How Stereotypes Affect Your Test Scores

It turns out stereotypes can affect you-whether you believe in them or not.
Hosted by: Brit Garner
----------
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: / scishow
----------
Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters-Kevin, Bealer, Mark Terrio-Cameron, KatieMarie Magnone, Patrick Merrithew, Charles Southerland, Fatima Iqbal, Sultan Alkhulaifi, Tim Curwick, Scott Satovsky Jr, Philippe von Bergen, Bella Nash, Bryce Daifuku, Chris Peters, Patrick D. Ashmore, Piya Shedden, Charles George
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook: / scishow
Twitter: / scishow
Tumblr: / scishow
Instagram: / thescishow
----------
Sources:
www.apa.org/pubs/journals/rele...
users.nber.org/~sewp/events/20...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/...
mrnas.pbworks.com/f/claude%20s...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/1...
www.npr.org/2016/05/24/4779210...
psycnet.apa.org/journals/zsp/4...
econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/full/...
econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/full/...
psycnet.apa.org/journals/zsp/4...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/...
www.mrmont.com/teachers/self-T...
www.apa.org/research/action/sm...
www.edweek.org/ew/section/mult...

[@Nanenna]

I need a pin or gif or poster that says "Believing in yourself is important, science says so."

[@celinak5062]

Nanenna + Yes!

[@istandwithjkrowling3098]

+

[@doneadead]

Would love one to have one too!

[@evegemgem]

+

[@felicityjones31]

Absolutely!

[@michaeldaugustine9249]

Side note. Computer Programming used to be viewed as a "woman's job" because it was "tedious and like secretarial work." Most of the earliest computer programmers and pioneers in computer programming were women. Today it has become a male dominated field. I remember learning about all the people who pioneered the field of computer science, many of them were women, including Ada Lovelace who came up with the idea of a programming language nearly a hundred years before Alan Turing invented the first "Turing Machine" now known as computers. It always struck me as odd that women played a huge role in the beginning of computer science, yet the ratio of women to men in my classes was always like 1 to 10.

[@DavidLindes]

Yeah, it's a pity. Also, look up Margaret Hamilton. That's a story that I don't hear so often, but which I think is super cool and important... for example, she probably basically saved the lives of some of the lunar astronauts because of code she wrote.

[@swaglordman8168]

I see a lot of comments complaining about anti SJW comments but I see almost no comments of that character...

[@ianto3453]

Swag Lordman I saw a comment by Scishow talking about moderating their comment section and how many viewers are assigned moderators so I think they removed them

[@sarahroach8527]

Scishow removes comments they find hateful or unproductive to the conversation.

[@Conumbra]

Man, some people are so easily offended nowadays. Guys, if someone mentioning scientific psychological data, even clarifies that there's unanswered questions and mentions the problems with reproducing some of the research, and your first response is to to yell "SJW" to the clouds, just admit this kind of thing offends you and save yourself some brainpower.

[@Zippyser]

Conumbra Yeah, yeah except one thing. While it's true such a mental blockade exists as a bi product of another faculty, applying this science to something in the real world is fuzzy at best.

[@UnknownXV]

Conumbra The point is presenting something as fact because it fits your bias. At least they admit it's not without controversy.

[@maryfoxx6019]

well, tbf, those who don't like SJWs aren't that bright to begin w. They'd be the same ppl yelling at Martin Luther King or Gandi "SJW trash!" or some such.

[@jenniferspangler600]

All sorts of things can impact test scores, it was interesting to learn about another one. Thanks for the info!

[@AarvinManley]

The point of this video is to show that what you believe subconsciously has a huge effect on your behavior. It's not a SJW video because it's not about social justice. There are real subconscious biases in the world that are practically impossible to overcome, and the stereotype threat is one of them.

[@ingetnamn5447]

Still a bit of an angled presentation I propose.

