Beilock, S. L., Rydell, R. J., & McConnell, A. R. (2007). Stereotype threat and working memory: Mechanisms, alleviation, and spillover. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136, 256-276.
Stereotype threat (ST) occurs when the awareness of a negative stereotype about a social group
in a particular domain produces suboptimal performance by members of that group. Although ST
has been repeatedly demonstrated, far less is known about how its effects are realized. Using
mathematical problem solving as a test bed, in five experiments we demonstrate that ST harms
math problems that rely heavily on working memory resources – especially phonological aspects
of this system. Moreover, by capitalizing on an understanding of the cognitive mechanisms by
which ST exerts its impact, we show (a) how ST can be alleviated (e.g., by heavily practicing
once-susceptible math problems such that they are retrieved directly from long-term memory
rather than computed via a working-memory-intensive algorithm) and (b) when it will spill over
onto subsequent tasks unrelated to the stereotype in question but dependent on the same
cognitive resources that stereotype threat also utilizes. Together, the current work extends our
knowledge of the causal mechanisms of stereotype threat, as well as demonstrates how its effects
can be attenuated and propagated.