We offer and test a brief psychosocial intervention, Speaking Truth to EmPower (STEP), designed to protect underrepresented minorities’ (URMs) intellectual performance and safety in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). STEP takes a ‘knowledge as power’ approach by: (a) providing a tutorial on stereotype threat (i.e., a social contextual phenomenon, implicated in underperformance and early exit) and (b) encouraging URMs to use lived experiences for generating be-prepared coping strategies. Participants were 670 STEM undergraduates [URMs (Black/African American and Latina/o) and non-URMs (White/European American and Asian/Asian American)]. STEP protected URMs’ abstract reasoning and class grades (adjusted for grade point average [GPA]) as well as decreased URMs’ worries about confirming ethnic/racial stereotypes. STEP’s two-pronged approach—explicating the effects of structural ‘isms’ while harnessing URMs’ existing assets—shows promise in increasing diversification and equity in STEM.

Interracial interactions are often fraught with concerns about experiencing discrimination or being negatively stereotyped (i.e., social identity threat). Past research revealed that Black participants interacting with a White partner view the presence of racial diversity in a White partner's friendship network as a signal of identity safety. We extend this work by clarifying the role of ingroup representation in friendship diversity. Namely, we assess social identity safety of Black participants when anticipating an interaction with a White partner whose friendship networks include diversity with or without ingroup representation. In an experimental study (N = 301), Black adults (52.8% female, 47.2% male; M_age = 29.96) expected to interact with a White partner who had all White friends (No Diversity); Black and White friends (Diversity with Ingroup Representation); or Asian, Latinx, and White friends (Diversity without Ingroup Representation). We assessed participants' perceptions of their White partner as prejudiced, how they expected their partner would think of them (Black metastereotypes), and their anticipated interaction challenges, rejection concerns, and friendship interest immediately prior to the anticipated interaction. Black participants had fewer anticipated challenges, fewer rejection concerns, and more friendship interest when their White partner's friendship networks included (vs. excluded) ingroup representation. These effects were mediated by perceived partner prejudice and Black metastereotypes. These findings suggest that while any diversity of an outgroup member's friendship network is better than no diversity, ingroup representation is especially important in reducing threat and increasing social identity safety in interracial interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

We examined whether the enforcement of phantom rules—frequently broken and rarely enforced codified rules—varies by the race of the rule breaker. First, we analyzed whether race affects when 311 calls, a nonemergency service, end in arrest in New York City. Across 10 years, we found that calls from census blocks of neighborhoods consisting of mostly White individuals were 65% less likely to escalate to arrest than those where White people were the numerical minority. Next, we experimentally manipulated transgressor race and found that participants ( N = 393) who were high in social dominance orientation were more likely to route 311 calls to 911 when the transgressor was Black (vs. White). We also explored the subjective experience of phantom rule enforcement; People of color report they are more likely to be punished for violating phantom rules compared to White people. Overall, we find evidence of racism in the enforcement of phantom rules.

This chapter presents an overview of stereotype threat—the concern one feels about potentially confirming societal stereotypes and judgments about people’s abilities—and how it negatively affects marginalised students’ achievement, learning, and engagement and contributes to the achievement gap between Black and White students, between rich and poor students, and between males and females in mathematics. Evidence of how cultural stereotypes create identity threats for students is reviewed, focusing on both classic studies and current trends in research. The chapter includes a review of the literature on the consequences of stereotype threat, the mechanisms involved in stereotype-based underachievement, and the criticisms of this research. The focus then turns to research-based solutions that reduce students’ vulnerability to cultural stereotypes about intelligence; the chapter discusses evidence for how to create classroom cultures that can lead to increased feelings of belonging, engagement in learning, and ultimately better learning and achievement outcomes. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->