Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators.

This systematic literature review appraises critically the mediating variables of stereotype threat. A bibliographic search was conducted across electronic databases between 1995 and 2015. The search identified 45 experiments from 38 articles and 17 unique proposed mediators that were categorized in...

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Main Authors: Charlotte R Pennington, Derek Heim, Andrew R Levy, Derek T Larkin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146487
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author Charlotte R Pennington
Derek Heim
Andrew R Levy
Derek T Larkin
author_facet Charlotte R Pennington
Derek Heim
Andrew R Levy
Derek T Larkin
author_sort Charlotte R Pennington
collection DOAJ
description This systematic literature review appraises critically the mediating variables of stereotype threat. A bibliographic search was conducted across electronic databases between 1995 and 2015. The search identified 45 experiments from 38 articles and 17 unique proposed mediators that were categorized into affective/subjective (n = 6), cognitive (n = 7) and motivational mechanisms (n = 4). Empirical support was accrued for mediators such as anxiety, negative thinking, and mind-wandering, which are suggested to co-opt working memory resources under stereotype threat. Other research points to the assertion that stereotype threatened individuals may be motivated to disconfirm negative stereotypes, which can have a paradoxical effect of hampering performance. However, stereotype threat appears to affect diverse social groups in different ways, with no one mediator providing unequivocal empirical support. Underpinned by the multi-threat framework, the discussion postulates that different forms of stereotype threat may be mediated by distinct mechanisms.
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institution Kabale University
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spelling doaj-art-5a712b18e58849e8b352af360a5889bb2025-08-20T03:32:54ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01111e014648710.1371/journal.pone.0146487Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators.Charlotte R PenningtonDerek HeimAndrew R LevyDerek T LarkinThis systematic literature review appraises critically the mediating variables of stereotype threat. A bibliographic search was conducted across electronic databases between 1995 and 2015. The search identified 45 experiments from 38 articles and 17 unique proposed mediators that were categorized into affective/subjective (n = 6), cognitive (n = 7) and motivational mechanisms (n = 4). Empirical support was accrued for mediators such as anxiety, negative thinking, and mind-wandering, which are suggested to co-opt working memory resources under stereotype threat. Other research points to the assertion that stereotype threatened individuals may be motivated to disconfirm negative stereotypes, which can have a paradoxical effect of hampering performance. However, stereotype threat appears to affect diverse social groups in different ways, with no one mediator providing unequivocal empirical support. Underpinned by the multi-threat framework, the discussion postulates that different forms of stereotype threat may be mediated by distinct mechanisms.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146487
spellingShingle Charlotte R Pennington
Derek Heim
Andrew R Levy
Derek T Larkin
Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators.
PLoS ONE
title Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators.
title_full Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators.
title_fullStr Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators.
title_full_unstemmed Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators.
title_short Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators.
title_sort twenty years of stereotype threat research a review of psychological mediators
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146487
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