what is "propagated", voluntarily or otherwise, in schools.

A threat with devastating effects

It's called stereotype threat. The concept was identified in 1995 during a study aimed at understanding the disparity in academic performance between African-Americans and whites. The principle is that individuals will, because they are informed of these stereotypes, act by "responding" to them. For example, the simple fact of putting at the beginning of a math test a field where you have to tick the gender, will create anxiety in girls: "I'm a girl, so inevitably, I'll be less good than my male companions." And the results will support this, perpetuating the myth.

Until now, analyses of this phenomenon have focused mainly on school situations. But a recent study has shown that even in everyday activities, these stereotypes exist and influence behavior. It has often been said that girls are less good than boys at chess. Most of the girls in the study were aware of this stereotype. We then followed the girls in various chess tournaments. The results: even when playing against boys of equivalent ability, they were less likely to win. They didn't believe in their abilities. As a result, they were quicker to give up the activity than their male companions.

"If these stereotypes are so strong, they must be based on something true", we sometimes hear people say. After all, it's common to say that men are from Mars and women are from Venus... Except that this theory is completely false. In fact, for most researchers, these differentiations have virtually no scientific justification. Studies even tend to show that when these gender or race stereotypes are defused before testing, "supposedly weaker" individuals respond just as well, if not better, than when these ideas are reinforced. Remove the stereotypes and poof! The threat disappears.

And the concept lives up to its name "threat". Because it's a threat to students, whoever they may be. That's why fewer women go into the sciences and, conversely, fewer men into caring professions (teaching, nursing, etc.). Worse still, this stereotype threat leads to more women and minorities dropping out of higher education in the United States.

Use it or get rid of it?

Should stereotypes be fought relentlessly? It sounds like common sense. On the contrary, some people believe it's possible to use stereotypes to get better results for those who fall victim to them. At least, that's the view of two researchers who, in 2013, carried out tests with elderly people.

"Everyone knows" (watch out, stereotype in sight...) that senior citizens have a faulty memory. So the researchers tested memory games with senior citizens. They were divided into 4 groups: 2 who had not experienced the stereotype threat and 2 who had. Taking one group from each category, we opted for two types of incentive to succeed in the memory exercises. In one test, correct answers were rewarded with a small sum, while in the other, people were asked to pay the same amount for each wrong answer. Strangely enough, people who had been exposed to stereotypes performed better when they risked losing the money in the kitty. Conversely, people who had not been exposed to stereotypes performed better when they could win money.

Could stereotype threat serve as a negative incentive? Perhaps, but for many experts, it's better to try and eliminate them. And there are ways of doing this by avoiding stereotypical terms and phrases, encouraging assertiveness, providing role models for students (e.g., female scientists, male nurses, doctors or teachers from visible minorities, etc.) and, why not, by frankly broaching the subject of stereotype threat with students. By relentlessly asserting that these widely-shared ideas are simply baseless assertions, perhaps we'll help them lose their force. And perhaps, in the near future, we'll see a proliferation of female chess champions...

Illustration: Aleutie, shutterstock

References

Anderson, Melissa J. "What Should Leaders Do About Stereotype Threat?" The Glass Hammer. Last updated July 18, 2014. http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2014/07/18/what-should-leaders-do-about-stereotype-threat/.

Grewal, Daisy. "Are Girls Bad at Chess?" Scientific American. Last updated April 15, 2014. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-girls-bad-at-chess/.

Mercier, Noémi. "How to Make Girls Good at Math and Boys Sensitive." News. Last updated October 10, 2014. http://www.lactualite.com/societe/comment-rendre-les-filles-bonnes-en-maths-et-les-garcons-sensibles/.

Reducing Stereotype Threat. Accessed October 29, 2014.
https://ctl.wustl.edu/resources/reducing-stereotype-threat/

Willingham, Daniel. "What's behind stereotype threat?" Daniel Willingham. Last updated November 11, 2013. http://www.danielwillingham.com/daniel-willingham-science-and-education-blog/whats-behind-stereotype-threat.