A recently reported psychological research study by scientists at Indiana University shows that if we think our students cannot do something because they are female or because they belong to a minority group, that alone is enough to reduce their learning significantly. It has been known for some time that negative stereotypes affect adversely performance on tests and in other skill-based acts, but this new study shows that negative stereotypes can also can inhibit actual learning. This is an important argument in favor of trying to avoid any stereotypes as we teach our classes, because our beliefs about students’ abilities and students’ perceptions of them can have devastating effects.
The study, “Stereotype threat prevents perceptual learning,” was published on July 26 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition. Co-authors are Richard M. Shiffrin, Kathryn L. Boucher, Katie Van Loo and Michael T. Rydell, all from Indiana University.
For a brief description of the study and its conclusions, click here.
* You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.