Stereotype Threat Essay

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Stereotype threat is situation where individuals are at risk of confirming or accepting negative stereotype about their respective group. Stereotype threat research has become more popular in the science fields, especially in the psychology and neuroscience areas of focus. Stereotype threat research has broadened into several important focus areas. These focus areas of stereotype threat consist of academics, memory loss, and athletic and work-related performances. Stereotype threats typically have a negative impact or effect on someone. But, due to increased recent research, it has been proven that stereotype threat can have a positive effect on one’s mental state. This is according to research conducted by Dr. Sarah J. Barber in 2015 on stereotype threat and its positive impact or capabilities. Dr. Sarah J. Barber is a researcher at the University of Southern California at Davis and one of the main contributors to stereotype threat research, especially when relating to the biology field and neuroscience. For the research that was conducted, several research examples were selected due to their relatability to the field of neuroscience, especially in biology. Research on stereotype threats have increased in recent years however because of the increased curiosity in believing whether or not a stereotype or assumption from someone else can mentally change your abilities or perceptions and how long do these changes last for. This research was conducted to see how stereotype threats can affect the neurons and mental capacity of the brain, which was shown and present in the research examples used. Literary Review and Discussion The first research example presented is titled, How Stereotype Threat Affects Healthy Older Adults’ Performance on Clinical Assessments of Cognitive Decline: The Key Role of Regulatory Fit, completed by Dr. Barber. The objective of this research was that stereotype threat can impair older adult’s performance on clinical assessments for memory loss. It was predicted that stereotype threat should be associated with poor performance when the assessment emphasizes correct answers, but not when avoiding mistakes. The experiment was started by finding eighty participants in the Los Angeles area (1). These participants were asked to complete a series of mental exams. Half of the participants completed these exams under stereotype threat about their memory …show more content…
The purpose of that research was to present an economic model of stereotype threat based on how student effort and performance were influenced on the “jock” persona. The “jock” persona reduced the test scores of the selected students by 12% of non-athletes (3). The athletes used in this experiment and research were males. Four classes of students were tested and college males were tested during the research trials as well. The four classes were during the years of 2008-2011. Future Studies/Conclusion Stereotype threat is a situation where individuals are at risk of confirming or accepting negative stereotypes about their respective group. Stereotype threat research has expanded over the last two decades and has been found in academics, memory loss, athletic and work-related performance. Stereotype threats are a very serious problem to society, ranging from young children to older adults. Stereotype threat can be avoided by reframing the task, deemphasizing social identities, encouraging self-confidence,, emphasizing high standards and providing someone with role models (6). For future studies, I would love to conduct more research on the biological factors of stereotype threat and what causes these biological factors to

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