Going to "Ace" this test!

Wendy shows up to meet a group of friends at the lake where there is an intensely competitive round of volleyball going on. Alex had to leave, so they asked her to take his spot, making her the only female playing. Knowing that some men think that females are not as good at sports she is ready to serve, because of the added pressure to perform will she likely ace this shot? Fact or Fallacy? Fallacy... A self-fulfilling effect know as the stereotype threat will likely cause this gross generalization (girls are inferior at sports) to increase her anxiety and in turn, she serves out of bounds. Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson coined this term in 1995 when they found differences in participant scores on an intelligence test because of the framing of the title of the test - calling it a "test of ability" verses "an investigation of how people solve problems". The stereotype threat has been since documented in many social contexts such as race, gender, and mental illness. See you next week for a new "Free Friday Fact or Fallacy" (F4) blog post. Dr. Misty R. Sharp Ladd, CPP, PCI, PSP

Misty Ladd

15.07.2022

F4 Blog Post