The contributions of stereotype threat research to social psychology

Stereotype threat describes the experience of being viewed through the lens of a negative stereotype. This social psychological phenomenon demonstrates the deleterious effects that negative societal stereotypes can exert on performance. The current article provides a general overview of the past two decades of stereotype threat research, and highlights the generality of these effects across a diverse range of tasks and populations. This article also appraises critically the mechanisms that have been proposed to moderate and mediate stereotype threat effects, interventions developed to ameliorate it, and provides future avenues for research. This theory showcases the importance of recognising how our social world, and not inherent differences between groups, may underwrite social inequality. In addition to its contribution to the field of social psychology, this theory has far-reaching implications for schools and educational reform, particularly in reducing achievement gaps among minority groups

The PhD journey: A guide to applying, starting and succeeding.

To postgraduates, a PhD may seem like an ideal opportunity to improve research skills prior to future work. However, the application process is a competitive and often challenging experience. This article seeks to de-mystify some of the common questions surrounding PhD applications and provide some hints and tips for potential applicants

Transitioning in higher education: An exploration of psychological and contextual factors affecting student satisfaction

© 2017 UCU. In view of recent changes in the higher education sector, such as increased tuition fees, a greater focus has been placed on widening participation initiatives and monitoring student satisfaction. The aims of the current study were twofold: (1) to explore whether pre-entry programmes foster successful transition to higher education, and (2) to examine longitudinally the factors associated with course satisfaction. Eighty-eight first-year psychology students completed a questionnaire measuring academic self-efficacy, social identity and student satisfaction at the start (Time 1, November 2015) and end (Time 2, March 2016) of the academic year. Findings indicated that students who participated in a pre-entry programme reported higher academic self-efficacy and satisfaction compared to typical route students. Moreover, academic self-efficacy predicted student satisfaction at the start of the academic year, whereas in-group affect (a facet of social identity) predicted this at the end of the academic year. The current findings indicate that pre-entry programmes may have a positive impact on students’ sense of academic self-efficacy. On a more general level, the findings also suggest that academic self-efficacy and social identity may be key indicators of student satisfaction. This highlights the complexities of the concept of ‘student satisfaction’, and demonstrates the utility of examining multiple factors relating to student satisfaction across different time points

Moving beyond “Us” versus “Them”: Social identities in digital gaming

This was an invited submission for a special focus issue on gender and gaming for the Psychology of Women Section Review (British Psychological Society)

Profiling prejudice: Elucidating the socio-cognitive mechanisms underpinning implicit bias

Borne out of the limitations posed by self-report questionnaires, social psychologists developed implicit measures capable of assessing people’s unconscious prejudicial attitudes (e.g., the Implicit Association Test). Recent meta-analytic reviews, however, indicate that the relationship between explicit (self-report) and implicit attitudes is relatively low, and implicit attitudes rarely predict actual behaviour. This has led researchers to call for innovative ways to measure the key processes underlying implicit prejudice. Driven by this, the current study examined the relationships between implicit racial prejudice and various other measures of implicit socio-cognitive abilities. In a within-participants design, 250 participants (Mage = 20 years, 89% female, 64% White) completed measures assessing implicit racial bias, visual perspective taking, imitative tendencies, empathy, and emotion processing. Findings indicate how perspective taking skills, imitative tendencies, empathic awareness and emotion recognition predict implicit racial bias. Moreover, different racial groups (White, Black, Asian) exhibit diverse patterns of implicit racial bias. Prejudice is a significant social issue and exploring ways to detect and eliminate bias is fundamentally important to communities and organisations

What do implicit measures of bias actually measure?

Borne out of the limitations posed by self-reports, social psychologists developed implicit measures capable of assessing unconscious bias (e.g., the IAT). Scepticism towards the IAT has grown in recent years, however, with studies revealing the weak relationship between explicit and implicit measures and the apparent disconnect between implicit bias and behaviour. This has led researchers to call for innovative ways to measure the key processes underpinning implicit bias. The aim of the current study was to develop a novel battery of behavioural measures capable of assessing implicit racial bias. In a within-participants design, 257 participants completed a battery of socio-cognitive measures that were adapted to feature a race-based component. We pre-registered the prediction that participants would show more imitative tendencies, higher empathy, better perspective-taking and emotion recognition towards people of their own race. Moreover, it was predicted that these indicators of own-race bias would be related to implicit racial bias. Findings indicate that participants exhibited better emotion recognition but poorer perspective taking and empathic concern for ingroup relative to outgroup members. None of the measured socio-cognitive mechanisms correlated with IAT scores. These findings are discussed in relation to the construct, discriminant and predictive validity of the IAT

An Exploration of the Influence of Ignatian Values on Faculty Role Expectations

Purpose: This study examined whether and how Ignatian ideals influence faculty participation in role expectations as outlined in the Faculty Self-Assessment and Professional Development Plan of Rueckert-Hartman College of Health Professions (RHCHP) at Regis University (RU). The study’s aim was fourfold: (a) determine faculty perceptions of whether and how RU’s core Ignatian values influence participation in role expectations, (b) identify desires related to further exploration of core Ignatian values, (c) identify potential needs of faculty development regarding the RU mission of guiding faculty role expectations, and (d) identify service-related activities important to faculty. Participants: Faculty and Deans were invited to participate. Method: An exploratory descriptive methodology was used. Likert scale survey data were analyzed according to qualitative content analysis and quantitative frequency measures. Results: Survey results revealed that care of the person, men and women for others, and contemplatives in action were perceived to be most influential among the faculty role expectations, while finding God in all things was perceived to be least influential. Conclusions: The faculty perceived that most Ignatian values are important to role expectations. Faculty express the need for education related to implementation of these values in their faculty roles

Do casual gaming environments evoke stereotype threat? Examining the effects of explicit priming and avatar gender.

Despite relatively equal participation rates between females and males in casual gaming, females often report stigmatisation and prejudice towards their gaming competency within this sub-domain. Applying the theoretical framework of “stereotype threat”, this research examined the influence of explicit stereotype priming on females' casual gameplay performance and related attitudes. It also investigated whether the gender of the game avatar heightens susceptibility to stereotype threat. One hundred and twenty females were allocated randomly to one of four experimental conditions in a 2 (Condition: Stereotype threat, Control) x 2 (Avatar gender: Feminine, Masculine) between-subjects design. They completed a short gaming task and measures of social identity, competence beliefs, gameplay self-efficacy and self-esteem. Findings indicate that priming explicitly a negative gender-related stereotype did not appear to have a significant detrimental impact on gameplay performance or gameplay-related attitudes. Additionally, gameplay performance was not affected significantly by manipulating the gender of the gaming avatar. These findings suggest that, although females appear to be knowledgeable about negative gender-gaming stereotypes, these might not impact performance. Moreover, females tend not to endorse these beliefs as a true reflection of their gaming ability, representing a positive finding in view of the prevailing negative attitudes they face in gaming domains

A four-factor model of executive functioning: The relationship between personality, intelligence, and executive functioning

Executive functioning is commonly assessed in neuropsychological evaluations, however, the construct of executive functioning is widely defined and understood within the literature. Additionally, researchers have begun to examine the relationship between personality and executive functioning. The present study conducted an exploratory factor analysis using common measures of executive functioning. Results yielded a four-factor model. The Big Five personality traits were used to predict performance on executive functioning factors and intelligence was used as a moderator for this relationship. The present study adds to the literature by expanding upon previous studies examining the factor structure of executive functioning. Further, to our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate how intelligence may influence the relationship between personality and executive functioning