Stereotype threat is the anxiety of confirming a negative stereotype of a particular group in an examination situation. Research has shown that students perform poorly on exams if they are linked with a negative stereotype prior to the test. For example, women tend to score worse on a math exam if they are first prompted that women are expected to perform poorly on math exams. The present study looked for stereotype threat in The College of Idaho’s diverse student body. Eighty subjects were randomly assigned to receive basic information about stereotype threat or this information and additional information that women tend to do worse in math. Subjects were then asked to solve 10 GRE math problems. Contrary to our hypothesis, no significant difference in math scores was found between the two conditions. This could mean that College of Idaho students aren’t susceptible to stereotype threat, but it is more likely that our manipulation wasn’t strong enough.

Group Identification and Test Scores