What is stereotype threat? How do these threats affect all of us? And how do we deal with these threats? Claude Steele states, in his book Whistling Vivaldi, he believes stereotype threat, “Is a standard predicament of life. It springs from our human powers of intersubjectivity - the fact that as members of our society have a pretty good idea of what other members think about lots of things, including the major groups and identities in society,”(Steele 5). The major fact is, we are all or have been victims of stereotype threat. Now, let’s look at how stereotype threats apply to anyone. Defining stereotype threat isn’t always easy. We tend to classify ourselves as individuals in our society, we think our differences are what make us unique.
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When in fact, it sometimes happens self-consciously where we don’t even have to think about it for the threat to have an effect on us. I like how Steele stated, “At first glance, one might dismiss the importance of something “in the air” like stereotype threat. At second glance, however, it’s clear that this threat can be a tenacious force in our lives,” (Steele 11). I like this example, because from a very young age we are susceptible to stereotype threat, for example; another child on the playground would call us stupid we wouldn’t give that much thought. Then he/she would call us stupid again or get called stupid by another child, then it would start to upset us and start making us believe that we really are stupid. Just like the last example, stereotype threats comes from many different areas like; personal self, motivation, expectation, self-esteem, …show more content…
Steele writes, “The reality of stereotype threat also made the point that places like classrooms, university campuses, testing rooms or competitive running tracks, though seemingly the same for everybody, are, in fact, different places for different people,” (Steele 60). For example the treat may not be there if you are just hanging out with your friends but when you step into a new class room you feel like “all eyes are on you.” Steel previously writes, “One’s own stereotype threat can analogize one into understanding the other guy’s stereotype threat,” (Steele 60). Therefore, if you are aware of the feeling of being subconsciously or consciously threatened then you will understand what the other maybe going through in another
When in fact, it sometimes happens self-consciously where we don’t even have to think about it for the threat to have an effect on us. I like how Steele stated, “At first glance, one might dismiss the importance of something “in the air” like stereotype threat. At second glance, however, it’s clear that this threat can be a tenacious force in our lives,” (Steele 11). I like this example, because from a very young age we are susceptible to stereotype threat, for example; another child on the playground would call us stupid we wouldn’t give that much thought. Then he/she would call us stupid again or get called stupid by another child, then it would start to upset us and start making us believe that we really are stupid. Just like the last example, stereotype threats comes from many different areas like; personal self, motivation, expectation, self-esteem, …show more content…
Steele writes, “The reality of stereotype threat also made the point that places like classrooms, university campuses, testing rooms or competitive running tracks, though seemingly the same for everybody, are, in fact, different places for different people,” (Steele 60). For example the treat may not be there if you are just hanging out with your friends but when you step into a new class room you feel like “all eyes are on you.” Steel previously writes, “One’s own stereotype threat can analogize one into understanding the other guy’s stereotype threat,” (Steele 60). Therefore, if you are aware of the feeling of being subconsciously or consciously threatened then you will understand what the other maybe going through in another