On the Role of Group Membership in Stereotype‐Based Performance Effects

Group memberships serve an important function in our lives. They help define who we are; thus, they are intimately involved in our daily functioning. But in certain situations, our group memberships may have a particularly profound influence on the way we behave, such as in situations where stereotypes apply. In this article, I examine the role group membership plays in distinguishing between different performance effects that are based on stereotypes associated with our group memberships. Knowing the role that group memberships play in such effects can refine existing theory and research while also providing insight into methods for combating the adverse effects of stereotypes on behavior. Accordingly, I review a number of stereotype-based performance effects that involve both negative and positive stereotypes as well as describe how group membership moderates these effects. I then discuss how stereotyped concerns associated with our group memberships can clarify the distinction between stereotype threat and priming effects. In the final portion of this article, I highlight how learning about a counter-stereotypic person from one's group can serve to reduce the negative effects of stereotypes on performance.

[1]  T. Claire,et al.  Extending the Concept of Stereotype Threat to Social Class: The Intellectual Underperformance of Students from Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds , 1998 .

[2]  C. G. Lord,et al.  Alleviating women’s mathematics stereotype threat through salience of group achievements , 2003 .

[3]  S. Spencer,et al.  The Interference of Stereotype Threat With Women's Generation of Mathematical Problem-Solving Strategies , 2001 .

[4]  R. Fazio,et al.  Variability in automatic activation as an unobtrusive measure of racial attitudes: a bona fide pipeline? , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[5]  Jennifer K. Bosson,et al.  When saying and doing diverge: The effects ofstereotype threat on self-reported versus nonverbal anxiety , 2004 .

[6]  D. Stapel,et al.  It depends on your perspective: The role of self-relevance in stereotype-based underperformance , 2006 .

[7]  Kenneth G. DeMarree,et al.  Priming a new identity: self-monitoring moderates the effects of nonself primes on self-judgments and behavior. , 2005, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[8]  D. Trafimow,et al.  Valence of Self-Cognitions: The Positivity of Individual Self-Statements , 2006, The Journal of social psychology.

[9]  Robert B. Cialdini,et al.  Two Indirect Tactics of Image Management: Basking and Blasting , 1980 .

[10]  Phillip Atiba Goff,et al.  Clearing the air: the effect of experimenter race on target's test performance and subjective experience. , 2005, The British journal of social psychology.

[11]  Toni Schmader,et al.  Gender Identification Moderates Stereotype Threat Effects on Women's Math Performance ☆ ☆☆ ★ , 2002 .

[12]  Tom Postmes,et al.  Seeing one thing and doing another: Contrast effects in automatic behavior. , 1998 .

[13]  D. Marx,et al.  Distinguishing stereotype threat from priming effects: on the role of the social self and threat-based concerns. , 2006, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[14]  B. Major,et al.  The social psychology of stigma. , 2005, Annual review of psychology.

[15]  E. Higgins.  Knowledge activation: Accessibility, applicability, and salience. , 1996 .

[16]  Nalini Ambady,et al.  “Math is Hard!” The effect of gender priming on women’s attitudes , 2006 .

[17]  N. Ambady,et al.  Stereotype Susceptibility: Identity Salience and Shifts in Quantitative Performance , 1999 .

[18]  S. Spencer,et al.  Stereotype Threat and Women's Math Performance , 1999 .

[19]  A. Kiefer,et al.  When appearance concerns make women look bad : Solo status and body image concerns diminish women's academic performance , 2006 .

[20]  M. Biernat,et al.  Reexamining the Effects of Solo Status for Women and Men , 2002 .

[21]  John C. Turner,et al.  Social Identity Salience and the Emergence of Stereotype Consensus , 1999 .

[22]  C. Steele,et al.  Allport's Legacy and the Situational Press of Stereotypes , 1999 .

[23]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  The generalizability of salience effects. , 1979 .

