A particular resiliency to threatening environments

Being in the numerical minority can impair intellectual performance. We suggest, however, that these negative eVects need not extend to everyone because some people—speciWcally high self-monitors—can overcome the eVects of situationally activated stereotypes. In two studies, we manipulated the race/sex composition of small groups and assessed intellectual performance. Results revealed that: (a) self-monitoring moderated the eVects of group-composition on performance, such that it was positively related to performance in stressful minority settings, (b) the number of out-group members in a group caused a linear eVect on performance that diVered for high and low self-monitors, and (c) stereotype activation mediated self-monitoring’s moderating eVect on performance. Thus, high self-monitors may be resilient to threatening environments because they react to negative stereotypes with increased (and not decreased) performance. We discuss these results in relation to theories of inter-group contact, stereotype threat, and stress and coping. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.