Jean-Claude Croizet

Stereotype content model across cultures: Towards universal similarities and some differences

The stereotype content model (SCM) proposes potentially universal principles of societal stereotypes and their relation to social structure. Here, the SCM reveals theoretically grounded, cross-cultural, cross-groups similarities and one difference across 10 non-US nations. Seven European (individualist) and three East Asian (collectivist) nations (N=1,028) support three hypothesized cross-cultural similarities: (a) perceived warmth and competence reliably differentiate societal group stereotypes; (b) many out-groups receive ambivalent stereotypes (high on one dimension; low on the other); and (c) high status groups stereotypically are competent, whereas competitive groups stereotypically lack warmth. Data uncover one consequential cross-cultural difference: (d) the more collectivist cultures do not locate reference groups (in-groups and societal prototype groups) in the most positive cluster (high-competence/high-warmth), unlike individualist cultures. This demonstrates out-group derogation without obvious reference-group favouritism. The SCM can serve as a pancultural tool for predicting group stereotypes from structural relations with other groups in society, and comparing across societies.

Stereotype Threat Undermines Intellectual Performance by Triggering a Disruptive Mental Load

Research on stereotype threat has repeatedly demonstrated that the intellectual performance of social groups is particularly sensitive to the situational context in which tests are usually administered. In the present experiment, an adaptation of the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices Test was introduced as a measure of cognitive ability. Results showed that individuals targeted by a reputation of intellectual inferiority scored lower on the test than did other people. However, when the identical test was not presented as a measure of cognitive ability, the achievement gap between the target and the control group disappeared. Using heart rate variability indices to assess mental workload, our findings showed that the situational salience of a reputation of lower ability undermined intellectual performance by triggering a disruptive mental load. Our results indicate that group differences in cognitive ability scores can reflect different situational burdens and not necessarily actual differences in cognitive ability.

Stereotype Threat: Are Lower Status and History of Stigmatization Preconditions of Stereotype Threat?

This research extended stereotype-threat effects outside of the academic domain and to a nonstigmatized group. Female and male students performed three decision tasks: lexical, valence, and affective processing. Half of the participants were told that, in general, men are poorer performers than are women in affective processing tasks. No differences between conditions were observed for the lexical and valence tasks. By contrast, for the affective task, threatened men made significantly more errors than did participants in the other three conditions. More precisely, threatened men tended to accept as affective words that were not affective. This latter result suggests that threatened men decreased their threshold for affectivity “to prove” the inapplicability of the stereotype to themselves. Moreover, stereotype endorsement did not mediate the results. Identification with the affective domain, on the other hand, moderated the effect of stereotype threat. Discussion considers the consequences of these findings for everyday interactions.

Can salience of gender identity impair math performance among 7–8 years old girls? The moderating role of task difficulty

Can the salience of gender identity affect the math performance of 7–8 year old girls? Third-grade girls and boys were required to solve arthmetical problems of varied difficulty. Prior to the test, one half of the participants had their gender identity activated. Results showed that activation of gender identity affected girls’ performance but not boys. When their gender was activated as opposed to when it was not, girls solved more problems when the material was less difficult but underperformed on the difficult problems. Results are discussed with regard to the stereotype threat literature.RésuméLa saillance de l’identité de genre peut-elle affecter la performance mathématique de filles âgées de 7–8 ans? Des filles et des garçons de cet âge devaient résoudre des problèmes d’arithmétique de difficulté variée. Avant le test, on activait l’identité de genre de là moitié des enfants. Les résultats montrent que l’activation de l’identité de genre affecte la performance des filles mais pas celle des garçons. Lorsque leur identité de genre est activée (vs. n’est pas activée), les filles réussissent plus de problèmes faciles mais rencontrent plus de difficultés sur les problèmes difficiles. Les résultats sont discutés en référence à la littérature sur la menace du stéréotype.

Improving Working Memory Efficiency by Reframing Metacognitive Interpretation of Task Difficulty.

Working memory capacity, our ability to manage incoming information for processing purposes, predicts achievement on a wide range of intellectual abilities. Three randomized experiments (N = 310) tested the effectiveness of a brief psychological intervention designed to boost working memory efficiency (i.e., state working memory capacity) by alleviating concerns about incompetence subtly generated by demanding tasks. Sixth graders either received or did not receive a prior 10-min intervention designed to reframe metacognitive interpretation of difficulty as indicative of learning rather than of self-limitation. The intervention improved childrens working memory span and reading comprehension and also reduced the accessibility of self-related thoughts of incompetence. These findings demonstrate that constructing a psychologically safe environment through reframing metacognitive interpretation of subjective difficulty can allow children to express their full cognitive potential.

