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Friday, September 1, 2006

Brief Intervention Improves Achievement of Students Subject to Negative 
Stereotyping, Study Finds

By RICHARD MONASTERSKY
In a striking experiment about stereotypes and academic achievement, 
African-American seventh graders performed better in school months 
after they were asked to spend 15 minutes thinking about their identity 
and values.

The results of the study, published in today's issue of the journal 
Science, demonstrate how racial stereotypes can adversely affect 
minority students and how simple interventions can partly counteract 
those stresses, researchers said on Thursday.

"It shows that their academic performance is tied to these pressures, 
and it gives us a better understanding of what's going on with minority 
students," said Claude M. Steele, a professor of psychology at Stanford 
University and director of its Center for Advanced Study in the 
Behavioral Sciences, who was not involved in the new study.

The experiment was led by Geoffrey L. Cohen, an associate professor of 
psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Julio Garcia, 
an associate research scientist at Yale University. The team worked 
with 243 seventh graders in social-studies classes at a suburban school 
in the Northeast, the location of which the researchers did not 
identify because they are continuing their work there. The researchers 
split the students into two groups and gave them different writing 
exercises. Students in one group were asked to read a list of values, 
pick the most important, and then describe why they made their choice. 
Students in a control group read the same list of values, selected the 
least important, and then described why their choice might be important 
to another person.
The students completed the assignment in class at the beginning of the 
fall term, and the researchers followed the progress of those students. 
At the end of the year, African-American students who had written about 
their most important values had better grades than did African-American 
students in the control group. The difference was about one-third of a 
grade point on a four-point scale, where an A is a 4 and a D is a 1.

White students who wrote about their most important values did not show 
any significant difference than white students in the control group.
The researchers were so surprised by the results that they repeated the 
experiment, waiting a year to get more data, Mr. Cohen said on 
Thursday. "We wanted to make sure it was replicable and reliable," he 
said.

The study fits into a body of research about the stresses caused by 
negative stereotypes that are attributed to a group. That effect, known 
as stereotype threat, was first described by Mr. Steele and his 
colleagues. The effect happens when a person is concerned -- either 
consciously or subconsciously -- about being a member of a group that 
is perceived as being inferior in some way. Researchers have 
demonstrated the effect in minority groups, women, and nonminority men, 
in settings as diverse as academic tests and miniature golf.

The new study differs from most previous work because Mr. Cohen and Mr. 
Garcia tested their intervention in the field, rather than in a 
laboratory setting in a university.

In the classes where the recent study was conducted, the achievement 
gap between African-American and white students was three-quarters of a 
grade point, so the experimental intervention reversed 40 percent of 
the gap, the researchers report. "These results suggest that the racial 
achievement gap, a major social concern in the United States, could be 
ameliorated by the use of timely and targeted social psychology 
interventions," Mr. Cohen and his colleagues conclude in their paper.

Mr. Steele said the intervention had an effect because it accomplished 
what good teachers routinely do: affirm students' sense of themselves 
and convey that they are valued. The results of the simple assignment 
are "dramatically encouraging," he said. But more research is needed, 
he said, before teachers could start implementing those strategies in 
the classroom.

Mr. Cohen agreed, saying he would not yet recommend trying to 
incorporate such interventions into schools. "This is not a silver 
bullet," he said. "We don't know how far this goes, whether it 
generalizes to urban settings or predominantly minority settings."
In a commentary also in Science, Timothy D. Wilson, a professor of 
psychology at the University of Virginia, praises the new study but 
warns against overemphasizing the importance of stereotype threat. "The 
achievement gap is surely caused by multiple factors, including 
poverty, racism, and lack of parental involvement," he wrote.

Following are more details of the experiment led by Mr. Cohen and Mr. 
Garcia:
Students were asked to select from a list of values the ones that were 
either most important or least important to them. The list included 
athletic ability, being good at art, being smart or getting good 
grades, creativity, independence, living in the moment, membership in a 
social group (such as your community, racial group, or school club), 
music, politics, relationships with friends or family, religious 
values, and sense of humor. Excerpts from responses the students gave 
follow:

 From African-American students who were asked to write about why 
certain values were important to them.
"My friends and family are most important to me when I have a difficult 
situation that needs to be talked about. My friends give me 
companionship and courage. My family gives me love and understanding." 
(female)

"Well being a great athlete and hitting the book are really the most 
important things in my life. I'm a great athlete when it comes to 
sports like basketball and football but when it comes to school I try 
and try to work as hard as I can to go to college and to make my family 
proud." (male)

 From African-American students in the control group, who were asked to 
describe why values that were least important to them would matter to 
another person.
"Athletic abilities may be important to someone who comes from an 
athletic family. They probably feel that everyone wants them to live up 
to the capabilities of your family member(s). It may be important to 
someone else because they are trying to live up to your dream of 
becoming a football player, basketball player or whatever. This is not 
important to me because I want to be a pediatrician or lawyer." 
(female)

"This value [being good at art] would be important to someone else 
because they might be good at that. They might best at it or the might 
be happy when they do it." (male)

 From European-American students who were asked to write about why 
certain values were important to them.
"This value [music] was important to me when I tried out for stage band 
or when I am at a concert. This was also important when I have to play 
for a grade. The reason why this is so important is because I love 
playing all 3 of my instruments because I picked alot of the harder 
instruments so it is more of a callenge. Such as my tenor saxophone I 
practice every night because I love the way it sounds. Same for my bass 
that I just started playing about 3 months ago." (male)

"The value of having close relationships with friends and family is 
important during school because that's where you are 75% of your life. 
Peers are a big issue. Friends mean the world to me because I always 
know they are there for me." (female)

 From European-American students in the control group, who were asked to 
describe why values that were least important to them would matter to 
another person.
"Art may be very important to someone else because maybe that person is 
very artistic. They may like to draw many pictures and love the subject 
during the school year. They might also like the experience of learning 
in a totally different area. That person might also believe that Art is 
essential to calm them down; make them relax. They might love the 
feeling of how the pencil, pen, marker, or crayon feels in their palm. 
Art might be the best way for them to express themselves. Sometimes, 
that person might find it eaisier to understand themselves best with 
Art. They might feel drawing is just fun." (female)

"Art would be important to someone who wanted to be an artist when they 
grow up. Being in a membership to a social group is if you planned 
helping your community all the time or if you wanted to start a club. 
Music would be important to someone who wanted to teach music write 
mosic or be a rock start. Politics would be important if you wanted to 
be a politican and get into that kind of stuff." (male

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Department
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel.: 805.756.2184
Dept. Ofc. Tel.: 805.756.2596
Dept. Fax: 805.756.6374
URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

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