Society has long maintained certain stereotypes about there being inherent differences in performance or natural ability between racial groups. For instance, that African Americans are better at sports than Caucasians, or that Caucasians perform better academically than African Americans, or that Asians are better at mathematics than Caucasians. These stereotypes are based on the assumption that certain racial groups are better in certain areas because of some inherent physical and/or intellectual superiority.
However, Sternberg, Grigorenko, and Kidd (2005) argue against the idea that genetics and race contribute to higher or lower intelligence. They note that there is no scientific evidence to prove that genetics, race, and intelligence are interrelated. Therefore, there are no genes that conclusively determine intelligence. Furthermore, Sternberg et al. (2005) state that race is a social construction rather than a genetic one. In this sense, the notion that African Americans are more athletic than Caucasians can not be proven scientifically.
However, these stereotypes do have an impact. For example, African Americans are fully aware that they are seen as being less intelligent than Caucasians. From elementary school through their college years, African American students are constantly working to prove that they are capable of succeeding in academic settings. This is no different than Caucasian students having to deal with the stereotype of being inferior to their Asian peers in the areas of mathematics, or that of being less athletic than their African American peers.
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However, it is not just stereotypes that are constructed by the society that can negatively impact students self-identities and confidence, but the fear of conforming to such stereotypes that can negatively impact students as well.
For instance, Steele and Aronson (1995) did a study comparing the academic performance of African American students and their Caucasian peers. Both sets of students were given a verbal test. One test was given to a group of students and were told that it’s a diagnostic test to measure their ability, and the other group was told that it was a non-diagnostic test. The result of these tests were striking. The African American students did significantly worse than their Caucasian peers when they were told that the test was a measure of their ability. However, when the African American students were given a non-diagnostic test, they did just as well as their Caucasian peers.
Steele and Aronson (1995) explain that African American students did worse on the diagnostic test because when they were told that it was a measure of their verbal ability, this heightened their awareness of the negative stereotype, and increased their pressure to perform well and avoid being an example of the stereotype. The added pressure may then have heightened their anxiety, and caused them to “choke” and perform below their ability level.
When the test was framed instead as a non-diagnostic test, the African American students scored more in line with their actual ability level, performing as well as their Caucasian peers. This study suggests that the difference in academic performance between different racial groups is not necessarily because of inherent differences, but sometimes perhaps due to the negative stereotyping of certain racial groups. Steel and Aronson (1995) called this phenomenon the theory of Stereotype Threat.
