[Sue27754]

Isn’t it funny you would ask this – I just read an article about this topic in the current (sports) issue of The New Yorker. Malcolm Gladwell, who is a fabulous thinker/essayist, wrote about why people sometimes ‘choke’ when the stakes are really high – in sports, academic life, whatever. He noted that when black kids are told they’re being given a test to measure their IQ, they choke. When they’re told the test is for statistical or research purposes only, they do exactly as well as non-blacks. He attributes this to self-fulfilling cultural expectations – the idea that stereotypes suggest they won’t do well, so they don’t. It wasn’t clear in the article if this is because the kids unconsciously believe the stereotypes themselves, or just because they’re so aware of them that they get really nervous. Interesting, though – it certainly supports the idea that their poor performance is not due to any kind of innate difference.

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Name : Sue27754, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 33, City : Toronto, Ontario, State : NA, Country : Canada, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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