{"id":3057,"date":"2021-07-05T05:40:18","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T09:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/aer\/?p=3057"},"modified":"2021-12-16T14:55:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:55:41","slug":"brain-lessons-miniature-golf-stereotype-threat-and-supporting-our-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2021\/07\/05\/brain-lessons-miniature-golf-stereotype-threat-and-supporting-our-students\/","title":{"rendered":"BRAIN LESSONS: MINIATURE GOLF, STEREOTYPE THREAT, AND SUPPORTING OUR STUDENTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

A number of college students were tested on their ability to play miniature golf.\u00a0 \u201cAll were told that they would complete a brief questionnaire, perform a sports test that was based on the game of golf, and then answer questions about their performance after the test was completed.\u201d\u00a0 But one extra factor was added:\u00a0 Half were told the test was of \u201cnatural athletic ability [NAA]\u201d; the others were told this was a measure of \u201csports intelligence [SI],\u201d a.k.a. \u201cthe ability to think strategically during an athletic performance.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The results were stark.\u00a0 White students who were told the test measured SI played golf better (23 stroke average) than those told it was a test of NAA (27 stroke average).\u00a0 Dishearteningly, Blacks who were told the test was for SI performed more poorly than those told it was testing NAA.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The study was Stone, J., *Lynch, C., *Sjomeling, M. & Darley, J. M. (1999). Stereotype threat effects on Black and White athletic performance. <\/span>Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, <\/span><\/i>1213-1227.\u00a0 But what does miniature golf have to do with law students studying advocacy or doctrinal subjects such as Evidence?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Look out at a law school advocacy classroom and (hopefully) you will be confronted with a sea of faces from diverse backgrounds.\u00a0 A natural reaction might be that since they all were accepted at law school, made it through first year, and now are 2Ls, they are all equally comfortable at the performance tasks we will be giving them.\u00a0 Perhaps we need to think again.\u00a0 Certainly we need to proceed with care and affirmation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Valerie Harrison and Kathryn Peach D\u2019Angelo, in their exceptional book DO RIGHT BY ME: LEARNING TO RAISE BLACK CHILDREN IN WHITE SPACES, explain that \u201cBlack students in a predominantly white school may feel pressure that white students do not experience to dispel the stereotype of intellectual inferiority.\u00a0 The extra pressure to succeed can\u2026deplete the student\u2019s memory[] or require energy to suppress negative thoughts, which means that less of the student\u2019s energy and effort can be focused on the task.\u201d\u00a0 Id. at 103-104.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The label for this phenomenon, studied for a quarter-century, is \u201cstereotype threat.\u201d\u00a0 It has been defined alternately as<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n