The Impact of Stereotype Threat in Manual Labor Settings on Hispanic and African American Female Participants

Jennifer L. Flanagan, Raymond J. Green 
(Texas A&M University-Commerce, Commerce, TX 75428, USA)

Abstract: Stereotype threat has been shown to cause decrements in cognitive and behavioral tasks in participants in stigmatized groups. Much of the research in stereotype threat has concentrated in the academic realm, but some researchers have studied upper-level and more academically-based job tasks as compared to those blue-collar positions. Stereotype threat has usually involved participants according to racial make-up or gender, but this paper sought to test subjects who were in both stigmatized groups in manual labor settings, and posed the question: Is there a significant difference in how females in two different minority groups react to stereotype threat? The participants, Hispanic and African American undergraduate college students, performed both behavior and academic tasks in a manual labor interview scenario, with about half in each condition (control and stereotype threat condition). Both racial groups had declines in performance between the control and the stereotype threat group, with African American females having more of a decrease in performance when stereotype threat was manipulated.

Key words: demographic economics; labor discrimination

JEL codes: J15, J16, J70, J71, J79