Stereotype

Stereotypes are generalizations about a group of people we attribute as a defined set of characteristics to this group. These classifications can be positive or negative, such as when various nationalities are stereotyped as friendly or unfriendly. The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world, since they reduce the amount of processing, we have to do when we meet a new person. A good thing about stereotype is that it helps us to respond faster to situations because we may have had similar experiences before. A bad thing about stereotype is that it makes us to ignore differences between people, therefore, we think different things about them that might not be true.
Many studies, come to an assumption that genetics or cultural differences cause some students to do poorly on academic tests and academic performances. But now it is clear that negative stereotypes raise more doubts and high pressure anxieties in test taker's mind, which results in "stereotype threat." According to psychologists Claude Steele, Steven Spencer, and Joshua Aronson, even passing reminders about a person belonging to one group or another, such as group stereotyping, can cause trouble with test performance. They have examined group stereotypes that can threaten how students evaluate themselves, which then changes their academic identity and performance. Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson gave black and white college students tests that included difficult items from verbal Graduate Record Exam. Then they told students in this stereotype condition, that the test diagnosed intellectual ability, which basically saying that Blacks are less intelligent than Whites. In the non stereotype condition, the researchers told students that the test was problem solving and had nothing to do with their abilities. In the first stereotype research, Blacks performed poorly on the test than the Whites. In the non stereotype research, Blacks performance was the same as Whites.