Recursive Processes in Self-Affirmation: Intervening to Close the Minority Achievement Gap

Abstract

A 2-year follow-up of a randomized field experiment previously reported in Science is presented. A subtle intervention to lessen minority students' psychological threat related to being negatively stereotyped in school was tested in an experiment conducted three times with three independent cohorts (N = 133, 149, and 134). The intervention, a series of brief but structured writing assignments focusing students on a self-affirming value, reduced the racial achievement gap. Over 2 years, the grade point average (GPA) of African Americans was, on average, raised by 0.24 grade points. Low-achieving African Americans were particularly benefited. Their GPA improved, on average, 0.41 points, and their rate of remediation or grade repetition was less (5% versus 18%). Additionally, treated students' self-perceptions showed long-term benefits. Findings suggest that because initial psychological states and performance determine later outcomes by providing a baseline and initial trajectory for a recursive process, apparently small but early alterations in trajectory can have long-term effects. Implications for psychological theory and educational practice are discussed.

Self-affirmation facilitates minority middle schoolers' progress along college trajectories

“…For this reason, the consequences of psychological threat and affirmation may be relatively large. As documented in previous randomized experiments reported by our research group (13)(14)(15), the selfaffirmation process improves academic outcomes in the middle school transition for minority youth. Responding to a series of structured writing assignments distributed by their teachers at the beginning of the academic year and before tests throughout the year, middle schoolers reflected on the importance of core values in their lives.…”

“…Randomized experiments conducted during transitions to middle school (13)(14)(15), high school, and college (11,12,16,17) have shown that brief interventions that support adaptive psychological processes improve grades and school retention. They do so by encouraging students to reflect on core values (13)(14)(15), by assuring them of their belonging in school (11,12), by highlighting the personal relevance of academic coursework (16), or by cultivating the belief that intelligence is malleable rather than fixed (11,17). No study, however, has shown that a psychological process altered at one transition has persistent and direct causal effects on outcomes at later transitions and in new institutions years later, and, if this does occur, how.…”

Positive activities as protective factors against mental health conditions.

“…Self-affirmation has also been found to reduce negative emotions and relatively increase need satisfaction, flow, and meaning in life , as well as buffer physiological responses to stressful situations (Creswell et al, 2005;Sherman, Bunyan, Creswell, & Jaremka, 2009), and boost academic outcomes (Cohen, Garcia, Apfel, & Master, 2006;Cohen, Garcia, Purdie-Vaughns, Apfel, & Brzustoski, 2009). Taken together, these benefits of one simple positive activity can intervene at multiple points of the risk-factor-to-disorder trajectory.…”

Stereotype threat prevents perceptual learning

“…Distinguishing the effects of ST on generalized performance from effects on learning is not trivial. For example, eliminating ST reduced the achievement gap between Caucasian and African American middle-school students over a 2-y period (14). However, this narrowing of the achievement gap could have been a result of improved performance associated with reductions in ST, or it could have been because of increased learning after ST was reduced.…”