left-handers have hairy pubes

Err, aren’t all pubes hairy, y’know, being hairs..?

“And the thing is, this would happen even if these labels were initially wholly false and arbitrary.”

Actually, this is an assumption, isn’t it? The study was talking specifically about a differential which was already observed (under-performance in student-athletes) and trying to quantify how much of that under-performance may or may not be due to stereotype threat.

Interesting rest of article though and even though I disagree with your final statement, I agree with the potential for a spiral of inequality, whether or not this is produced by exacerbation of existing minor differences via stereotype threat, or whether it’s possible to wholly manufacture low self esteem based on a false and arbitrary label.

I think it demonstrates the peril of basing your self-identity on group membership rather than rational self-analysis and self determination.

If you’re only ever a member of a collective of one – yourself – then no stereotype in the world can touch you.

The answer here isn’t a try to create positive stereotypes. It’s to let people to think of themselves as individuals with their own unique capacities, limitations, expectations, dreams and goals – stereotypes be damned.

I remember an experiment in the 60′s when an American teacher told her class that blue eyed children are better than brown eyed children and the children’s behaviour altered drastically; the next day she told the same kids that the brown eyed kids were better and their behavious switched accordingly. Its quite a famous demonstration of prejudice and confirmation bias, and IIRC it was a response to the assassination of Martin Luther King.

Of course it only demonstrates a short term effect and takes no account of the teacher as an authority figure: stereotypes are ultimately subject to the test of experience.

Sadly, you aren’t allowed to experiment on kids anymore and psychology is no fun.

You know, there’s some overlap here with the references to to CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) in Laurie’s excellent thread on mental illness; also the placebo effect which can make hogwash like homeopathy appear effective.

Can lying or delusion ever be justified if it can be self-fulfilling?

@ Shatterface (5), see what you mean with the CBT crossover. The cynical (and indeed many others) are suspicious of the overt yoking of CBT to the worklessness (aye, that’s the phrase used) agenda, rather than a strictly therapeutic agenda: smacks somewhat of ‘persuading’ folk to be compliant drones, ‘happy’ in their peonship.

Its an interesting question: can CBT be dismissed as a placebo when it never really claims to be anything other than than a manipulation of expectations?

Well that is an interesting blog and it is indeed to be hoped that the “Obama effect” can create a virtuous circle. I am not one of the PC set so if you take offence with my not using the “right” language it is because I live in the real world not because offence is intended.

Firstly, it will be interesting to see if there is differentiation between mixed race and pure black persons or between male and female (though Mrs O is a damn good role model). The former is particularly interesting in that those in the population with latent racist perceptions can more easily “adopt” mixed race people as “OK” and thus not reinforce stereotypes.

The study looked at stereotype reinforcing at the individual level. In society the effect is magnified where like-minded individuals can group together.

I have worked in the professions for long enough to see the destructive effect of sterotyping and stereotype reinforcing. Teams cease to have a diverse mix of character types. They thus become only attractive to similar people and the stereotyping is reinforced. A simple example would be the Techie/Sales split which taken to extremes is destructive. The team that are deep techie nerds but couldn’t sell an ice cream in a heatwave are dead in today’s market. The team that can sell! sell! sell! but can’t spot the flaw in what they are selling are………bankers. Organisations must value and reward both.

And then let’s not forget the age based stereotype – if you are over 40 you will resist change…….and so we will ease you out.
Young = dynamic.
Posh voice = clever.
Fat = lazy.
Blonde female = dumb
The above are stereotypes. There are also certain perceptions (someone with an American accent has more to say than someone with an Oldham accent, someone who is tall is a dynamic energetic leader but someone who is short is the bag carrier). These are the sort of challenges to workplace diversity that I think are as important as race, gender and sexual orientation. Unfortunately there is too much focus on those “tick the box” diversities.

On a lighter note:

Trainspotters – well that’s a reinforcing stereotype isn’t it. The stereotype has deterred all others so it is only attractive to 40+ men with personal hygeine problems and a touch of asbergers syndrome. As such people are not born into the world it is somewhat dying out.

Academics. They produce impenetrable reports with overlong paragraphs, containing references that should be in footnotes, and unnecessarily long words. They then print it with spaces between the lines in columns too narrow and a font from history. They are peer reviewed and praised by similar types and as a result disappear up their own arses. Still as the paper says…….”The denominator of this expression is unambiguously positive by the second-order condition.”

Yeah sure.

What Charlotte said, with bells on.

People often adopt a stereotype, particularly young people.

If you dress like a goth or wear a Barber jacket or drape yourself in bling you are identifying with a peer group and saying something about yourself. Clothing, hair styles, the way we walk and the slang we use are coded and only make sense because of a degree of consensus about their meaning. Nobody exists outside these codes no matter how ‘individual’ they like to think of themselves. The way we present ourselves – the way we perform our ‘selves’ – is a matter of similarities and differences with other people.

There’s a mistaken belief that just because an identity is socially constructed then it is somehow ‘wrong’. It only becomes a problem where the codes are misunderstood or misrepresented by other, more powerful groups.

The answer here isn’t a try to create positive stereotypes. It’s to let people to think of themselves as individuals with their own unique capacities, limitations, expectations, dreams and goals – stereotypes be damned.

And how does one go about creating this perfect utopia?

Back where the real world is, I think its useful to keep these studies in mind.