Despite widespread evidence for the performance costs of stereotype threat, little research has examined other psychological consequences, such as disengagement or disidentification. The present studies investigated such consequences of stereotype threat for women working at major international firms. Study 1 found that female leaders who experienced stereotype threat separated their feminine identities from their work-related (i.e., more masculine) identity. Study 2 extended this finding by demonstrating that even when the feminine identity comprised those characteristics that serve women well in the workplace (e.g., being understanding and aware of the feelings of others), female employees still engaged in identity separation after experiences of stereotype threat. These results suggest that stereotype threat is an ongoing concern in the workplace, and they provide evidence for psychological consequences of stereotype threat.
BassB. M.AvolioB. J.AtwaterL. (1996). The transformational and transactional leadership of men and women. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 45, 5–34.
2.
BemS. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155–162.
3.
BrownS. P. (1996). A meta-analysis and review of organizational research of job involvement. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 235–255.
4.
CokleyK. O. (2002). Ethnicity, gender and academic self-concept: A preliminary examination of academic disidentification and implications for psychologists. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8, 378–388.
5.
CrockerJ.MajorB.SteeleC. (1998). Social stigma. In GilbertD. T.FiskeS. T.GardnerL. (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (4th ed., pp. 504–553). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
6.
CullenM. J.HardisonC. M.SackettP. R. (2004). Using SAT-grade and ability-job performance relationships to test predictions derived from stereotype threat theory. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 220–230.
7.
EaglyA. H.Johannesen-SchmidtM. C.van EngenM. L. (2003). Transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles: A meta-analysis comparing women and men. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 569–591.
8.
EaglyA. H.JohnsonB. T. (1990). Gender and leadership style: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 233–256.
9.
EaglyA. H.MakhijianiM. G.KlonskyB. G. (1992). Gender and the evaluation of leaders: a Meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 3–22.
10.
HeilmanM. E.BlockC. J.MartellR. F.SimonM. C. (1989). Has anything changed? Current characterizations of men, women, and managers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 935–942.
11.
HessT. M.AumanC.ColcombeS. J.RahhalT. A. (2003). The impact of stereotype threat on age differences in memory performance. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 58B, 3–11.
12.
InzlichtM.Ben-ZeevT. (2000). A threatening intellectual environment: Why females are susceptible to experiencing performance deficits in the presence of males. Psychological Science, 11, 365–371.
13.
MajorB.SchmaderT. (1998). Coping with stigma through psychological disengagement. In SwimJ. K.StangorC. (Eds.), Prejudice: The target’s perspective (pp. 219–241). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
14.
MarxD. M.RomanJ. S. (2002). Female role models: Protecting women’s math test performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1183–1193.
15.
MarxD. M.StapelD. A.MullerD. (2005). We can do it: The interplay of construal orientation and social comparisons under threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 432–446.
16.
MurphyM. C.SteeleC. M.GrossJ. J. (2007). Signaling threat: How situational cues affect women in math, science, and engineering settings. Psychological Science, 18, 879–885.
17.
NussbaumA. D.SteeleC. M. (2007). Situational disengagement and persistence in the face of adversity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 127–134.
18.
OsborneJ. W. (1995). Academics, self-esteem, and race: A look at the underlying assumptions of the disidentification hypothesis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 449–455.
19.
OsborneJ. W. (1997). Race and academic disidentification. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 728–735.
20.
PowellG. N.ButterfieldA. D.ParentJ. D. (2002). Gender and managerial stereotypes: Have the times changed?Journal of Management, 28, 177–193.
21.
ProninE.SteeleC. M.RossL. (2004). Identity bifurcation in response to stereotype threat: Women and mathematics. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 152–168.
22.
SackettP. R. (2003). Stereotype threat in applied selection settings: A commentary. Human Performance, 16, 295–309.
23.
SaksA. (2006). Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21, 600–619.
24.
ScheinV. E. (1973). The relationship between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 57, 95–100.
25.
SchmaderT.JohnsM. (2003). Converging evidence that stereotype threat reduces working memory capacity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 440–452.
26.
SchmaderT.MajorB.GramzowR. H. (2001). Coping with ethnic stereotypes in the academic domain: Perceived injustice and psychological disengagement. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 93–111.
27.
SekaquaptewaD.ThompsonM. (2002). Solo status, stereotype threat, and performance expectancies: Their effects on women’s performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 68–74.
28.
SettlesI. H. (2004). When multiple identities interfere: The role of identity centrality. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 487–500.
29.
SettlesI. H.SellersR. M.DamasA.Jr. (2002). One role or two? The function of psychological separation in role conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 574–582.
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. 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. Vol. 34, pp. 379–440). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
34.
von HippelC.IsaM.MaR.StokesA. (in press). Stereotype threat: Antecedents and consequences for working women. European Journal of Social Psychology,
35.
YeungN. C. J.von HippelC. (2008). Stereotype threat increases the likelihood that female drivers in a simulator run over jaywalkers. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 40, 667–674.
