Collaborative Research: Stereotype Validation and Intellectual Performance

大量研究表明，群体刻板印象会对人们在其社会环境中的认知和行为产生毁灭性的影响。在过去的15年里，这一领域研究最广泛的一些问题集中在负面的群体刻板印象如何影响一个人在涉及智力的任务中的表现。对这些影响的研究统称为刻板印象威胁，研究表明，如果在完成一项学术任务之前，让妇女和少数群体意识到文化上共享的负面刻板印象，他们的表现可能会更差。虽然数百项研究已经研究了与这些影响相关的许多因素，但到目前为止还没有研究确定刻板印象意识只有在一个人完成表演之后才会发生，而不是在完成之前。这个项目将研究表现后刻板印象激活如何增加人们对自己智力表现的负面认知的确定性。这种由刻板印象引发的确定性上升很重要，因为它应该带来一系列不利后果。本质上，当一个人变得更加确定他们在一项任务上的表现很差时，这应该有可能降低人们对他们能力的信念，改变他们的学术和职业兴趣，并抑制未来在相关领域的成就。这个项目的目的是在女性和少数群体在标准化测试中的表现的背景下，对这些“刻板印象验证”的影响有一个广泛的理解。这12个拟议的实验代表了一种程序性的、理论上驱动的方法，以调查潜在的易感因素、下游影响以及可能减少这种偏见的干预策略。除了心理学研究的发展，这个项目还应该为其他学科(例如教育和商业)的学术研究提供信息，并有可能形成应用环境中的常见做法(例如标准化测试和员工遴选)。此外，研究结果将有助于我们了解可能影响女性和少数民族从事科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的心理因素。研究团队的本科生和研究生成员将获得许多教育机会。通过积极的参与，这些学生将在科学研究的准备、实施和交流方面获得宝贵的技能。此外，将进行这项研究的大学在种族、民族和社会经济方面都是多样化的。在爱荷华大学，学生群体由来自近100个国家的个人组成。霍华德大学是一所历史悠久的黑人大学，超过90%的毕业生认为自己是在STEM学科中代表性不足的种族或民族群体的成员。因此，研究团队和将作为研究参与者的个人之间应该反映出高度的多样性。

A wealth of research has shown that group stereotypes can have devastating effects on how people perceive and behave in their social environments. Over the past fifteen years, some of the most extensively studied questions in this domain have focused on how negative group stereotypes can influence a person's performance on tasks that involve intellectual abilities. Research on these influences, collectively known as stereotype threat, has shown that women and minorities may perform more poorly when they are made aware of culturally shared, negative stereotypes prior to performing an academic task. While hundreds of studies have examined many factors related to these effects, no research to date has identified the potential ramifications of stereotype awareness that happens only after, rather than before, a person has finished performing.This project will examine how post-performance stereotype activation can increase the certainty that people have in negative perceptions about their own intellectual performance. This elevated certainty, triggered by stereotypes, is important because it should carry a number of adverse consequences. In essence, when a person becomes more certain that their performance on a task was poor, this should have the potential to decrease beliefs in their abilities, alter academic and career interests, and inhibit future achievement in relevant domains. This project aims to develop a broad understanding of these "stereotype validation" effects within the context of female and minority performance on standardized tests. The twelve proposed experiments represent a programmatic, theoretically driven approach to investigating potential susceptibility factors, downstream repercussions, and intervention strategies that may reduce this bias. Beyond developments within psychological research, this project should also inform scholarship in other disciplines (e.g., education and business) and has the potential to shape common practices in applied contexts (e.g., standardized testing and employee selection). In addition, the research findings should advance our understanding of the psychological factors that may affect female and minority engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).The undergraduate and graduate student members of the research teams will be afforded many educational opportunities. Through active engagement, these students will acquire valuable skills in the preparation, conduct, and communication of scientific research. Furthermore, the universities where this research will be conducted are racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse. At the University of Iowa, the student body is comprised of individuals from nearly 100 countries. Howard University is a Historically Black University where more than 90% of graduates identify themselves as members of racial or ethnic groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines. Therefore, a high level of diversity should be reflected in the research teams and also among the individuals who will serve as participants in the studies.