Stereotype Internalization, Math Perceptions, and Occupational Choices of Women With Counter-Stereotypical University Majors

Based on Eccles’ (1987) model of academic achievement-related decisions, we tested whether women, who are engaged in mathematical fields at university, have internalized, to some extent, the stereotype about women’s inferiority in math. The results indicate that men and women do not assess their ability self-concept, subjective value of math, or performance expectancies differently. However, women’s degree of stereotype endorsement has a negative impact on their ability self-concept and their performance expectancies, but does not affect their value of the math domain. Moreover, members of both genders envisage stereotypical careers after university graduation.

Ageing-related stereotypes in memory: When the beliefs come true

Age-related stereotype concerns culturally shared beliefs about the inevitable decline of memory with age. In this study, stereotype priming and stereotype threat manipulations were used to explore the impact of age-related stereotype on metamemory beliefs and episodic memory performance. Ninety-two older participants who reported the same perceived memory functioning were divided into two groups: a threatened group and a non-threatened group (control). First, the threatened group was primed with an ageing stereotype questionnaire. Then, both groups were administered memory complaints and memory self-efficacy questionnaires to measure metamemory beliefs. Finally, both groups were administered the Logical Memory task to measure episodic memory, for the threatened group the instructions were manipulated to enhance the stereotype threat. Results indicated that the threatened individuals reported more memory complaints and less memory efficacy, and had lower scores than the control group on the logical memory task. A multiple mediation analysis revealed that the stereotype threat effect on the episodic memory performance was mediated by both memory complaints and memory self-efficacy. This study revealed that stereotype threat impacts belief in ones own memory functioning, which in turn impairs episodic memory performance.

Hidden Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Class: How Classroom Settings Reproduce Social Inequality by Staging Unfair Comparison

Three studies conducted among fifth and sixth graders examined how school contexts disrupt the achievement of working-class students by staging unfair comparison with their advantaged middle-class peers. In regular classrooms, differences in performance among students are usually showcased in a way that does not acknowledge the advantage (i.e., higher cultural capital) experienced by middle-class students, whose upbringing affords them more familiarity with the academic culture than their working-class peers have. Results of Study 1 revealed that rendering differences in performance visible in the classroom by having students raise their hands was enough to undermine the achievement of working-class students. In Studies 2 and 3, we manipulated students’ familiarity with an arbitrary standard as a proxy for social class. Our results suggest that classroom settings that make differences in performance visible undermine the achievement of the students who are less familiar with academic culture. In Study 3, we showed that being aware of the advantage in familiarity with a task restores the performance of the students who have less familiarity with the task.

Comparing Nouns and Verbs in a Lexical Task

We analyzed the differential processing of nouns and verbs in a lexical decision task. Moderate and high-frequency nouns and verbs were compared. The characteristics of our material were specified at the formal level (number of letters and syllables, number of homographs, orthographic neighbors, frequency and age of acquisition), and at the semantic level (imagery, number and strength of associations, number of meanings, context dependency). A regression analysis indicated a classical frequency effect and a word-type effect, with latencies for verbs being slower than for nouns. The regression analysis did not permit the conclusion that semantic effects were involved (particularly imageability). Nevertheless, the semantic opposition between nouns as prototypical representations of objects, and verbs as prototypical representation of actions was not tested in this experiment and remains a good candidate explanation of the response time discrepancies between verbs and nouns.

Le rôle des cosmétiques dans les premières impressions: le cas particulier du maquillage

Cet article livre une synthese sur les effets encore assez meconnus et manifestement complexes du maquillage facial, en particulier celui applique quotidiennement par de nombreuses femmes, en matiere d’inferences personnologiques et donc de perception sociale. Tantot positifs tantot negatifs, a l’instar de ceux lies a l’attractivite physique, ces effets apparaissent irreductibles aux seconds et semblent ainsi refleter l’intervention d’un stereotype independant de celui sur la beaute. Apres avoir suggere quelques pistes pour l’avenir, l’enjeu attache a une reprise des travaux dans ce domaine est souligne, notamment en raison de la frequence croissante du recours au maquillage dans nos societes et de son impact probable en matiere d’interaction sociale.