If successful role models undo stereotype threat effects by providing reassurance that group members can “take care of themselves,” then the same real-world role model might inspire those who think she deserved success, but fail to inspire those who think she did not. In a pilot study, some women participants listed Hillary Clinton high among women who deserved their success; others listed her high among women who did not deserve their success. The former participants, but not the latter, claimed her success came from internal and stable causes and would inspire them in difficult situations. In the main study, women rated how much Hillary Clinton deserved her success. One month later, they were placed under mathematics stereotype threat, read a factual biography of Hillary Clinton, and took a GRE-Q test. Those who had earlier claimed Clinton deserved her success scored as well as a test-only control group; those who had earlier claimed she did not deserve her success scored as poorly as a threat-only control group. The results are seen as contributing to theories of role models, stereotype threat, and attribution.
AronsonJ.FriedC. B.GoodC. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 113–125.
2.
AronsonJ.JannoneS.McGloneM.Johnson-CampbellT. (2009). The Obama effect: An experimental test. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 957–960.
3.
BarghJ. A.ChartrandT. L. (2000). The mind in the middle: A practical guide to priming and automaticity research. In ReisH. T.JuddC. M. (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology (pp. 253–285). New York, NY: Cambridge University.
4.
BrownR. P.JosephR. A. (1999). A burden of proof: Stereotype relevance and gender differences in math performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 246–257.
5.
CampbellD. E.WolbrechtC. (2006). See Jane run: Women politicians as role models of adolescents. The Journal of Politics, 68, 233–247.
6.
CohenP.CohenJ.WestS. G.AikenL. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbraum.
7.
CroizetJ. C.ClaireT. (1998). Extending the concept of stereotype threat to social class: The intellectual underperformance of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 588–594.
8.
CrispR. J.AbramsD. (2008). Improving intergroup attitudes and reducing stereotype threat: An integrated contact model. European Review of Social Psychology, 19, 242–284.
9.
CrispR. J.HewstoneM. (2006). Multiple social categorization: Context, process, and social consequences. In CrispR. J.HewstoneM. (Eds.), Multiple social categorization: Processes, models, and applications (pp. 3–22). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
10.
Dar-NimrodI.HeineS. J. (2006). Exposure to scientific theories affects women’s math performance. Science, 314, 435.
11.
GreskyD. M.Ten EyckL. L.LordC. G.McIntyreR. M. (2005). Effects of salient multiple identities on women’s performance under mathematics stereotype threat. Sex Roles, 53, 703–716.
12.
JohnsM.SchmaderT.MartensA. (2005). Knowing is half the battle: Teaching stereotype threat as a means of improving women’s math performance. Psychological Science, 16, 175–179.
13.
LockwoodP.KundaZ. (1997). Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 91–103.
14.
LockwoodP.KundaZ. (1999). Increasing the salience of one’s best selves can undermine inspiration by outstanding role models. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 214–228.
15.
LockwoodP.PinkusR. T. (2008). The impact of social comparisons on motivation. In ShahJ. Y.GarnderW. L. (Eds.), Handbook of motivation science (pp. 251–264). New York: Guilford Press.
16.
LockwoodP.SadlerP.FymanK.TuckS. (2004). To do or not to do: Using positive and negative role models to harness motivation. Social Cognition, 22, 422–450.
17.
MartensA.JohnsM.GreenbergJ.SchimelJ. (2006). Combating stereotype threat: The effect of self-affirmation on women’s intellectual performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 236–243.
18.
MarxD. M.KoS. J.FriedmanR. A. (2009). The “Obama effect”: How salient role model reduces race-based performance differences. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 953–956.
19.
MarxD. M.RomanJ. S. (2002). Female role models: Protecting women’s math test performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1183–1193.
20.
McIntyreR. B.LordC. G.GreskyD. M.Ten EckL. L.FryeJ. G. D.BondC. F. (2005). A social impact trend in the effects of role models on alleviating women’s mathematics stereotype threat. Current Research in Social Psychology, 10, 116–136.
21.
McIntyreR. B.PaulsonR. M.LordC. G. (2003). Alleviating women’s mathematics stereotype threat through salience of positive group characteristics. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 83–90.
22.
McIntyreR. B.PaulsonR. M.TaylorC. A.MorinA. L.LordC. G. (in press). Effects of role model deservingness on overcoming performance deficits induced by stereotype threat. European Journal of Social Psychology.
23.
NisbettR. E.WilsonT. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know. Psychological Review, 84, 231–259.
24.
RosenthalH. S.CrispR. J. (2006). Reducing stereotype threat by blurring intergroup boundaries. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 501–511.
25.
RydellR. J.McConnellA. R.BeilockS. L. (2009). Multiple social identities and stereotype threat: Imbalance, accessibility, and working memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 949–966.
26.
SchmaderT.JohnsM. (2003). Converging evidence that stereotype threat reduces working memory capacity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 440–452.
27.
SchmaderT.JohnsM.ForbesC. (2008). An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance. Psychological Review, 115, 326–356.
28.
SchwarzN. (1998). Accessible content and accessibility experiences: The interplay of declarative and experiential information in judgment. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2, 87–99.
29.
ShermanD. K.KiniasZ.MajorB.KimH. S.PrenovostM. (2007). The group as a resource: Reducing biased attributions for group success and failure via group affirmation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1100–1112.
30.
SpencerS. J.SteeleC. M.QuinnD. M. (1999). Stereotype threat and women’s math performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 4–28.
31.
SteeleC. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52, 613–629.
32.
SteeleC. M.AronsonJ. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797–811.
33.
SteeleC. M.SpencerS. J.AronsonJ. (2002). Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 34, pp. 379–440), San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
34.
StoneJ.LynchC. I.SjomelingM.DarleyJ. M. (1999). Stereotype threat effects on Black and White athletic performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1213–1227.
35.
SwimJ. K.SannaL. J. (1996). He’s skilled, she’s lucky: A meta-analysis of observers’ attributions for women’s and men’s successes and failures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 507–519.
36.
ThomanD. B.WhiteP. H.YamawakiN.KoishiH. (2008). Variations of gender–math content affect women’s vulnerability to stereotype threat. Sex Roles, 58, 702–712.
37.
WalshM.HickeyC.DuffyJ. (1999). Influence of item content and stereotype situation on gender differences in mathematical problem solving. Sex Roles, 41, 219–240.
38.
WeinerB. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92, 548–573.
39.
WeinerB. (1995). Inferences of responsibility and social motivation. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 27, pp. 1–47). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
40.
WeinerB.FriezeI.KuklaA.ReedL.RestS.RosenbaumR. M. (1987). Perceiving the causes of success and failure. In JonesE. E.KanouseD. E.KelleyH. H.NisbetttR. E.ValinsS.WeinerB. (Eds.), Attribution: Perceiving the causes of behavior (pp. 95–120). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
41.
WeinerB.KuklaA. (2000). An attributional analysis of achievement motivation. In HigginsE. T.KruglanskiA. W. (Eds.), Motivational science: Social and personality perspectives (pp. 380–393). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
