Why Barbie can't do Math: What Moderates, Mediates, and Alleviates Stereotype Threat

Past research has established that women perform more poorly on
difficult math tests and African Americans underperform on complex
verbal tasks whenever aspects of the situation prime their membership in
a negatively stereotyped group. In this talk, I will summarize a program
of research that has investigated these situations of stereotype threat
and their effects on women's math performance, in particular. In part
one of the talk, I will review our evidence of person factors that
interact with the situation to increase one's susceptibility to
stereotype threat effects. In part two of the talk, I will present a
series of studies examining working memory as a cognitive mechanism that
underlies these effects. Lastly I will present recent data from our
laboratory that identifies a surprisingly easy and practical approach to
helping students combat stereotype threat.