[24]  Dominique Muller,et al.  We can do it: the interplay of construal orientation and social comparisons under threat. , 2005, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[25]  D. Marx,et al.  Female Role Models: Protecting Women’s Math Test Performance , 2002 .

[26]  M. Hogg,et al.  Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. , 1989 .

[27]  Kenneth G. DeMarree,et al.  Understanding the Role of the Self in Prime-to-Behavior Effects: The Active-Self Account , 2007, Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

[28]  D. Stapel,et al.  I, we, and the effects of others on me: How self-construal level moderates social comparison effects. , 2001 .

[29]  Tom R. Tyler,et al.  Choosing the Right Pond: The Impact of Group Membership on Self-Esteem and Group-Oriented Behavior , 1997 .

[30]  Albert A. Cota,et al.  Salience of gender and sex composition of ad hoc groups: An experimental test of distinctiveness theory. , 1986 .

[31]  R. Spears,et al.  Reaction in Action: Intergroup Contrast in Automatic Behavior , 2004, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[32]  Joshua Aronson,et al.  Stereotype threat, identity salience, and spatial reasoning , 2006 .

[33]  Denise Sekaquaptewa,et al.  Solo status, stereotype threat, and performance expectancies: Their effects on women’s performance , 2003 .

[34]  C. Steele,et al.  Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[35]  E. Higgins,et al.  Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles. , 1996 .

[36]  L. Thompson,et al.  Battle of the sexes: gender stereotype confirmation and reactance in negotiations. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[37]  V S Taylor,et al.  Models to increase enrollment of minority females in science-based careers. , 2001, Journal of the National Medical Association.

[38]  M. Banaji,et al.  Automatic and Controlled Processes in Stereotype Priming , 1996 .

[39]  R. Petty,et al.  The effects of stereotype activation on behavior: a review of possible mechanisms. , 2001, Psychological bulletin.

[40]  T. K. Srull,et al.  The Role of Category Accessibility in the Interpretation of Information About Persons: Some Determinants and Implications , 1979 .

[41]  R. Cialdini,et al.  Basking in Reflected Glory: Three (Football) Field Studies , 1976 .

[42]  Thomas W. Schubert,et al.  Contrast from social stereotypes in automatic behavior , 2003 .

[43]  J. Bargh,et al.  Automaticity of social behavior: direct effects of trait construct and stereotype-activation on action. , 1996, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[44]  Kathleen M. McGraw,et al.  What's Good for the Goose Is Not Good for the Gander , 1984 .

[45]  M. Brewer.  The Social Self: On Being the Same and Different at the Same Time , 1991 .

[46]  S. Spencer,et al.  Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat , 2002 .

[47]  A. van Knippenberg,et al.  The relation between perception and behavior, or how to win a game of trivial pursuit. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[48]  H. Markus,et al.  THE DYNAMIC SELF-CONCEPT: A Social Psychological Perspective , 1987 .

[49]  B. Levy.  Improving memory in old age through implicit self-stereotyping. , 1996, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[50]  M. Brewer,et al.  Who is this "We"? Levels of collective identity and self representations. , 1996 .

[51]  H. Tajfel,et al.  The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior. , 2004 .

[52]  Diederik A. Stapel,et al.  Understanding stereotype lift: The role of the social self. , 2006 .

[53]  John M. Darley,et al.  Stereotype Threat Effects on Black and White Athletic Performance , 1999 .

[54]  C. Steele.  A threat in the air. How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. , 1997, The American psychologist.

[55]  Michael Inzlicht,et al.  A Threatening Intellectual Environment: Why Females Are Susceptible to Experiencing Problem-Solving Deficits in the Presence of Males , 2000, Psychological science.

[56]  J. Dovidio,et al.  Racial stereotypes: The contents of their cognitive representations☆ , 1986 .

[57]  K. Fujita,et al.  Stereotype performance boosts: the impact of self-relevance and the manner of stereotype activation. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.