Positive, Math-unrelated Priming and Women's Math Performance

Stereotype threat occurs when negative stereotypes about group performance on a particular task are made salient, thereby negatively affecting group member performance. Specifically, research has demonstrated that stereotype-threatened women underperform on tests of mathematical ability (Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999). A possibility for reducing stereotype threat in women was explored by having female participants (under stereotype threat) read either a passage about positive comparison targets in the math-unrelated domain of politics (i.e., competent female political figures) or a passage without comparison targets. Performance scores on a subsequent math test were then determined. We hypothesized that the presentation of positive, mathunrelated comparison targets would decrease threat and thus improve math performance scores. However, results indicated that the scores of the participants presented with the comparison targets did not significantly differ from those of participants not presented with the comparison target. The importance of the relationship between the domain of the positive comparison targets and the domain of the task at hand is considered.