Using objective measures to assess intelligence they say … What about the effects of stereotype threat on performance?

When it comes to measuring intelligence on IQ tests, do we really all start on an equal footing? Although IQ test scores are known to objectively predict one’s mental ability and serve as a basis for comparison between groups, it turns out that stereotype threat highly alters performance, and that, more often than not, in a negative and degrading way. For example, from what I learned in a previous class I took at McGill that addressed stereotypes and prejudice, African Americans who were told they would participate in an intelligence test evaluation performed less well than those who were told they would simply have to try to solve some problems for fun. Interestingly, it is the emphasis on “intelligence” in the first condition that made the participants more anxious and less performing. More specifically, as the negative stereotype that “Black people are dumb” was made salient before taking the test, participants were reminded about their supposedly academic inferiority and became afraid of confirming it. Even the Black students who managed to reach high academic levels appeared to perform less well when confronted to formally prove their intelligence level especially because the latter was considered an important aspect of their self-concept.

Similarly, women who appeared to be top performers in math did worse when opposed to men on a math test and told that the test was meant to highlight gender differences. More precisely, women’s performance was altered by the fear of being negatively judged and the fear of reinforcing one of the stereotypes around their social group which is that “women have weaker ability in math than men.” Conversely, women who did not perceive any reference to their social group before the test did not feel confronted to defend themselves nor did they doubt their capacity so they did equally as well as men. Therefore, when a negative prejudice is made salient, people often become more sensitive and determined about refuting it. However, as the level of motivation to defend their own group increases, pressure increases as well and often leads to poorer performance.

In short, we come to realize that social forces do influence performance that we want it or not. Therefore, it really comes down to wondering whether it is possible to truly measure one’s intelligence based on test scores because so many factors, beyond stereotype threat, can influence performance, and ultimately, question the validity and the reliability of these tests. In other words, are we at all assessed on a fair basis?