Analysis Of Claude Steele 's Influence On Minority Students

Throughout history stereotyping has been used to generalize a race class. Although when a race is being stereotyped it can be done in a positive way, in many cases it has also been done in order to keep a minority group inferior. In the article, “Thin Ice” by Claude M. Steele, Steele shows how African Americans who are stereotyped or have the mental image of being stereotyped negatively can affect their success in their academic success. In the other hand, in Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou’s “The Asian American Achievement Paradox” demonstrates when a stereotype is positive it can feed one’s ego and deliver better outcomes in a people’s academic achievements. Even though a large population of people can be stereotyped in a certain way through false concepts, it can affect the mindset of a single individual.

Knowledge of negative stereotypes can influence people’s performance. Stereotype threat creates extra performance pressure through apprehensiveness about conforming to negative stereotypes (Woolfolk &

The lack of representation for struggling students further infused the misconception of the stereotype. Since the majority of students do not understand their Asian classmates’ family dynamic and appreciate their dedication in school work, many non-Asians assumed academic achievements for Asian students happen effortlessly. While they labeled their Asian classmates as “model minority”, such compliment can evoke jealousy and resentment. To examine the relationship between positive stereotypes and negative feelings, researchers William Maddux, Adam Galinsky, Amy Cuddy and

Next, “There is a large debate regarding why Black males are overrepresented in categories associated with negative behavior. The experiment conducted on this negative stereotype explored the influences on environmental lack of economic resources, social and political aspects related to academic performance of black males. The environment and culture can help shape the male’s performance. Resolutions to the many issues listed above are a work in progress. Organizations which include educators, parent and youth service providers are combining their energy to diffuse and redirect the matter. “The Trouble with Black Boys: The Role and Influence of Environmental and Cultural Factors on the Academic Performance of African American Males”, (Noguera ,2015 p.1).In brief, on the

The achievement gap is evident in the standardized test scores of racial minority students. When examining demographic information published by College Board Inc. and ACT Inc., it is evident that there exists a widening gap between the scores of African-American adolescents on the SAT, or the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and the ACT, or American College Test. Statistics from the 2013 SAT show African-American students earning scores of 431 in critical reading, 429 in mathematics, and 418 in writing (College Board, 2013). On the ACT in the 2013 year, the average composite score for African-American test takers was 18.2. In comparison to their racial and ethnic counterparts, African-Americans scored lower in every subject area than every other test taker. Frequently this gap in scores has been attributed to a number of factors including a student’s socioeconomic status, teacher qualifications, and school’s lack of access to academic resources. Instead, one should look to the theory of stereotype threat. In summation, stereotype threat is being at risk of confirming a negative stereotype threat about one’s group (Steele & Aronson, 1995). One may question: To what extent does stereotype threat lead to African-American adolescents underperforming in academic settings? Stereotype threat negatively affects African-American students in that it produces self-fulfilling prophecies causing African-American adolescents to underperform on college entrance exams.

The study participants consisted of 36 graduate students who attended a school psychology program at a metropolitan university. There were 31 females and 5 males, of which there were 30 Caucasian, 4 Latino, 1 Asian and 1 African-American. All of the students were first year students, enrolled in cognitive assessment courses taught by the same professor (Ramos, 2009, pp. 653).

“Recent research suggest that racial/ethnic discrimination is a common experience for adolescents of color in schools and other public settings given the overabundance of negative stereotypes that situate Black and Brown youth as dangerous and threatening to society (Nicholas et al, 2008; Rose, 1994).” (Hope, Skoog, Jagers, 2014)

Today's education is often viewed as failing in its goal of educating students, especially those students characterized as minorities, including African American, Hispanic, and Appalachian students (Quiroz, 1999). Among the minority groups mentioned, African American males are affected most adversely. Research has shown that when Black male students are compared to other students by gender and race they consistently rank lowest in academic achievement (Ogbu, 2003), have the worst attendance record (Voelkle, 1999), are suspended and expelled the most often (Raffaele Mendez, 2003; Staples, 1982), are most likely to drop out of school, and most often fail to graduate from high school or to earn a GED (Pinkney, 2000; Roderick, 2003).

