Stereotypes & Stereotype Threat

Affect Computing Students

National Center for Women & Information technology (NCWIT), J. Mcgrath Cohoon & the Academic Alliance

Stereotypes Are Good …Mental shortcuts for generalizing knowledge to other situations

And Stereotypes Are Bad … They can lead to mistakes, or miscategorization

African Americans

with modification by Cohoon 2012

Common Stereotype: Feminine ≠ Technical

Lagesen 2005

Race, age, body mass, … all have associated stereotypes

Example: Who scores higher on math tests?

-White male engineering students?

-Asian male engineering students?

Stereotypes Aren’t Just About Gender

Fear of confirming negative beliefs about my group …

» Hinders performance» Affects choices and

aspirations» Leads to harsh

personal standards, opting out if not met

Stereotypes Can Create Threatening Situations

Correll 2004; Chasteen et al. 2005

Stereotype Threat: Easy to Trigger; Affects Motivated StudentsSome triggers:Gender imbalance in roomStereotyped physical spaceAttention called to gender

Stereotype Threat Masks Ability

Remove threat and women test better» Advanced calculus

course with 100 male, 57 female students

» No gender difference in course grades

» Significant difference in test performance without threat

Good, Aronson, Harder, 2008

Stereotype Threat Reduces Learning and Persistence

» Note-taking skill reduced by stereotype threat

» Feelings of belonging impaired

Appel et al. 2011; Good et al. 2012

» Don’t speak up in groups or classes

» Reluctant to take leadership roles

» Discount their performance

Stereotype Threat Has Subtle Negative Effects Too

Some Interventions That Work

» Emphasize growth in intelligence

» Normalize

» “Wise” feedback

» Self-affirmation of values

Aronson et al. 2002; Good et al. 2008; Cohen & Steele 2002; Purdie-Vaughns & Garcia 2011

Emphasize Growth in Intelligence

The effort to master difficult material actually increases intellectual ability

Normalize the Struggle to Master

It takes some time for most people to “get” this

Keep working on it and it will click

I’ll help

Provide “Wise” Feedback

“I’m being critical, but I’m holding you to a high standard … I know you can do it” Results: Black students more likely to revise their work; grade gap between Black and White students reduced

Self-Affirmation

Identify your most important value(s):» E.g., relationships with

friends, family, being good at …

Write a short paragraph about why this value is important to you.

Confirm: “In general, I try to live up to these values.”

Conclusion

Women and minority students are in our classes under different circumstances than

majority men are.

Nevertheless, we can create an environment that fosters ability, learning, and persistence

of diverse students.

Learn More

Create a stereotype threat-free environment for attracting able and diverse students to computing.

See the resources listed on NCWIT’s Talk with Faculty Colleagues About Stereotype Threat (www.ncwit.org/stereotypethreattp)

Questions?Comments?

NCWIT is the National Center for Women & Information Technology

Our coalition includes more than 250 universities, corporations, and non-profits.

Mobilizing for Change: NCWIT