Take home message Understanding stereotype threat and wise criticism is essential for being a good mentor, supervisor or teacher

What are stereotype threat ? Stereotype: a prevalent belief about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things that may or may not reflect reality. Stereotype threat: the perceived risk of confirming a negative stereotype. Stereotype threat can cause underperformance Stereotype threat can lead to the belief that one is being judged unfairly Everyone can be a victim of stereotype threat Everyone has stereotypes

What is wise criticism? Wise Criticism – Criticism where you explicitly let someone know they are capable of a higher level of achievement. Wise criticism mitigates the effects of stereotype threat

Exercise Turn to your neighbor, can you recall a time that you felt judged by some for a superficial characteristic or when you worried about confirming a negative stereotype

Stereotype threat leads to underperformance Dr. Claude Steele describes in “Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us” For people under stereotype threat, activity in part of brain responsible for logic and reasoning activity in part of brain responsible for fight or flight blood flow © O'Reilly Science Art Anne Krendl, Jennifer Richeson, William Kelley and Todd Heatherton

Stereotype threat leads to underperformance Students with high SAT math scores Remind group A of gender before taking exam Tell group B that exam has no gender bias Women underperformed Women performed well Claude Steele and Steve Spencer

Stereotype threat leads to feelings of being judged unfairly Asked volunteers to test whether they were treated differently by others if they had a scar on their face Volunteers spent time in make-up and saw how they looked with the scar but before they went into the meeting, the scar was wiped off without their knowledge Volunteers reported discrimination © O'Reilly Science Art Kleck & Strenta 1980

Exercise: Identify that stereotype Script – postdoc walks into lab to talk with two new summer interns, one from a small school and one from a big one. Postdoc says to small college student –” here let me do this for you – you probably don’t have labs at your school.” Postdoc then turns to summer intern from large school and says “I bet you don’t have any questions, do you?” What are the stereotypes? Why are these stereotypes harmful for the small college student AND for the large research university student? Summer intern from small college Summer intern From large research university

Who can be a victim of stereotype threat? Everyone! Studies show that the STRONGEST students are often the most affected. A top reputation can lead to Impostor syndrome. © O'Reilly Science Art

Impostor syndrome Demographics [edit] The impostor syndrome was once thought to be particularly common among women who are successful in their given careers, but has since been shown to occur for an equal number of men. It is commonly associated with academics and is widely found among graduate students. [edit]

Exercise The title of Steele’s latest work “Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us” comes from a story he heard of a young African-American man who whistled music from the classical musician Vivaldi as he was walked down the streets of Chicago. This whistling, the young man thought, would disarm the tensions of the elderly people he thought were afraid of him and harbored negative stereotypes about him. Steele asserts that we all “whistle Vivaldi” from time to time. Have you ever “whistled Vivaldi”? SAYING THAT YOU ARE FROM MIT Dyslexia Saying in a chemistry class that you are a biology student; in a physics class that you are a chem student

Who has stereotypes? Everyone! © O'Reilly Science Art

Who has stereotypes? fake CVs designed to have same qualifications but with male name or female name name Male candidate is picked more often Which candidate is better?

But logical scientists don’t have stereotypes, right? Just changed the name on the CV and everything else was the same. Different researcher were then ask about hireability. Male students were judged by both male and female professors to be more hireable, more competent, easier to mentor. Also you asked about salary, the male name was viewed as deserving more pay. Lab manager position. Moss-Racusin et al 2012 PNAS

Counteracting Stereotype Threat Use wise criticism to create trust Definition of Wise criticism—criticism in which you explicitly tell the student that you think they are capable of attaining a high level of success and achievement—helps students feel less defensive and less threatened.

Counteracting Stereotype Threat Which response would you rather hear when you scored poorly on a test?

Counteracting Stereotype Threat Giving no feedback

An informal survey How do you know that you are good enough to apply for faculty positions? “If my advisor doesn’t say I’m good enough for a particular position, I assume that I must not be qualified.” “Unless my advisor tells me not to apply, I assume that I’m qualified.” Saying nothing sends a message that you might not intend

Counteracting Stereotype Threat Change the narrative.   Particularly for typically high-achievers, it is important to reassure them that everyone has difficulty at some point in their career. Essentially, this serves as a counter-narrative to the stories they are telling themselves about how no one else who is successful has ever struggled to perform well.

Exercise Exercise: Recall a moment when a mentor shared a story with you about a time when he or she struggled with a concept or felt inadequate, but then reached a high level of achievement or recall your own story.

Summary The bad news We all have stereotypes We can all be victims of stereotype threat Stereotype treat can lead to underperformance and the feeling of being judged unfairly The good news Wise criticism mitigate the effects of stereotype threat