| Previous research has found that Asian American women show domain-specific stereotype susceptibility that impacts their cognitive performance. The current study examined the impact of positive and negative stereotypes on the performance of Asian American women working in computer and mathematical occupations. It was hypothesized that when participants' gender identity was primed, participants would perform worse on a mathematics test, and when their ethnic identity was primed, participants would perform better on a mathematics test in comparison to controls, consistent with stereotypes associated with these identities. It was also hypothesized that when both identities were primed, participants would default toward their adaptive ethnic identity, leading to improved performance. Eighty seven participants working in computer and mathematical occupations and living in the San Francisco Bay Area were recruited using convenience and snowball sampling. Participants were assigned to one of four conditions (gender-prime, ethnicity-prime, combined-prime or control) in which they read a script to prime particular identities. Participants then completed a figural matrices test. Results found no significant differences in participants' performance between conditions. These results are discussed in terms of constraints of the extent of stereotype susceptibility, the role of domain identification in moderating results and methodological limitations. |
