First, stereotypes tied to identity contingencies can cause a person emotional …show more content…
The identity contingencies of being a minority in a school can lead students to struggle academically because they are distracted and pressure by stereotype or identity threat. According to Steele’s research, if a student’s identity is being used as a threat against them, their academic performance will reduce due to the lack of motivation and the constant fear of confirming the stereotype threat. In Steele’s earlier research he describes an experiment conducted by Miss Elliott to show her students the experience of being discriminated against. The class was split into two groups. The brown eyed students and blue eyed students. To identify the student, she had the students wear felt collars. On the first day, Miss Elliots discriminated against the brown eye students and praise the blue eye students. For example, she would say that the blue eye students are smarter,well behaved and more neat. The next day Miss Elliot will switch the collar and discriminated against the blue eye students. This reenactment shows a “fascinating intellectual implication”(31-34). It clearly, show how poorly the brown eye and blue eye students perform and their slow response to answer when Miss Elliot discriminated against …show more content…
According to Steele’s research and the experiment conducted by a group of social psychologists at Princeton University any groups of student is susceptible to confirming negative stereotype against themselves and their members. The experiment shows that when both the white students and black students were told that golfing measure based on the stereotype their group was lacking. The student performed worse and have to take three or more stroke to complete a course that usually take twenty-four strokes. For example, when the first group of white students and black student learned that the golf task measured on natural athletic ability, the white student play alot worse than the black student. But when they switch the situation around and told the second group of white and black students that the golf performance was a measure of sports strategy intengellience. The black student then golf dramatically worse than the white student (8-11). Steele’s stated that “their frustration on the task could be seen as confirming the stereotype, as a characterization both of themselves of and their group ”(9). Evidently, Steele’s Research and Princeton University’s experiment demonstrate that the feeling of weight and anxiety both group of students have to carry affects the student 's performance. As students are