On the Continued Misinterpretation of Stereotype Threat as Accounting for Black-White Differences on Cognitive Tests

Authors

Dana H. Tomeh, University of Minnesota - Twin CitiesFollow
Paul R. Sackett, University of Minnesota - Twin CitiesFollow

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25035/pad.2022.01.001

Abstract

Steele and Aronson (1995) showed that stereotype threat affects the test performance of stereotyped groups. A careful reading shows that threat affects test performance but does not eliminate Black–White mean score gaps. Sackett et al. (2004) reviewed characterization of this research in scholarly articles, textbooks, and popular press, and found that many mistakenly inferred that removing stereotype threats eliminated the Black– White performance gap. We examined whether the rate of mischaracterization of Steele and Aronson had decreased in the 15 years since Sackett et al. highlighted the common misinterpretation. We found that the misinterpretation rate dropped from 90.9% to 62.8% in journal articles and from 55.6% to 41.18% in textbooks, though this is only statistically significant in journal articles.

Recommended Citation

Tomeh, Dana H. and Sackett, Paul R. (2022) "On the Continued Misinterpretation of Stereotype Threat as Accounting for Black-White Differences on Cognitive Tests," Personnel Assessment and Decisions: Number 8 : Iss. 1 , Article 1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25035/pad.2022.01.001
Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/pad/vol8/iss1/1

Corresponding Author Information

Dana H. Tomeh

tomeh001@umn.edu