| Understanding the Mechanisms Involved in the Stereotype Threat Effect for Women and Math Performance |
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a
symposium presentation by: Dr. Jeff Aspelmeier, Emily Latimer, Brittany Hiben & Alynn Gordon |
 Abstract. Studies
of Stereotype Threat show that reminding women about stereotypes
regarding women being poor at math causes math competent women to do
more poorly on difficult math tasks. The Integrated Process Model (Schmader,
Johns, & Forbes, 2008) suggest that stereotype threat is the result of
the influence of self-control attempts that result from activation of
the stereotype. The present study tests the hypothesis that taking away
a person’s ability to exercise self-control will reduce the effects of
stereotype threat. Approximately 150 women were recruited from the Psychology  Department
participant pool at Radford University. After completing a measure of
perceived math competence, randomly assigned groups completed either a
writing task that depletes self-control resources or a control task.
Next randomly assigned groups completed a series of math word problems
after either being reminded of the stereotype or after getting a
counter-stereotype message. Among women exposed to stereotype threat, it is expected that women high  in math competence who have been depleted of self-control resources will
correctly solve more math problems than math competent women who have
not been depleted. Among women who have not been exposed to stereotype
threat, it is expected that math competent women who have been depleted
of self-regulation resources will perform worse than women who have not
been depleted. |
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