Adapting the values affirmation intervention to a multi-stereotype threat framework for female students in STEM

Abstract

We examined if an adapted version of a brief social psychological intervention following a multi-threat framework can enhance the mental task performance of female college students under stereotype threat. In experiment 1, under self-as-target stereotype threat, as expected, students who were exposed to the self-affirmation intervention had the highest task performance. However, under group-as-target stereotype threat, we found similar performances of the students in both the self-affirmation and group-affirmation conditions compared to control condition. In experiment 2, we showed that the extent a female student is identified with her gender group moderates the effectiveness of the group-affirmation intervention. The current research encourages researchers to consider different understandings of self while instituting common stereotype threat interventions rather than taking a uniform approach.