Rising to the threat: Reducing stereotype threat by reframing the threat as a challenge

Alter, Adam L.; Aronson, Joshua; Darley, John M.; Rodriguez, Cordaro; Ruble, Diane N.

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.09.014

Cited by 175 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Norem and Chang (2002) found that a small amount of anxiety causes people to prepare more thoroughly in advance of anxiety-inducing events. In other work, Alter et al (2010) found that reappraising feelings of anxiety as excitement (i.e., reframing threats as challenges) can both improve motivation and diminish stereotype threat. Quite possibly, both the magnitude and timing of anxious feelings moderate the influence of anxiety on behavior.…”

Section: Anxiety and Advice-taking 41mentioning

confidence: 96%

Anxiety, Advice, and the Ability to Discern: Feeling Anxious Motivates Individuals to Seek and Use Advice

Gino¹,

Wood²,

Schweitzer³

2011

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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Section: Anxiety and Advice-taking 41mentioning

confidence: 96%

Anxiety, Advice, and the Ability to Discern: Feeling Anxious Motivates Individuals to Seek and Use Advice

Gino¹,

Wood²,

Schweitzer³

2011

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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“…Crum and colleagues (Crum & Langer, 2007;Crum et al, 2013) found that priming a "stress-is-enhancing" mind-set, as opposed to a "stress-is-deteriorating" mind-set, increases cortisol reactivity and desire for feedback. Similarly, Alter, Aronson, Darley, Rodriguez, and Ruble (2010) demonstrated that subtly reframing a math test as a "challenge," as opposed to a "threat," decreases stereotype threat and improves subsequent math performance among high school and university students.…”

Section: Study 4: Psychological Mechanismmentioning

confidence: 97%

Get Excited: Reappraising Pre-performance Anxiety as Excitement

Brooks

2013

AMPROC

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Individuals often feel anxious in anticipation of tasks such as speaking in public or meeting with a boss. I find that an overwhelming majority of people believe trying to calm down is the best way to cope with pre-performance anxiety. However, across several studies involving karaoke singing, public speaking, and math performance, I investigate an alternative strategy: reappraising anxiety as excitement. Compared with those who attempt to calm down, individuals who reappraise their anxious arousal as excitement feel more excited and perform better. Individuals can reappraise anxiety as excitement using minimal strategies such as self-talk (e.g., saying "I am excited" out loud) or simple messages (e.g., "get excited"), which lead them to feel more excited, adopt an opportunity mind-set (as opposed to a threat mind-set), and improve their subsequent performance. These findings suggest the importance of arousal congruency during the emotional reappraisal process.

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“…Mean test scores under the mixed condition were virtually equivalent (8.37 for females and 8.25 for males). Alter et al (2010) conducted two experiments in which ability tests were characterized as challenges. Black school children took an age-appropriate standardized math test with racial salience (low vs. high) and test characterization (diagnostic vs. challenge) as independent variables.…”

Section: Amelioration Of Threat Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Under the high salience (threat) condition students did significantly better when the test was characterized as a challenge. In a second experiment, using White college students as participants, Alter et al (2010) compared students from poorly represented high schools with students whose high schools were well represented at a prestigious university and, in a preliminary analysis, found that students from under-represented schools were more anxious and felt more threatened. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions based on salience of high school (high or low) and test characterization (diagnostic Vs challenge) and given a test composed of questions from the quantitative section of the GRE.…”

Section: Amelioration Of Threat Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Stereotype Threat and Mathematics Test Scores

Ming¹

2011

Journal of Social Sciences

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Problem statement: Stereotype threat has repeatedly been shown to depress women's scores on difficult math tests. An attempt to replicate these findings in China found no support for the stereotype threat hypothesis. Our math test was characterized as being personally important for the student participants, an atypical condition in most stereotype threat laboratory research. Approach: To evaluate the effects of this personal demand, we conducted three experiments. Results: Experiment 1, where in Chinese students were tested with the added independent variable of test importance. Our results produced only marginally significant stereotype threat effects. Experiment 2, a replication of experiment 1, yielded completely different results, with no threat effects at all. Math-test scores were significantly higher in the threat condition for both men and women, consistent with the phenomena of stereotype lift and stereotype reactance. Experiment 3, which did not include the test-important variable, yielded no significant effects. Conclusion: Stereotype threat, in the mathematics domain, does not seem to be a problem for women in China. We discuss our results in terms of factors which moderate stereotype threat and societal differences in the U.S. and China.

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Rising to the threat: Reducing stereotype threat by reframing the threat as a challenge

Cited by 175 publications

References 30 publications

Anxiety, Advice, and the Ability to Discern: Feeling Anxious Motivates Individuals to Seek and Use Advice

Anxiety, Advice, and the Ability to Discern: Feeling Anxious Motivates Individuals to Seek and Use Advice

Get Excited: Reappraising Pre-performance Anxiety as Excitement

Gender, Stereotype Threat and Mathematics Test Scores

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