PSYC12H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Stereotype Threat, Symbolic Power, Intersectionality
Document Summary
Chapter 12 social class and test performance, from stereotype threat to symbolic violence and vice versa. Social psychology has long neglected discrimination by social class. People from lower socioeconomic class (ses) were portrayed as unintelligent, uneducated, unmotivated, and irresponsible. The poor form one of the few social groups targeted by a clearly negative stereotype: stereotype threat and social class. Stereotypes of intellectual inferiority can affect intellectual achievement. When people from low ses were told by the researcher that the test was a measure of cognitive abilities, they performed worse than high ses peers. However when it is mentioned just as a simply laboratory exercise, there were no difference in abilities. There are two effects, a stereotype threat and a stereotype lift. When someone from low ses is primed in a threatening way (e. g. , this test measures the intelligence of the poor), they will perform worse.
