Stereotype threat refers to when someone is at risk of confirming a self-characteristic which is a negative stereotype associated with the social group the person belongs to (Spencer et al, 2016). People may be grouped into a different social group using various characters such as race, gender, age, social status among others. Each social group is associated with both positive or negative stereotypes which are possessed by the majority of members within that group. Therefore, when someone is exposed or reminded about these stereotypes especially the negative ones, he or she is at a higher risk of confirming them. Research on stereotype threat has been done in different fields mostly on how it affects education performance, working abilities of people of different age groups among others. But there is limited research on the impact of stereotype threat toward the behavior change on individuals who are exposed to it. Therefore, this essay will focus on several behavior changes that have been identified on other types of researches, and create a baseline of which researchers can concentrate on when researching how stereotype threat could have attributed to such behaviors.
Behavior Changes
Despite lack of research on how stereotype threat impact on behavior, some behavior changes have observed from other researches on stereotype threat. These behaviors show us the general effect caused by stereotype threat and can be used to identify other specific changes when research is done on someone’s behaviors are changed when they are exposed to this threat. These behaviors include; stigma, decreased performance, self-defeating, disengagement and disidentification, and altered professional aspirations (Spencer et al, 2016). Research could concentrate on these changes to identify how they contribute to more behavior changes or how they affect the victim’s life after the exposure.
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Stigma
Individuals or groups exposed to stereotype threat often feel stigmatized because they cannot match the skills or the ability of the other superior group. They feel disgraced, impure or underachievers when they are in the presence of the majority group. For example, in academic performance; Hispanics, female in math, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, white students when they face Asian in math superiority will feel as if they are underachievers when they face the other group (Hoyt & Murphy, 2016). Researchers should establish why this is so strong that it eventually affects the end results. They also study the aftermath of this stigma on how it affects these individuals. Research should also be carried out to establish ways in which these groups can avoid being stigmatized when they are faced with stereotype threat, and how they can recover from such disgracing moments.
Decreased Performance
Another behavior change that often exhibited by individuals when they face stereotype threat is a decrease in performing a task that their group is associated in doing poorly in it. Some examples of such tasks include; that white men perform poorly in sports, gay men are poor in providing childcare, women in negotiation, elderly easily lose their memory, and women are poor in driving (Walton et al, 2015). Such believes among people result to them underperforming in such activities because there somebody or something that is reminding them that as long as they are within that group, that is what it will be expected of them. With such mentality, even if someone has the ability to perform even better than anybody else, they usually end up falling back by decreasing their performance to the level that has been set by the society. In-depth research into the impact on behavior by stereotype threat can help us understand how such incidence happens and how they can be able to overcome or prevent themselves from such reactions.
Use of Self-Defeating Strategies.
Another area that can be explored by researchers is on how individuals faced with stereotype threat adjust to using self-defeating strategies as a way of defending themselves. These strategies are used to discredit the task or the test that they are exposed to, and they claim such test cannot be used to measure their ability so even if they fail, the results do not reflect their inability. They often do enough practice before a particular event because they have already convinced themselves that the results don’t matter even if someone was performing highly in the activity (Hoyt & Murphy, 2016).
Disengagement and Disidentification
Individual tend to disengage or disidentify themselves with particular events or tasks when they are faced with stereotype threat. They are usually doing this to maintain their self-worth and also maintain positive self-views which could have been destroyed if they continued with the task in the presence of the stereotype threat (Hoyt & Murphy, 2016). Therefore, a study should be done to determine all the factors that contribute to such behavior. It should also focus on how if they did not disengage with that certain event how it will affect their self-esteem and whether this could have led to more behavior changes.
Altered Professional Aspiration
When the minority groups are faced with stereotype threat within their future professional plans, they are likely to change them and settle for others where they will not face these threats. For example, a female who was planning to do a course that is dominated by the male may change if studying how other women had been discriminated against in such fields by the dormant male group (Walton et al, 2015). A youth may be aspiring to become a politician, but since elderly people dominate it, he may alter to do something else because the political arena may not be conducive to him or her. There the is need for research to be done to determine how such decisions affect these individuals.
In conclusion, research on how stereotype threat impacts on the behavior of individuals is limited, and there is a need for more study on this field to identify all the unanswered queries. Stereotype threat has forced individuals to keep away from a certain task which usually robs them of an important aspect of their life. It has also caused others to go the extent of trying to change themselves so that they can fit into the majority group. For example, non-acceptance of the black community in the U.S middle-level community or into the white social classes led to many blacks especially artists to do plastic surgery in order to fit in. Since being a minority group often sideline one and is mostly treated as the last option, has led many individuals doing unimaginable things in order to fit or with a purpose of resting the stereotype threat that is facing them. Therefore, research is needed so that we can understand why individuals decide to something or why they change their behavior in a certain way. The study should also indicate the immediate and future effects that follow when these individuals react in different ways.
References
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