{"id":129487,"date":"2016-01-14T15:13:28","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T22:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/14\/stereotypes-hurt-the-majority-too.html"},"modified":"2016-02-11T22:36:10","modified_gmt":"2016-02-12T05:36:10","slug":"stereotypes-hurt-the-majority-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/14\/stereotypes-hurt-the-majority-too.html","title":{"rendered":"Stereotypes hurt the majority, too"},"content":{"rendered":"

There's been a lot of interesting research published lately about "stereotype threat": the idea that people who are aware of being stereotyped in a certain negative way tend to perform worse in accordance with the stereotype. <\/p>\n

One noteworthy example is the stereotype that women are no good at math. Researchers have found that women who have to identify their gender on a math test before they take it score more poorly than women who don't. Just the reminder that they are women (and thus, according to the stereotype, are worse at math) causes performance to drop.<\/p>\n

But this doesn't just affect traditionally disadvantaged or minority groups. A new study looked at the stereotype that Christians are opposed to science, and found similar results.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2016\/01\/14\/463010075\/researchers-probe-stereotype-christians-and-science-dont-get-a-long<\/a><\/p>\n

'She [Kimberly Rios] then ran an experiment with Christians and non-Christians volunteers who were asked to solve problems of logic. Christian volunteers reminded about the stereotype that Christianity and science don't mix did worse than Christian volunteers who weren't reminded of the stereotype. This, of course, is classic stereotype threat.<\/i><\/p>\n

She also found that when she gave volunteers a test, Christians did worse when she labeled the test as a test of scientific ability, rather than a test of intuitive ability, even though the test was exactly the same, presumably because labeling it as a test of scientific ability triggers stereotype threat just like the girls asked to list their sex before taking a math test.'<\/i><\/p>\n

(The abstract for the study is here: http:\/\/spp.sagepub.com\/content\/6\/8\/959<\/a>)<\/p>\n

There's nothing that bars a Christian from being a good scientist per se.<\/i> Many great scientists of the past have been Christian. But the rise of Christian fundamentalism and Biblical inerrancy, with the resulting the very public rejection of scientific principles such as evolution, the Big Bang, climate change, etc. by vocal folk on the Christian Right, and the identification of True Christianity as meaning holding those fundamentalist views, has led to the stereotype that Christians reject science, or at least have to be disinterested in it in order to be "good Christians." <\/p>\n

It's bullshit, of course, but it's become a strong enough stereotype to actually cause a negative testing performance from at least some Christians when it's brought up.<\/p>\n

(This also raises a question in my mind about surveys related to religion and science, and to what extent the appallingly high numbers of Christians who are skeptical about, for example, evolution, comes from this same phenomenon: "Because I've been reminded about religion, I'm reminded I'm supposed to answer thusly to such questions.")<\/p>\n

In short, negative stereotypes aren't just harmful to oppressed groups. They have the potential to harm anyone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/a>\u00a0\n<\/div>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There's been a lot of interesting research published lately about "stereotype threat": the idea that people who are aware of being stereotyped in a certain negative way tend to perform worse in accordance with the stereotype. One noteworthy example is the stereotype that women are no good at math. Researchers have found that women who … Continue reading “Stereotypes hurt the majority, too”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,740,378,6,348],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-race-racism","category-intolerance-persecution","category-science","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/god+vs+science.jpgimgmax=660.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5041,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/11\/12\/blinded_me_with.html","url_meta":{"origin":129487,"position":0},"title":"Blinded me with science","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 12-Nov-03 6:35am","format":false,"excerpt":"The stereotype of women going nuts in a shopping mall may be less of a stereotype than we'd like to think. German scientists analyzed activity in various parts of the...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11486,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/08\/16\/nerdity.html","url_meta":{"origin":129487,"position":1},"title":"Nerdity","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 16-Aug-07 9:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Drama Nerd\u00a0You sure do love the spotlight and probably have a very out-going and loud personality. Or not. That's just a stereotype, of...","rel":"","context":"In "Personality Tests"","block_context":{"text":"Personality Tests","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personality-tests"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49755,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/04\/1-2-3-kick.html","url_meta":{"origin":129487,"position":2},"title":"1, 2, 3, KICK","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-Mar-15 11:33am","format":false,"excerpt":"And, I'll be honest, \"Agents of SHIELD\"'s Agent May (Ming-Na Wen) really came to mind while reading this.Actually, it's not the kicking (makes a certain measure of sense, given disparities in body strengths) as the rest of the package. The (literally) kick-ass female action hero is a much better stereotype\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49737,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/03\/always-kind-of-nice-to-see-a-stereotype-fall.html","url_meta":{"origin":129487,"position":3},"title":"Always kind of nice to see a stereotype fall","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 3-Mar-15 2:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't know if it's an anomaly or what, but I've always gotten fast and pleasant service from the Colorado DMV office over on County Line Rd. in Littleton. Renewed my license today, and was in and out in about 40 minutes.(Colorado actually has an online facility to do this,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/dmv-torture5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":131925,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/03\/cursed-for-building-their-franchise-on-an-incredibly-old-native-american-stereotype.html","url_meta":{"origin":129487,"position":4},"title":""Cursed for building their franchise on an incredibly old Native American stereotype"","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 3-Nov-16 11:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"'\u201cEveryone always warned us that we shouldn\u2019t build a team on this archaic American Indian caricature, but we didn\u2019t listen,\u201d said Indians part-owner Paul Dolan, adding that using the centuries-old stereotype as the foundation for the franchise\u2019s identity clearly provoked the wrath of some ancient evil, which has caused the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28366,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/18\/denver-comic-con-costumes.html","url_meta":{"origin":129487,"position":5},"title":"Denver Comic Con costumes","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 18-Jun-12 9:35pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Courtesy of Westword:http:\/\/www.westword.com\/slideshow\/sidewalk-superheroes-at-denver-comic-con-37063799\/http:\/\/www.westword.com\/slideshow\/the-women-of-denver-comic-con-37068639\/There actually were quite a few very good costumes there. (h\/t Stan) Embedded Link The Women of Denver Comic Con - Denver - Slideshows The stereotype of comic book readers as overweight, nerdy men has been pounded into bits since... Google+: View post on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129822,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129487\/revisions\/129822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}