Blog #11

 

 

      I have seen many instances of stereotype threat in my lifetime. Most of them, however, have been negative stereotypes. For example, I had a close white male friend named Josh who wanted to try out for the football team. It is not surprising to him that most of the already picked team were blacks. He described to me how awkward and uncomfortable he felt even trying out to be on the team. He made statements such as, “there was no way I would be able to run as fast of them, I mean come on they are all black, and I’m a small white guy, it felt weird just being there.” Josh was experiencing a stereotype threat because he was a white man trying out for a sport that typically is stereotyped as a black man’s sport. Therefore he felt inadequate for even trying to make the team, this in turn effected his performance in a negative way. I have also seen stereotype threat from my own personal experiences. When I was younger, my class was divided into math groups to better learn the lessons. Unfortunately for me, my group consisted of mainly males whom I’d been told were naturally better at math that girls. I believed this stereotype so much that I felt scared I would be judged constantly for my low math skills. However the truth was, I wasn’t bad at math, I was just scared of being judged by those I thought were better than me at math. My in group participation was effected, as I never raised my hand even when I knew I was correct. I was still always afraid somehow I would be wrong and the others would be right because they were said to be better at math. As a reader you will be happy to know that this all changed when groups were switched up and I was put into a group consisting of mainly girls. In this group, even though I was doing the same type of math I had been doing in my previous group, I excelled in my math skills and participation. I was much more comfortable was able to show my true skills. Stereotype threat is powerful.