Previous research on social facilitation suggested that womens mathematics stereotype threat might be alleviated by components of the test itself (Bond, 1982). To test this hypothesis, in Experiment 1, we primed the stereotype about womens math performance, and then gave men and women a difficult math test. In one condition, the format of the math test was intended to lead participants to believe that their performance was good, and in the other condition, the format of the math test was intended to lead participants to believe their performance was poor. Stereotype threatened women who believed they performed poorly on the test actually performed no worse than stereotype threatened women who thought they performed well. In Experiment 2, we primed the stereotype about womens poor math performance, and then gave the men and women a math test. In one condition, the majority of the math items were relatively easy, with some difficult items embedded. In a second condition, the majority of the math items were difficult, including items that matched those used in the first condition. We found that stereotype threatened women performed better on the matched items embedded in an easy test, than did stereotype threatened women completing the same items embedded in a difficult test. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-11292006-080806 |
| Date | 29 November 2006 |
| Creators | Gresky, Dana Prestwood |
| Contributors | Charles G Lord |
| Publisher | Texas Christian University |
| Source Sets | Texas Christian University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/msword |
| Source | http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-11292006-080806/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to TCU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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