[@RenascencePerennial]

I live in one of the least stereotyped areas, and blacks as well as Hispanics still don't do shit. There is a lot to do with correlation rather than causation. The upbringings of White and Asian cultures are much different than that of Hispanics and Blacks. Most Whites and Asians are brought up from birth being pushed constantly by their peers and parents to succeed -- Blacks and Hispanics see none of this, and as such they see no merit in working to better themselves, unless; as mentioned in the video, they are shown otherwise, that achievement gap closes. It seems as though the majority of the studies are based off of "what if" scenarios that only occur when people are specifically told there would be a disparity, the disparity occurs. Around 0:49 it is mentioned that these gaps do not exist so long as the participants are not notified of a supposed gap between the demographics at play. What bothered me around the aforementioned time slot in the video, was the lack of accounting for the academics successes and experience of the participants, IQ of participants, and whether or not participants were selectively drawn from a pool of the elite of one demographic while less educated individuals could've been picked from another. There are far too many holes in these studies that weren't clarified, it may reach the criteria to be classified as pandering conjecture to serve a political agenda and dull out anyone who perhaps seeks to restore a meritocracy based solely around individualism rather than a pathological ideal to pervade a narrative of a waterfall of funds going to push certain denominations to partake in a system they either have no desire to take part in, or end up feeling patronized as a result of the "assistance".

[@cubiusblockus3973]

*"Still a bit of an angled presentation"* Angled against SJW's. This video points out that bringing up race as a topic makes the individual feel contempt for thier own identity. Talk about blacks, black begibn to hate themselves, ect. So, SJ affirmative action is more detrimental than good.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Whether you believe you CAN... Or you believe you CAN'T... You're probably right... :o)

[@MrPolluxxxx]

Andrew Essex what the studies show is a short time effect. in other words, you would have to be told zhat you suck just before you get tested

[@joshuacordero3989]

i did a 15 page paper on stereotype threat in college. it was very interesting!!

[@ProfessorSyndicateFranklai]

Let's read it!

[@voorman534]

Can we read it somewhere? Or is it not in english?

[@jonathanknobel3550]

Joshua Cordero no it wasn't, your a sad strange little man.

[@zain4019]

Joshua Cordero That’s awesome:) Great topic choice, too.

[@sandragarner6432]

Love the shark dress.

[@avicohen2k]

Sandra Garner ya, just not with that awkward button jacket.. scishow needs better stylists..

[@jamestrotman3238]

avicohen2k can we get stylists....FOR SCIENCE?

[@moozie2z]

I like both! It is attractive but also looks professional.

[@daeho2]

This host is freaking awesome, I reckon she'd make a wonderful teacher.

[@DavidLindes]

Well, she is a teacher, so... Yeah, I bet she's doing wonderful things there. :)

[@AbudBakri]

I have really terrible hand writing. So first day of class I'd always say something eloquent to my teacher, then on essays lace in scribbles with my writing. Always scored really high. Thank you education system :)

[@carboxysome2630]

Holy crap dude your subs are growin by the day.You should really make your channel about genetics since you already have a few videos on the topic.There aren't any channels about it,and as genetic knowledge and manipulation is rapidly increasing,I'm pretty sure it's going to become #1 thing to talk about everywhere pretty soon.

[@userequaltoNull]

Imposter. With a modified name, however.

[@jamestrotman3238]

Since i cant go to school, my doc suggested to catch up using these and CrashCourses videos. Thanks

[@KiwiinSpace]

Whether your a man, women, a white person or a black person, or anyone in between... good luck with your school tests. :)

[@Burningwipf]

+

[@zain4019]

Kiwi In Space Thank-you:)

[@angelic8632002]

Whats really going on here though is expectations and peer pressure. What others think of you, or how you should be, has a noticeable effect on how you think about yourself, and function. Here in Sweden for example girls do better than boys in most so called "STEM" fields. It used to be the opposite 30 years ago, but the cultural narrative has changed to that of judging boys and young men as undisciplined and less intelligent. Unsurprisingly, this actually has an effect on their performance in school. A direct effect. I hope the point I'm trying to make gets across well.

[@mathiashummer9599]

Serah Wint Exactly, I don't know why we can't just encourage people to be the best they can be

[@partyyyprincess]

Serah Wint the same thing is happening here in Finland! so many young boys get shitty grades throughout their comprehensive education because it's "the norm". Surely many of them could do better if they just worked a little harded.

[@angelic8632002]

greenteasenpai Or believe they have the same potential. Which is the real point here

[@partyyyprincess]

Serah Wint I don't think they don't see their own potential, it's more like for a boy to fit in and be cool they have to give zero fucks about education and be lazy as hell. the same doesn't apply for girls, they can be popular and get straight A's at the same time. idk, it's a weird phenomenon. it's starting to have very real reprequations though, a big margin of our young men are unemployed and unmotivated. and nobody really addresses this issue.

[@angelic8632002]

Then you didn't get my point in the OP. Expectations literally change how you think.