O’Brien, L.T., & Crandall, C.S. (2003) Stereotype threat and arousal: effects on women’s math performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 782-789.

An intelligent Black boy, who dumbs himself down to avoid criticism. The Hispanic girl who stays at home to take care of her family, instead of going to school. The Asian who pursues a career in medicine, despite wanting to be an actor. All of these strange actions can be explained by the Critical Race Theory. In short, the Critical Race Theory examines how victims of racism and stereotypes counter prejudice. Under the Critical Race Theory falls stereotype threat in which victims assume the roles that they think are prescribed for them based on popular stereotypes. The aim of stereotype threat and the Critical Race Theory is to explain both negative and positive ways minorities are effected by their race and how this reflected in our society as a whole.

When comparing the performance of Asian-American participants on a mathematical examination after having been positively stereotyped and without having been positively stereotyped, it was found that the “performance [on the test] was significantly lower in the ethnicity condition than in the control condition” (Cheryan 400). In the ethnicity-salient condition, “participants reported that they had experienced significantly poorer ability to concentrate during the math task than did participants in the control condition” (444). Therefore, positive stereotypes, in the form of salient social expectations, can place a considerable burden on stereotyped Asian Americans, “adversely affecting their performance in the stereotyped domain” (401). That is, while Asian Americans can be characterized as a high-achieving “model minority,” this characterization can lead to agitation, distraction, and lower self-confidence, which ultimately contributes to poorer academic performance. The study elucidates the mechanisms behind Asian-American negative reactions to positive stereotypes: failing to meet high expectations and the possibility that one's poor performance may threaten the reputation of one's group engenders stifling performance pressures when positive Asian stereotypes are initiated. As a result, positive stereotypes

When social psychologist Claude Steele began writing about the problem of stereotype threats in the 1990s, many other researchers began to do the same thing. Steele offered that when members of certain groups can be stereotyped in a negative way, they will be seen “through the lens of diminishing stereotypes and low expectations” (1999, p.44). According to Kassin, Fein, and Markus, stereotype threat is defined as “The experience of concern about being evaluated based on negative stereotypes about one’s group.” Steele concluded that stereotype threat can be achieved in two ways: reactions to “threat in the

There have been many studies on stereotype threat and self-esteem and their negative effects on task performance. These studies have focused primarily on minorities such as women, blacks, Latinos and Asians and have found that stereotype threat and self-esteem have influenced negatively in task performance. Steele (1997) investigated how self-esteem and stereotype threat affects task performance and has found that most of task failures have to do with the individual social environment. For instance, a study was conducted in which black students completed a difficult task with either a black or white experimenter. The task was described as intelligent test (Steele & Aronson, 1995). When the experimenter was white, the student performed more

Students of color have their experiences at school belittled. “When students look to counseling, they are often told their racialized experiences are in their head -- that the college or university is color blind.” Dr. Ebony McGee, assistant professor of diversity and urban schooling at Vanderbilt's Peabody College of Education and Human Development

The first effect of stereotyping is a phenomenon known as “stereotype threat” that occurs in a situation where a person is in fear of unintentionally confirming a negative stereotype. Several studies have been conducted to discover the effects of stereotype threats. For example, I discovered that Toni Schmader, an assistant professor of the UA psychology department, and Michael Johns, a UA graduate (ethos), conducted studies that showed, “college women score lower on tests of mathematical ability, and Hispanic students might score lower on tests of intelligence, not because they have less ability, but because reminders of negative stereotypes temporarily decrease their ‘working memory capacity’ (UA News Services, “Exploring the Negative Consequences of Stereotyping”, UANews.Arizona.edu).” This demonstrates that the students did not do worse on the test due to their lack of skills, but rather due to negative stereotypes. In a similar study by professors Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson, African American and White college students took the same intelligence test under two conditions. In the stereotype threat condition the students were told the test would evaluate their intelligence, and in the