Coping With Stereotype Threat: Denial as an Impression Management Strategy

• Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology 2005-07, Vol.89 (1), p.22-35
• Main Authors: Hippel, William von, Hippel, Courtney von, Conway, Leanne, Preacher, Kristopher J, Schooler, Jonathan W, Radvansky, Gabriel A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adjustment; Adult; African Americans - psychology; Aged - psychology; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis of Variance; Asians; Australia; Biological and medical sciences; Black People; Competence; Coping Behavior; Denial; Denial (Psychology); Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Hypotheses; Impression Management; Intelligence; Male; Mental Competency; Middle Aged; Models, Psychological; Ohio; Personnel; Professional Competence; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Self-Assessment; Self-management; Social attribution, perception and cognition; Social interaction; Social psychology; Stereotyped Attitudes; Stereotypes; Stereotyping; Students; Students - psychology; Threat; White People
• ISSN: 0022-3514; 1939-1315
• DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.89.1.22

Four experiments tested the hypothesis that people who are concerned with impression management cope with stereotype threat through denial. Consistent with this hypothesis, temporary employees threatened by a stereotype of incompetence (Study 1) and hostel-dwelling older adults (Study 2) were more likely to deny incompetence if they were high in impression management. African Americans (Study 3) showed a similar pattern of denying cognitive incompetence, which emerged primarily when they were interviewed by a White experimenter and had attended a predominantly Black high school. In Study 4, White students who expected to take an IQ test and were threatened by a stereotype of being less intelligent than Asians were more likely to deny that intelligence is important if they were high in impression management.