Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Stereotype threat refers to the fear of being judged based on negative stereotypes about the performance of a certain group one identifies with. Numerous published studies have found that stereotype threat might lower mathematics test performance among women. However, many studies used suboptimal designs and analyses; the literature might be subject to publication bias; and the cross-cultural generalizability of the effect remains unknown. This registered replication report describes the result of eight direct replications (total N = 1502) of a representative stereotype-threat study by Johns et al. (2005), who found that threatened women (but not men) underperform when they are confronted with a mathematics test that is presented to measure gender differences, and that this effect can be alleviated by altering test instructions. A multilevel analysis showed no significant interaction effect between stereotype-threat condition and gender, and only an observed gender gap on the mathematics test, with women performing worse than men (d = -0.37; 95%CI[-0.49; -0.25]). The stereotype-threat effect among women was virtually null and not significant (N = 822, d = -0.006; 95% CI[-0.15; 0.14]), and considerably smaller than the original study (N = 45, d = -0.82; 95 %CI[-1.45; -0.18]). Secondary analyses yielded a main effect of gender composition and a random effect of lab, but neither variable affected the interaction between stereotype threat and gender. The current results fail to replicate the stereotype-threat effect by Johns et al. (2005), hence casting doubt on the generalizability of the effect of stereotype threat on women’s mathematics performance.
Authors: Andrea Helena Stoevenbelt, Paulette Carien Flore, Jelte M. Wicherts, Matus Adamkovic, Gabriel Baník, Rachel Bergers, Robert Calin-Jageman, Luis Angel Gomez, Joachim Hüffmeier, Megan N Imundo, Scott Martin, Steven C. Pan, Lorraine Phillips, Jakob Pietschnig, Tilli Ripp, Jan Philipp Röer, Ivan Ropovik, Joyce Elena Schleu, Ann-Kathrin Torka, Bruno Verschuere, Martin Voracek, Luca-Alexander Serafin Weiss
Institutions: University of Groningen, Tilburg University, Netherlands Institute for Social Research, University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, University of Prešov, Purdue University West Lafayette, University of Amsterdam, Dominican University, Arizona State University, Brigham Young University - Idaho, University of California, Los Angeles, National University of Singapore, University of Vienna, Witten/Herdecke University, Radboud University Nijmegen, TU Dortmund University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4410169806