Girls’ internalization of their female teacher’s anxiety: A “real-world” stereotype threat effect?

The deleterious effects that stereotypes can have on girls’ school performance in mathematics are best exemplified by the stereotype threat paradigm (1) showing that when women are reminded of stereotypes alleging male superiority in math, their math performance suffers (2). However, evidence is mixed on how much these threat effects apply to girls’ math performance in “real-world” settings (3), and how girls develop their vulnerability in the first place.


1. Steele CM, Aronson JM(1995) Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African-Americans. J Pers Soc Psychol 69:797–811.
2. Nguyen H-HD,Ryan AM (2008) Does stereotype threat affect test performance of minorities and women? A meta-analysis of experimental evidence. J Appl Psychol 93:1314–1334.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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