[@intermedianguitarsguild4482]

To those who think this is ill informed or cherry picking studies to create a video more political than scientific- this is a long studied psychological phenomena often talked about in classrooms and research labs. It's not as though scishow is subscribing to an agenda, they are just reporting an often discussed topic. Plus, when there's no difference in cognitive function, the score difference has to be as a result of other factors. The studies are attempts to understand this. If you are upset by this ask yourself why. I don't understand why the discussion itself is controversial.

[@ingetnamn5447]

Women and men might have for example the same brains but different hormones. Wich affect the brain. So no, other factors do not have to affect the cognitive functions. It very well can be a natural difference that was advantageous for survival. Agreed on that to many are bitching an that it is a very interesting, true and informative video though. I do belive it's a bit angled though. though though though though though Edit: Word choice and placement.

[@celinak5062]

Daniel Carlberg I wonder if a trans person could answer some of those hormone hypotheses

[@prnewstoday2624]

Who is, for example, "reminding" or making women doubt their ability to achieve success before a Math exam? Does any study offers proof that any of this takes place systematically for women before a Math exam? The only thing I ever hear are positive messages about how women can achieve anything a man can do.

[@prnewstoday2624]

I was going to answer "4" on the third problem of my Math exam but since I was reminded I was a woman before the exam then I answered "3" instead.

[@ConceptNull]

@daniel carlberg Women and men(''for example'' lol) DO NOT have same brains. Go learn more please. www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2013/december/brain-connectivity-study-revea

[@qbNone]

Maybe do a show on different biases. The Backfire Effect is fascinating. It'd also be great to see some shows on the efficacy of different therapeutic techniques (e.g. talk therapy, CBT, EMDR).

[@celinak5062]

heathmorrison +

[@healthsumit9423]

heathmorrison +

[@seabb]

heathmorrison Backfire effect? So like, reverse psychology?

[@qbNone]

Shell B, It's a psychological phenomenon that makes people resist new information that contradicts their core beliefs, no matter the validity or certainty of the evidence. Think anti-vaccination people; additional evidence contradicting the core belief actually makes people dig in their heels even more.

[@qbNone]

Here's info if you're curious: skepdic.com/backfireeffect.html

[@Wanningfxcker]

I really really love this channel so much and that was another great video about a very interesting topic! I also wanted to mention that I generally love how everything is explained which makes it easy for me as a German person to actually understand what is going on. Thank you so much for these videos!

[@mvmlego1212]

Never in my thirteen years of public school or two years of community college have I heard anyone claim that males are better at math than females. P.S. All but one (me) of the ten highest-GPA students of my high school class were female, and all but one (me) of the eleven people in my community college's honors program were female. Let's see a video about that.

[@davidli5752]

maybe the ones going to community college were mostly female

[@mvmlego1212]

+David Li -- 53-54% of our students are female. A 10:1::Male:Female ratio is still three standard deviations more "female" than average.

[@jesuschrist6579]

I’m saying this as a female: Girls typically get better grades (bc they’re typically more responsible, cautious, and are good at classes like English, history, etc) But on standardized tests guys typically do better (in terms of math/science at least) bc they’re just naturally better I mean I think I’m an exception bc I’m more math/science inclined but I still think for the most part guys are better at math and science

[@jennali9800]

Compared to average, I'm extremely good at math/science, based on my standardized test scores (never gotten a single one below 98th percentile, usually 99). Compared to the rest of my school, I'm mediocre at best, because my school is full of a bunch of child prodigies winning international championships and the rest of us basically don't exist. As a rule of them, the Chinese-American cover the math, the Indian-American do science, and a very small handful of kids find other talents. I'm Chinese-American and I'm good at math, but not enough to matter compared to my classmates. See, I might actually have self-esteem right now if I had gone to a different school...

[@thefinalsif]

This was a really interesting topic.

[@genessab]

Instead of focusing on SJW's or Anti-SJW's or all our personal biases, can't we just appreciate that the majority of us are paying absolutely nothing for intricately planned, written, and well sourced science education?

[@seabb]

ahem I'm sorry to interject a comment here that doesn't have anything to do with the content of your comment but I just couldn't help but notice- PASTAAAAAAA!!!

[@UnknownXV]

Vikings488 Nope. Someone is paying for it, it's just against their will.

