Two experiments examined the role of arousal in
accounting for underperformance under stereotype threat. In Experiment 1, male and female students who were
highly identified with mathematics were told that they
would take a difficult math test. Half the
students were told that there were typically no gender
differences in performance on the test (no threat
condition) whereas the other half were told nothing
about the test (stereotype threat condition).
After being told about the upcoming test, students
either completed an easy task (wrote their name as many
times as they could for 20 seconds) or a novel,
difficult task (wrote their name backward as many times
as they could for 20 seconds). No math test was ever
given. Instead, based on the well-established finding
that arousal improves performance on easy tasks but
disrupts performance on difficult tasks, it was expected
that women should show difference in the number of names
they could write based on the presence of stereotype
threat but that men should not. Results confirmed these
predictions; women in the stereotype threat condition
wrote significantly more forward names, but fewer
backward names, in the stereotype threat than in the control
condition. Men showed no effects of the stereotype
threat manipulation. These results suggest that women
under stereotype threat experienced increased arousal. Experiment 2
attempted to identify a means for disarming arousal under
stereotype threat.
Math-identified women completed a math test either in
the presence of two other women (no threat) or with two
men (stereotype threat) where results were to be
reported aloud. Before taking the test, the
participants were also shown a "subliminal noise
generator" and were told either that the noise produced
by the machine would produce no discernable effects or
that it might create an increase in arousal,
nervousness, and heart rate. Results showed that
women in the stereotype threat condition performed more
poorly on the math test but only in the condition where
they were told that the noise machine would produce no
obvious effects. When the women in the stereotype
threat condition were provided with a means for
attributing their arousal to an external cause (i.e., to
the subliminal noise generator), performance was
equivalent in the two conditions. Results from
these studies indicate that arousal can arise under
stereotype threat but that the effects of arousal can be
attenuated if individuals are provided with a means for
"explaining away" the arousal they may experience in
such circumstances.Back to top | Previous
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