200 Chapter 6is due to effort rather than ability, or educating people
about stereotype threat.
■ Stereotype threat may interfere with performance
by reducing cognitive capacity and/or by increasing
anxiety.Conceptions of the Self
Cross and Madson (1997) argue that many
of the sex differences we observe in behavior
are due to the different ways men and women
define themselves. Men maintain an indepen-
dent sense of self that is separate from others,
or anindependent self-construal; women, by
contrast, maintain an interdependent sense
of self in which others are integrated into
the self, or a relational-interdependent self-
construal(Cross & Morris, 2003; Guimond
et al., 2006). Men are more likely to describe
themselves in terms of their independence
from others (e.g., emphasizing personal attri-
butes and skills), and women are more likely
to describe themselves in terms of their con-
nection to others (e.g., emphasizing roles and
relationships to others). Women think more
about other people, pay more attention to
others, and have greater recall for informa-
tion about others.
However, sex differences in self-construal
are not universal. Guimond and colleagues
(2007) argue that sex differences in self-
construal are variable and that social compari-
son processes influence these sex differences.
When women and men make between-group
comparisons (i.e., women compare them-
selves to men and men compare themselves
to women), sex differences in self-construal
increase. When men and women make within-
group comparisons (i.e., men compare them-
selves to men and women compare themselves
to women), sex differences in self-construal
decrease. Guimond and colleagues argue thatwas viewed as a math test but information on
stereotype threat was provided.
Finally, researchers also have tried to un-
derstandhowstereotype threat affects perfor-
mance. One possibility is that stereotype threat
provokes anxiety which then interferes with
performance (Bosson, Haymovitz, & Pinel,
2004). Others have suggested that stereotype
threat interferes with performance by reducing
one’s cognitive capacity or one’s ability to focus
on the task (Koenig & Eagly, 2005). Either of
these mechanisms is consistent with the find-
ings from a functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) study (Krendl et al., 2008).
A group of college women who identified
themselves with math (i.e., math was impor-
tant to them) were asked to complete some
math problems while in the scanner after
either being told that there are sex differences
in math ability (stereotype threat) or not (con-
trol). In the control condition, solving math
problems was associated with activation of
regions in the brain that are linked to math
calculations (e.g., angular gyrus). In the stereo-
type threat condition, those same regions of
the brain werenotactivated but regions related
to processing emotions (e.g., ventral anterior
cingulated cortex) were activated.TAKE HOME POINTS
■ Stereotype threat is the idea that activating a ste-
reotype may create a concern with confirming the
stereotype and thereby interfere with performance. In
the area of gender, it has most often been applied to
women’s math performance.
■ The effects of stereotype threat on those who strongly
identify with a domain may be transient if they discount
the validity of a poor performance.
■ The effects of stereotype threat may be nullified by dis-
counting the stereotype, indicating that the stereotypeM06_HELG0185_04_SE_C06.indd 200 6/21/11 8:10 AM