Knowing is half the battle

In test situations people often perform "as expected" by stereotypes. In a recent study, summarized at Cognitive Daily, men and women were given a math-taking test. When they were informed that the purpose of the test was specifically to determine gender differences in math ability, the women scored signficantly lower than the men. However, if the women were told about this "stereotype threat" before taking the test, they scored as high as the men.

To sum up:
- people often perform as they are expected to perform
- knowing that stereotypes can affect your performance can prevent the stereotypes from affecting your performance.

Useful information for everyone.

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