Can Writing Push Back Against Stereotype Threat?

Stereotype threat is the idea that, when a person is reminded of a stereotype of a group to which they belong, then that person might enact the stereotype as they carry out tasks. One famous study, for example, found that Asian-American women performed better on a math test when researchers had them think about their Asian-American identity before the test; participants performed worse when researchers had the women think about their gender before the test.

So, if students perform worse on assessments if they're thinking about negative stereotypes, how might educators help their students to push back against those stereotypes? One way, according to Cohen et. al (2006), is to use journalling.

The researchers gave students a list of values. Through written instructions, they asked students to select the value that was most important to them, and to then write a paragraph about why. The idea was, by focusing on positive aspects of their personalities, youth would be primed to focus on positive associations with their identities rather than on negative stereotypes. They found that, in doing so, they reduced the racial achievement gap by 40%.

In his blog, Not Exactly Rocket Science, Ed Yong points out that this research has a lot of positives: it's inexpensive, it's easy, it seems to have long-term effects, and it points out that poor performance in school is often a social issue that can be addressed rather than an indicator that there's something wrong with the students.

One question that arises from the research is: with all the things that go on in a classroom on a day to day basis, is it possible that one 15 minute writing session is really what changed how students perceived their abilities? The researchers themselves noted that they looked at how students did based on a very small number of interventions. Students only wrote for 15 minutes once the first year, and they followed up 2-3 times the next year.

That said, as interventions go, it's quick and easy. Furthermore, for teachers using Writer's Notebooks and/or a Writing Workshop model, it's the type of writing prompt that many of us use at the beginning of the school year anyhow.

Let us know if you try out the writing prompt and if you see it impacting your students!

Cohen, G., Garcia, J., Apfel, N., & Master, A. (2006, September 1). Reducing the racial achievement gap: A social-psychological intervention. Science, 313, 1307-1310.

Shih, M; Pittinsky, T.L.; Trahan, A. (2006). "Domain-specific effects of stereotypes on performance". Self and Identity. 5 (1): 1–14. 

Yong, E. (2009, April 16). Simple writing exercise helps break vicious cycle that holds back black students. Retrieved from Not Exactly Rocket Science: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2009/04/16/simple-writing-exercise-helps-break-vicious-cycle-that-holds-back-black-students/