[@libbybollinger5901]

UnknownXV Scishow is funded by ads and donations. There's no tax money involved here

[@genessab]

Shell B pasta ve! ✌🏻

[@TheTechnicalNirl]

Hard to believe, but it does seem like the studies were reasonably well conducted. I'm betting the weight of the stereotypes locally has the highest importance here.

[@TheTechnicalNirl]

What? How does any of that relate to any of the stuff on the video?

[@celinak5062]

TheTechnicalNirl Yeah if I remember right, some of this can start _young_. girls at 6 don't think they can be geniuses and stay away from "smart" games. boys at 8 stop crying and talking about their emotions, that can set them up for higher suicide risk later in life.

[@TheTechnicalNirl]

I'm not too sure about that conclusion about girls. So far, I am thoroughly convinced that young girls don't "stay away" from intellectually challenging games. They are just denied access to those games, and given typically (and exclusively) girly toys instead. Now this wouldn't be too bad by itself, but I believe it is one more thing in the development of girls' personalities that just points them to paying attention to shallow aspects of life. Boys, on the other hand, also have their fair share of shallow toys, but they will generally benefit from other games, both virtual and physical, that will stimulate their cognitive processes and possibly even give them a good taste for solving puzzles.

[@60secondsuccess39]

Welcome to the self-fulfilling prophecy principle. I don't see how anybody could deny it. I have literally seen it in action, via volunteer positions at elementary schools.

[@L4PointLinguist]

If there is one thing we should all learn from watching the arguments of the last few years unfold, it's that people will find a way to deny anything they don't want to be true.

[@JohnDoe-rl9pp]

I mean, you're right - you see this effect all over the place, in a lot of contexts. But you can't accept "oh I see it all the time, how could anybody deny it" as justification, either. There are just way too many human biases that leave us seeing what we expect to see. The scientific method is the only way to be sure what's going on.

[@UnknownXV]

60 Second Success The SAT scores over the past 40 decades proves this hypothesis false. There is no implied bias there. Few people even know about the gap yet it persists.

[@amhassie2236]

This was great! Awesome presentation as well, thank you Brit!

[@ligoner412]

It would be interesting to see the results of students with learning disabilities is affected by whether they take the test wit just others with learning disabilities or with their general class.

[@baba2012100]

I am incredibly appreciative for the fact that the video showed that attempts to recreate the study both succeeded and failed. It shows an admirable degree of scientific impartiality.

[@dejosss]

This topic is probably one of my favorite topics you guys have covered

[@vlogsbyrow]

"If you tell groups of men and women that test scores on a math test will show a gender difference before they take it, their scores will show a difference" "even if they don't believe in it" Thank god I already took the math finals the last 3 days. If I knew this beforehand I would've performed terribly.

[@deep_fried_analysis]

This host is just getting better and better! Wonderful, now thank you :)

[@orenashkenazi9813]

This video is incredibly valuable, thank you Crash Course.

[@AndreaCrisp]

Great video. I feel this to my core as a female who wanted to be a marine biologist most of my childhood, but then started having so much trouble with math in HS I got a liberal arts degree instead. So I really love that dress!

[@ASBlueful]

I like her style of presenting, really comprehensive and intuitive! Nice video! ;)

[@erroneum]

Taking tests has never been stressful for me. All throughout school I was more often sleepy than stressed, and ended up doing well most of the time (including getting all 5's in AP calculus BC), then dropping out because all my homework felt more like busywork than anything else, and then getting nothing but high honors when I got my GED 6 months later despite not studying whatsoever. Oh well; I've never considered myself normal and have always been more of a loner than any other social group I've yet to hear of.

[@faitho9887]

'Believing in yourself is important.' This quote was most definitely needed for my exams that are coming up in a couple of days

[@TheOrbitalDropShock]

Can we just agree that this is a thing? The problem with social justice isn't the pointing out that stereotypes is a root of some problems but their proposed solution of trying to avoid stereotypes all together. The best way is to learn what stereotypes are (rough generalisations) and use them accordingly. That is to learn to "just deal with it". Misuse of stereotypes is the problem, not the stereotypes themselves.

[@bryn5238]

I'm going to remember this when I go into testing soon.

[@CuleChick11]

Thank you for including your sources. There's some interesting information there.

[@MrInternetHermit]

While the science is definitely interesting and should be kept in mind, I will have to disagree with her on one point. It is not that women have barriers in stem fields, because when studying whether women or men get promoted more show that neither gender even gets up to a five percent difference (In statistics anything 5% or more is considered usual), but the people who go after promotions and make their desire to get promoted known are 85-95% more likely to get promoted. Studies have shown that part of the work culture is that men are more likely to ask and chase promotions, while women are more likely to wait for the promotions to come to them. What we need to do isn't to punish guys for chasing promotions , but encourage gals to chase after promotions too.

