Social Justice Research
Volume 24, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 191-205

Deflecting Stereotype Threat Through Downward Comparison: When Comparison with Immigrants Boosts the Performance of Stigmatized Native Students (Review)

N'DriKonan P.* , Chatard A. , Selimbegović L. , Mugny G. , Moraru A.
  • a Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Section de Psychologie, Université de Genève, Uni Mail, 40 Bd du Pont d'Arve, 1205 Geneva, Suisse, Switzerland
  • b Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Section de Psychologie, Université de Genève, Uni Mail, 40 Bd du Pont d'Arve, 1205 Geneva, Suisse, Switzerland, Centre de Recherche sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
  • c Centre de Recherche sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
  • d Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Section de Psychologie, Université de Genève, Uni Mail, 40 Bd du Pont d'Arve, 1205 Geneva, Suisse, Switzerland
  • e Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Section de Psychologie, Université de Genève, Uni Mail, 40 Bd du Pont d'Arve, 1205 Geneva, Suisse, Switzerland

Abstract

Two experiments examined the effect of comparison with immigrants on the intellectual performance of stigmatized native students (i.e., women and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds). It was predicted that such a comparison may boost the test performance of both groups of students rather than comparison with their counterparts who are not stigmatized. In line with this hypothesis, we found that female European students (Study 1) performed better on a math test when they were led to compare with a female immigrant rather than with another female European student. Study 2 replicated this finding in regard to the performance of native students with low socioeconomic status on a general intelligence test. Results are discussed in terms of stereotype susceptibility predicaments and their implications for native-immigrant performance gaps. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Author Keywords

immigrants Stigmatized native students Performance boost

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-79959190707&doi=10.1007%2fs11211-011-0134-7&partnerID=40&md5=e46eabafcd37543cd2d91b73530db026
DOI: 10.1007/s11211-011-0134-7
ISSN: 08857466
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English