Experimental Study On How Stereotype Threat Influence The Perfomance Of Targets In Associated Tasks

Research on stereotype threat has demonstrated that when targets are forced to contend with the threat of being negatively stereotyped, their academic performance suffers (Steele & Aronson, 1995). The present research explored how the targets of negative stereotypes determine when they must contend with this threat. Across 4 experiments, we manipulated both the possibility and probability that female students would be stereotyped as inferior to male in maths.Collectively, the results come to the following conclusions:(1) Gender - female math stereotype implicitly exist among university students;(2) Female students with high maths identity will perceive stereotype threat when the test is described as diagnostic resulting in poorer performance;(3) Only when stereotype targets perceive others in the environment view them with stereotype not only possibly but also probably stereotype threat appear, which cause poorer test performance;(4) Whether contend with the stereotype will not change the condition for stereotype threat so that the attitude can't account for poorer performance;(5) Stereotype threat only can influence the performance in associated tasks and the performance in irrelevant will not be affected;(6) It is the waste of cognition resources not underestimating of own performance that cause poorer score for stereotype;(7) Probability ratio "k" can mediate the effect of stereotype threat on test performance, which giving false reasoning of arousal is not a significant mediation.Then the implications of these findings was discussed to create a free-stereosype threat environment for students especially the female,so that everyone can get the chance to do their best in sphere of learning.