[@meegy2]

this show is so good!

[@TheCowgirlgem]

Well explained!

[@zirion8446]

I graduated in statistics and one of my favorite subjects was "Test Theories", where I learned how a to elaborate and evaluate the quality of tests. When a group of people perform better in a particular item/question it is not necessarly because stereotype threat. We called it "differential item functioning" and it can have a lot of different explanations. For example, we studied tests that were applied for more than 5 million people and boys performing better than girls in math is a classical trait in every sub group of the test takers that we could think of (age, family income, region, etc). I love psychometrics and sometimes find these videos a bit simplistic, but it is acceptable since they have only about 5 minutes.

[@MrCmon113]

Ribas Daniel I was impressed in my first year of university how the professor could see attendance to tutoring and the presence of cheating from test scores alone.

[@Xenolaothe67]

I kinda like how there are comments already jumping to the defense of the unbiased video that used fairly neutral language to deliver it's message. Some are even sighting their sources, which is always great to see.

[@ashtree8868]

This reminds me of the racism simulation brown eyes vs blue eyes experiment on elementary schools. Children being told that blue eyes are better than brown eyes affected them in a way that the brown eyed children didn't perform as well and vise versa when they suddenly switched the roles.

[@Emsarrev]

I think the most valid point is made at the end of the video. If you're not confident in yourself for whatever reason, you're more likely to fail. The source of anxiety could be anything. Isn't the more important point that people of a certain race or culture often have a negative view of themselves or their culture, that leads to this anxiety?

[@ayshb2150]

Also most of these studies were conducted with people who didn't believe the stereotypes. This threat would be so much more when they actually do believe in these stereotypes

[@voorman534]

I'd really like to know more about this specific subject! I've also heard that boys and girls hit puberty differently and at slightly different times. Girls are often taller than boys in the beginning of high school and act more mature, girls often have higher mental age at that stage. This difference was linked to why girls do better in languages (because it's said that this skill develops first) than boys of the same age (because they hit this threshold later). This discourages boys and motivates girls into learning more about a language making the stereotype that girls are better at languages and boys better at math. Maybe it would be better to treat genders differently in school because they are not the same, to give them equal opportunities. It would be great if more studies could be done about this specific subject because it might just change the whole school system.

[@CloudsAndDays]

Guess the phrase I tell people before test works. "Believe in yourself and you will believe in you. You want at least one person to believe in you and that person might as well be yourself."

[@CatherineSmith2283]

The original research on stereotype threat recently came under fire by the replication studies. The effect itself might be a thing (I can't imagine it's not), but it sure didn't replicate in the way it was originally studied. :(

[@adricortesia]

First reading the title I thought I was about teacher scoring students different because of stereotypes. There is a phenomena in germany where teacher score students differently because of their first name. Some first names in germany are connected to lower social standards, education or income. Just by reading the name of the student in the header of the writing test they will grade the student better or worse. I don't know if this is true, but I may believe it because those name stereotypes are very strong and well known in germany. This will ofc only work with test that have not a right or wrong answer like in math but more in fields like writing.

[@MrCmon113]

Adri Cortesia *Cough* Kevin *Cough*

[@adricortesia]

Yeah you are right. I think you are german or at least you know the culture quite well. Being a Kevin in Germany can end you in a very bad social situation. There are other first names as well like Jeremy, Justin but also some female first names like Chantal. If you name your kid like those in germany you will probably end in some serious social issues. The reason for this is (this is just a semi educated guess) that especially lower class people in germany tend to give their kids "exotic" names but without the ability to pronounce them right. The german english accent is very annoying (at least for me). When you hear a lower social class mother shout across the street "SCHÄRÄMI" (which is the super annoying pronounciation of Jeremy in germanized english) you know you should move to an other part of the city. I don't say that all Kevin, Jeremy or Justins are bad or of lower heritage but it's a stereotype which is very prominent in germany and thus even the teacher tend to score differently because of it even if they don't what to.

[@MattGreenisawesome]

What if they designed tests to make people feel like they were good at tests. Would people do better?

[@moozie2z]

This is a great video and you are a wonderful presenter. I love this channel. Off topic though, where can I find that dress!!!!???

