Geoffrey Cohen, assistant professor of psychology at Yale University, presented a lecture titled "Stereotype Threat and the Academic Achievement of Underrepresented Students" in KJ Auditorium on October 20.
Kirk Pillow introduced Prof. Cohen, and informed an audience of Hamilton students and faculty members that this lecture coincides with the college's initiative to diversify the student body and the faculty, as well as the academic curriculum at Hamilton.
Cohen began his lecture by asking the audience to imagine a hypothetical situation in which it is unknown what people around you are thinking about you; "it may be hard to relax" he explained. This feeling of apprehension is known as "stereotype threat," which Cohen defined as "the fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one's group." This general definition can be applied to all different stereotyped groups, he said.
The premise of Cohen's experiment and research is that stereotype threat can cause anxiety, self-doubt, and mistrust. These feelings can (and have been proven to) undermine performance, especially in high-stakes, high-stress scenarios.
Cohen explained many different experiments from the last 10 years regarding stereotype threat and academic performance for different groups in various situations. He looked at minority students and white students on a high-stakes math test, the performance of men and women on the math test, among others. Although the experiments varied greatly, they all yielded the same result: students who would have felt the apprehension or the stereotype threat, (the minority group on a GRE test and the women completing the math test) scored significantly better when the apprehension or stereotype was removed from the situation.
Cohen described many other situational experiments that yielded the same results, concerning the elderly and memory, white men and basketball, white students and math, poor students and test performance, and minority students receiving critical feedback in school. Cohen explained in detail an experiment that concerned critical feedback in school and how it relates to stereotype threat; he researched how to give good critical feedback with out undermining motivation in schools. The answer, Cohen found, was by giving students positive buffers when giving critical feedback.
What can an institution do about the problem regarding stereotype threat? Cohen's research suggests that schools need to demand high standards and assure students that they can reach those standards, essentially erasing the threat of confirming a negative stereotype. The University of Michigan has used this approach in their 21st Century Program, and has seen amazing results.
A brief question and answer session followed the lecture, which was sponsored by The Dean of Faculty.
Cohen's research concerns group identity and its impact on motivation, judgment, and conflict. A graduate of Stanford University, he is the recipient of several prestigious grants from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. He is also the author or co-author of numerous articles, including several on stereotype threat co-written with Claude Steele.
-- by Emily Lemanczyk '05
