Competition in stereotyped domains: Competition, social comparison, and stereotype threat

Abstract

The current work examines a novel and specific way in which competition can hurt the performance of negatively stereotyped individuals: by evoking stereotype threat. In four experiments, we demonstrate that women's underperformance in math when primed with competition was due to feeling worried about confirming negative stereotypes about women's math ability (i.e., stereotype threat), that the activation of negative performance stereotypes for women primed with competition was due to increased group-level social comparisons (i.e., comparing the self with men and women), and that priming competition led men to perform more poorly than women in a domain where they are negatively stereotyped (i.e., verbal ability). This research suggests that priming people with competition in contexts where they are negatively stereotyped leads to greater social comparison, activation of negative stereotypes, and concern about confirming these stereotypes, thereby decreasing stereotyped individuals' performance in the stereotyped domain.

Does Stereotype Threat Affect Men in Language Domains?

“…An experiment by Pansu et al (2016) showed that boys who identified strongly with reading performed more poorly at a reading task after a subtle stereotype threat when controlling for reading ability. Van Loo et al (2013) found that men primed with competition (as a subtle stereotype threat induction) performed more poorly on a verbal test than men in the control condition, whereas women were unaffected. Similarly, Hirnstein et al (2014) found that subtle stereotype threat instructions decreased men’s performance on a verbal fluency task (which involved listing words beginning with certain letters and creating four-word sentences using words beginning with specific letters).…”

“…We did not notice any clear systematic differences between the dependent variables of studies finding stereotype threat effects and those not finding them, and in fact, some studies have found opposite results with identical language tasks as dependent variables ( Hirnstein et al, 2012 , 2014 ). Furthermore, some results supporting a stereotype threat effect have been found only under specific conditions, and all have used native language tasks such as sentence construction, reading, or GRE-verbal type tests ( Keller, 2007b ; Van Loo et al, 2013 ; Pansu et al, 2016 ).…”

State Authenticity as Fit to Environment: The Implications of Social Identity for Fit, Authenticity, and Self-Segregation

“…There is some evidence that those who are socially stigmatized engage in more downward social comparisons to enhance their emotional well-being (Finlay, Dinos, & Lyons, 2001; Finlay & Lyons, 2000; Siegel, 1995), a strategy that can be psychologically beneficial among college students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (Johnson, Richeson, & Finkel, 2011). However, there is also evidence that, in performance contexts, those primed to think about negative stereotypes engage in more social comparisons with both the disadvantaged ingroup and the advantaged outgroup (Van Loo, Boucher, Rydell, & Rydell, 2013; C. von Hippel, Issa, Ma, & Stokes, 2011), indicating a more general inclination to define oneself through social comparison.…”

Does Stereotype Threat Affect Men in Language Domains?

“…An experiment by Pansu, Régner, Max, Colé, Nezlek, and Huguet (2016) showed that boys who identified strongly with reading performed more poorly at a reading task after a subtle stereotype threat when controlling for reading ability. Van Loo, Boucher, Rydell, and Rydell (2013) found that men who were primed with competition (intended as a subtle stereotype threat induction) performed more poorly on a verbal test than unprimed men, while women were unaffected.…”

“…Results of how stereotypes affect men's performance on language-related tasks, then, have not been consistent, with some evidence pointing to stereotype threat and other evidence showing stereotype reactance. Furthermore, some results supporting a stereotype threat effect have been found only under specific conditions, and all have used native language tasks such as sentence construction, reading, or GRE-verbal type tests (Keller, 2007;Pansu et al, 2016;Van Loo et al, 2013).…”