Asian maths whizz and talkative females: how stereotypes can actually boost performance

Nobody likes to be pigeonholed or reduced to a single stereotype. One reason could be because we believe ourselves to be products of multiple stereotypes: a combination of identities, such as "Asian", "female", "lawyer", "Gen X", "Christian", "C...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Knowledge@SMU
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/ksmu/111
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=ksmu
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Institution: Singapore Management University
Language: English
Description
Summary:Nobody likes to be pigeonholed or reduced to a single stereotype. One reason could be because we believe ourselves to be products of multiple stereotypes: a combination of identities, such as "Asian", "female", "lawyer", "Gen X", "Christian", "Chinese", etc. While these labels connect us to like-individuals, they can also carry all sorts of connotations and expectations – positive, neutral and negative. For example, an Asian might be expected to outperform a non-Asian at mathematics because of stereotypes that Asians are mathematically inclined. Will such undue expectations affect the Asian's performance outcome? Research studies point to a 'Yes'.