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- Title
Combating stereotype threat toward athletes' academic performance: experiments on identity safety and self-complexity.
- Authors
Hsu, Yawen; Lin, Tesu Yi; Lu, Frank J. H.
- Abstract
Longstanding and negative stereotypes regarding athletes' academic performance can have negative impacts. In this paper, two experimental studies on such stereotypes that explore the effects of identity safety and the benefits of self-complexity interventions are presented. In Study 1, 124 high school athletes were divided into two groups and instructed to read short texts containing descriptions of identity safety and identity uncertainty, respectively. Subsequently, we administered a questionnaire on academic values and allowed participants to select between learning activities of varying difficulty. In Study 2, 112 high school athletes were divided into two groups and given short texts to read containing descriptions of identity safety and identity uncertainty. Subsequently, the participants were further divided into groups that received a high or low self-complexity intervention. We used the change in participants' selection of the difficulty level of the learning activity as an indicator of the effects of the intervention. The findings revealed that participants in the identity safety group selected academic tasks of higher difficulty after the intervention. In Study 2, the high self-complexity intervention exerted benefits for participants, whereas the participants receiving the low self-complexity intervention selected tasks with lower difficulty. From the motivational perspective, the present findings indicate that building identity-safe environments and implementing high self-complexity interventions can help athletes combat the negative impacts of stereotypes with regard to their academic performance.
- Subjects
STEREOTYPE threat; ACADEMIC achievement; HIGH school athletes; STEREOTYPES; GROUP identity; ATHLETES
- Publication
Current Psychology, 2023, Vol 42, Issue 15, p13147
- ISSN
1046-1310
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s12144-021-02519-4