Stereotype threat
The proposal that people perform worse when they fear confirming a negative stereotype about their group, because the worry and vigilance take up mental resources.
What drives it
Being seen through a stereotype is a real social threat; the worry about confirming it adds a second task (monitoring yourself) to the first (doing the work).
How it shows
Work
The only woman in a technical review who becomes unusually careful and slower when her code is examined. An older employee who over-prepares for anything involving new technology. Someone from a non-elite background who goes quiet in rooms full of Oxbridge or Ivy League graduates. Watch for performance that dips specifically when group identity is made salient and recovers in less evaluative settings.
Relationships
A man who avoids showing his emotional side because 'men aren't good at this'. A partner from a different class background anxious about getting things wrong in front of the other's family.
Self
You feel self-conscious about being 'the X in the room', notice yourself rehearsing to avoid confirming what others might assume, and your performance feels more effortful than usual.
What tells it apart
Impostor phenomenon: Impostor feelings are about personal fraudulence and appear regardless of group; stereotype threat is tied to a group stereotype and shows when that identity is made salient.
Social anxiety: Social anxiety appears across most social settings; stereotype threat is specific to tasks and contexts where a stereotype applies.
Spotlight effect: The spotlight effect overestimates how much anyone notices you; stereotype threat is a worry about being judged through a group lens, which may be accurate.
A test
Compare the person's performance in a setting where their group identity is salient with one where it is not; a consistent gap is consistent with stereotype threat, though other explanations should be ruled out.
Questions to carry
- How does the performance differ between a setting where group identity is front of mind and one where it isn't?
- Where do I feel watched as one of my group, and what does the watching take from my attention?
How strong the research is
mixed. The original findings were influential, but meta-analyses detect publication bias and a large preregistered replication with schoolgirls in maths (Flore, Mulder and Wicherts, 2018) found no effect, so real-world size is uncertain and probably smaller than first reported.
Where it comes from
Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson, 1995; Claude Steele, 2010 (Whistling Vivaldi)