Stereotypes, Stereotype Threat and Job Selection
Dr Sharon Coen
Re-Engineering Gender
University of Salford, June 22nd 2015
• Stereotypes• The deep root of our biased thinking:
measuring ‘implicit associations’• Consequences of stereotyping• Stereotype threat• Counteracting stereotype threat
Outline
What do you know about this person?
• Favourite food?• Favourite transport?• Favourite movie?• What does X do in their free time?• What is X’s dream vacation?
X
X
Stereotypes - definition
• Widely shared generalisation about members of a social group (Hogg &Vaughan, 2005, p. 54)
…typing ‘intelligent’ in PowerPoint Clip Art…
Romantic
Intelligent
Caring
Aggressive
‘Intelligent People’ search on Google Images:
47 unique males, 3 females in the first screen
An association which runs deep…. The Gender-Career IAT• The IAT (Implicit Association Test) measures the
strength of association between concepts and attributes by looking at differences in how quickly one classifies relevant items into pre-established categories
• Take the Gender-Career IAT
What are the consequences of stereotyping?
• Stereotyping others: stereotype-consistent expectations attribution biases self fulfilling prophecies prejudice, discrimination
• Stereotyping Self: stereotype threat
Stereotype Threat
• ‘being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group’ (Steele & Aronson, 1995).
• Spencer, Steel and Quinn, 1999 study 2
• Participants: University students good at maths
• 2 tasks, equal difficulty:– Half participants told the first task would lead to gender differences
and the second wouldn’t
– Half were told the second task would lead to gender differences and the first wouldn’t
Stereotype threat: Women and Maths
Stereotype Threat: Women and Maths
• Reframing the task• De-emphasizing threatened social identities• Encouraging self affirmation• Providing role models
More on Reducing stereotype threat
How can we reduce stereotype threat?
•Task: how can we apply this to a job interview?
How can we reduce stereotype threat?
Summary
• We defined stereotypes• We looked at some potential sources of such
stereotypes• We looked at how deep rooted stereotypes are• We provided examples of some effects that stereotyping
has on individuals’ social interactions and performance• We looked at the effects stereotypes have on
individuals’ self-beliefs and performance• We applied strategies to reduce thi risk to a job
interview situation