Stereotype threat as validity threat: The anxiety–sex–threat interaction

Stereotype threat has been invoked to explain underperformance on a variety of groups for whom the stereotypes allege inferior cognitive abilities. In math testing, stereotype threat has been used to explain sex differences in test performance. This paper describes an experimental study on a large s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Intelligence (Norwood) 2008-11, Vol.36 (6), p.635-640
Main Authors: Delgado, Ana R., Prieto, Gerardo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic underachievement
Achievement tests
Anxiety
Aptitude Treatment Interaction
Attentional bias
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition. Intelligence
Cognitive abilities
Cognitive Ability
Cognitive Processes
Construct Validity
Fear & phobias
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender Differences
Gender stereotypes
Intellectual and cognitive abilities
Intelligence
Math anxiety
Mathematics
Mathematics Achievement
Mathematics Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sex differences in math performance
Stereotype threat
Stereotypes
Testing
Threats
Validity threats
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Summary:Stereotype threat has been invoked to explain underperformance on a variety of groups for whom the stereotypes allege inferior cognitive abilities. In math testing, stereotype threat has been used to explain sex differences in test performance. This paper describes an experimental study on a large sample ( n = 313), in which the role of anxiety and mental rotation on math sex-related differences under stereotype threat has been analyzed in the tradition of Aptitude–Treatment–Interaction (ATI) designs. Results show that the manipulation effects are evident only in interaction with anxiety, which suggests that the construct validity of stereotype threat is itself seriously threatened. The analogy with the validity threat known as reactivity to the experimental situation is elaborated, and a more promising approach (the study of threat-related attentional bias in anxious and non-anxious individuals) suggested.
ISSN:0160-2896
1873-7935
DOI:10.1016/j.intell.2008.01.008