Predicting Stereotype Threat, Test Anxiety, and Cognitive Ability Test Performance: An Examination of Three Models

Sawyer, Thomas P.; Hollis-Sawyer, Lisa

doi:10.1207/s15327574ijt0503_3

Cited by 29 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…To invoke threatening feelings, research participants are subjected to situational cues that elicit negative stereotype activation. For example, research on African Americans has most commonly used "diagnosis" versus "non-diagnosis" conditions (Brown and Day 2006;Davis et al 2006;Marx and Goff 2005;Mayer and Hanges 2003;McFarland et al 2003;McKay et al 2002McKay et al , 2003Nguyen et al 2003;Ployart et al 2003;Sawyer and Hollis-Sawyer 2005;Smith and Hopkins 2004;Steele and Aronson 1995). In the former condition, individuals are informed that an upcoming test will be indicative of intelligence level.…”

Section: Methodology In the Stereotype Threat Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Caucasian individuals, on the other hand, are often unaffected by the experimental manipulation and perform at the same level on tests regardless of condition (McKay et al 2002; because of the lack of personal relevance of the stereotype. Other experimental manipulations to induce stereotype threat for African Americans include presenting an intelligence test as culturally biased (Blascovich et al 2001;Major et al 1998), or asking participants to indicate their race prior to completing an evaluative task (Davis et al 2006;Marx and Goff 2005;McFarland et al 2003;Nguyen et al 2003;Sawyer and Hollis-Sawyer 2005;Steele and Aronson 1995).…”

Section: Methodology In the Stereotype Threat Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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A Review of the Stereotype Threat Literature and Its Application in a Neurological Population

2008

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Stereotype threat is a situational phenomenon, leading to test performance decrements, in which a member of a stigmatized group feels pressured by the possibility of confirming or being judged by a negative stereotype. This review article highlights the progression of research in the stereotype threat field, and its relevance to neurological populations. Early studies focused on demonstrating this effect in African American, women, and elderly populations. Since this time, research has continued to focus on these populations but has moved to elucidating stereotype threat's mediating psychological factors, studying the impact of individual differences in response to stereotype threat, and attempting to reduce its overall effect. A proposal for further study in neurological populations, under the framework of stereotype threat, comprises the last portion of the paper. It is argued that this social psychological phenomenon may, at least in part, account for poor neuropsychological test performance for neurologically compromised individuals.

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Section: Methodology In the Stereotype Threat Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodology In the Stereotype Threat Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Stereotype Threat Literature and Its Application in a Neurological Population

2008

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“…The effects of test anxiety have been reported in a variety of studies in general education as well as in second/foreign language education (Hembree 1988;Gregersen et al 2014;Sawyer 2005;Vitasari et al 2010). Hembree's (1988) meta-analysis of 562 studies found that test anxiety did cause poor performance and that anxiety was inversely related to students' positive self-esteem and directly correlated to their fear of negative evaluation and their defensiveness.…”

Section: Cognitive Test Anxietymentioning

confidence: 99%

How does anxiety influence language performance? From the perspectives of foreign language classroom anxiety and cognitive test anxiety

2018

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This study examined the relationships between students' foreign language classroom anxiety and cognitive test anxiety and their College English Test Band 4 (CET-4) performance. A questionnaire was distributed to 921 Chinese university students to understand the nature and degree of the examined relationships. Follow-up interviews with 12 students were used to shed further light on uncovering mechanisms of relationships found in the survey. Results revealed three factors of anxiety, explaining 43. 14% of the total variance examined in the quesionnaire items. Means, standard deviations, the internal consistency for each factor, and zero-order correlations among the three factors were calculated. Correlation and multiple regression of the anxiety factors and test scores were then conducted. Results confirmed that cognitive test anxiety factor was a significant negative predictor of language achievement. Interview results did not fully support the relationships found in the survey. Most students did not perceive themselves to be very anxious in their university settings, either in classrooms or in testing situations. However, they did express their anxiety toward English speaking skills in the classroom. The differential perspectives of anxiety revealed from both analyses indicate that a better understanding of language classroom anxiety and cognitive test anxiety can help students and teachers optimize their foreign langauge learning and teaching practices.

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“…Meta-analytic evidence suggests that test anxiety and test performance are negatively correlated [53] and subsequent empirical work further supports this finding [36,38,44,46,[54][55][56]. However, the nature of this relationship is still debated.…”

Section: Test Anxiety and Test Performance: Interference And Deficit mentioning

confidence: 92%

The Impact of Situational Test Anxiety on Retest Effects in Cognitive Ability Testing: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

2019

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When a cognitive ability is assessed repeatedly, test scores and ability estimates are often observed to increase across test sessions. This phenomenon is known as the retest (or practice) effect. One explanation for retest effects is that situational test anxiety interferes with a testee’s performance during earlier test sessions, thereby creating systematic measurement bias on the test items (interference hypothesis). Yet, the influence of anxiety diminishes with test repetitions. This explanation is controversial, since the presence of measurement bias during earlier measurement occasions cannot always be confirmed. It is argued that people from the lower end of the ability spectrum become aware of their deficits in test situations and therefore report higher anxiety (deficit hypothesis). In 2014, a structural equation model was proposed that specifically allows the comparison of these two hypotheses with regard to explanatory power for the negative anxiety–ability correlation found in cross-sectional assessments. We extended this model for usage in longitudinal studies to investigate the impact of test anxiety on test performance and on retest effects. A latent neighbor-change growth curve was implemented into the model that enables an estimation of retest effects between all pairs of successive test sessions. Systematic restrictions on model parameters allow testing the hypothetical reduction in anxiety interference over the test sessions, which can be compared to retest effect sizes. In an empirical study with seven measurement occasions, we found that a substantial reduction in interference upon the second test session was associated with the largest retest effect in a figural matrices test, which served as a proxy measure for general intelligence. However, smaller retest effects occurred up to the fourth test administration, whereas evidence for anxiety-induced measurement bias was only produced for the first two test sessions. Anxiety and ability were not negatively correlated at any time when the interference effects were controlled for. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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Predicting Stereotype Threat, Test Anxiety, and Cognitive Ability Test Performance: An Examination of Three Models

Cited by 29 publications

References 34 publications

A Review of the Stereotype Threat Literature and Its Application in a Neurological Population

A Review of the Stereotype Threat Literature and Its Application in a Neurological Population

How does anxiety influence language performance? From the perspectives of foreign language classroom anxiety and cognitive test anxiety

The Impact of Situational Test Anxiety on Retest Effects in Cognitive Ability Testing: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

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