| This study examined the role played by stereotype threat in the test performance of undergraduates with and without learning disabilities (LD). Stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) has been shown to diminish the performance of various ethnic and gender groups to whom negative, ability-related stereotypes apply, presumably by activating interfering concerns about fulfilling these stereotypes. However, the possible role of stereotype threat in the performance of students with LD has not been examined, despite the fact that this group appears to meet the criteria for susceptibility to stereotype threat. A total of 94 students (31 with LD, 63 controls) at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of Wisconsin-Madison were presented with a test consisting of very difficult Verbal Graduate Record Exam questions. Approximately half of these students were presented the test with instructions designed to invoke stereotype threat (i.e., characterizing the test as an assessment of “verbal reasoning and reading abilities”), while the other half were presented the test with instructions designed to reduce stereotype threat (i.e., characterizing the test as an assessment of “stylistic variations in problem-solving”). This manipulation produced a partial demonstration of stereotype threat in undergraduates with LD. As predicted by stereotype-threat theory, students with LD spent more time per item in the stereotype-threat condition than control participants, and the two groups' time per item did not differ in the reduced-threat condition (in which students with LD spent significantly less time per item). However, contrary to expectation and the primary hypothesis for this study, the increased efficiency afforded to participants with LD by the reduced-threat condition was not reflected in their overall performance. Reasons for this discontinuity are discussed. Also discussed are the mediating roles of evaluation apprehension, state test anxiety, cognitive interference, and stereotype- and self-doubt activation. The data provided weak support for evaluation apprehension and state test anxiety as mediating variables of stereotype threat. Finally, the relationship between participants' test performance and their level of identification with reading, entity versus incremental view of intelligence, meta-stereotype of learning disability, English ACT score, testing-group size, and endorsement/belief of the stereotype-threat manipulation are also discussed. |