[@sakura2974]

My parents are not as in tune with the Psychology world as they are in the Math world but being from a mathematically gifted family probably helped to inflate my mathematical abilities and allowed me to enjoy algebra, physics, and chemistry significantly more than my peers especially when we had a teacher that wasn't especially nice.

[@MrPolluxxxx]

are people reminded the stereotypes before they pass a test? I mean , it seem that it is a short time effect and that you really have to remind the participants that a stereotype exists to be able to mesure stereotype threat. So I'm a bit skeptical that stereotype threat is really the source of an achievement gap. If someone could explain this to me. Great video, love this channel.

[@IbanBoi99]

My country uses codes to identify the students so the examiners won't know who is who

[@legaltenderradfem]

THAT DRESS!!!!

[@IIIIIawesIIIII]

I believe in the effect, yet, very small. And these experiments don't sound very reliable to me.

[@celinak5062]

nocebo is a powerful thing

[@michiganabigail]

I’m a woman, but I’m also a middle child, and I’m incredibly stubborn. I’ve always had a bit of a problem trying to be as good as my older brother, so I take the stereotypes as a challenge. I’m not even kidding you. I’ve historically done so well on standardized tests, just because I want to do better than my older brother. Also maybe partially because I’m pretty smart.

[@disappearinthinair]

That's so interesting. Also, where does on get that dress? It's awesome!

[@marialedin3684]

Growing up, I didn’t learn/know that there were was a stereotype that men were better at math, until like 8th grade watching a Ted-Ed video about math anxiety. I don’t know if it affected me much at all, partly because my initial reaction was “pfft, that can’t be true, if anything it’s the other way around.” Most of the highest achievers in all my math classes (all the way from first grade) had been girls, (and today still feels like it is girls).

[@cup_check_official]

Wait, haven't they done a video on this already? I swear i remember a video with these similar facts

[@Myndir]

Pretty funny revisiting this in the light of the replication crisis.

[@sarahwoodall8225]

I’m a blonde female with a vivid social life . What are you thinking about me? You probably now think that I’m stupid. I have all A’s. I’m in reading bowl, math team, the gifted program, my school’s news crew, and I play soccer. I somehow manage to keep all A’s with all of those activities. Boom, drop the mic.

[@TheEpicBlend]

At 2:10, you mention how the effect might be negligible, then go on to say it's definitely a part of the achievement gap. Does not compute.

[@willbeakley2603]

scishow sociology would be cool

[@lexi6794]

Billybeaks they have a crash course series on sociology. It's a different host but it's interesting

[@willbeakley2603]

Piano Keys thanks I'll check It out

[@MagiMystik]

Being with people who believe in you can make you smarter than when you are with people who think your not..

[@thstroyur]

Stereotyping is just us being lazy to grow/assign personalities of our/others own - but like everything else, there's always an exploit: I'll just convince myself I'm the stereotypical guy that becomes president of the Universe and let my brain deal w/ the rest ;D

[@spookbumps6598]

As a Mexican, I will think about this when watering plants

[@ZackeTheBrute]

The thing about psychological resarch is that its super hard to do good studies. She said so herself, one of the studies did not confirm. I think this probably has some truth to it but that the effects are negligible.

[@emmasilver2332]

I'm the kind of girl who breaks stereotypes. I don't mind getting dirty, I love the STEM fields, I hate most romance novels, I'd never spend more than $15 on a pair of jeans, and I'm always geeking out about my newest Dungeons and Dragons character concept I've come up with. Although, I also fit quite a few other stereotypes, like the fact that I tend to be very nurturing towards my friends, and I am a terrible driver. It goes to show that stereotypes only matter if you think they do. To me, they don't.

[@NewMessage]

Sony, Panasonic, Kenmore.. does the type of stereo you use really matter? This is such junk science.

[@beatricekarlonaite6709]

Every teacher should see this.

[@SalamanderMagic]

Well, I wouldn't know, 'cause I'm asian and all everyone ever says is "Asians are good at math!" And I am. I'm fantastic at math. So if these stereotypes are affecting me, I'm happy about it haha.

[@MrCyanGaming]

I'm really enjoying these Videos! Keep up the Good work!!! 😄👍

[@ClaraLaherty]

This comment section is actually a really interesting example of right-wing people interpreting peer-reviewed research as liberal propaganda, or at least biased.

[@FabulousIcky]

What's actually interesting is that the field of social psychology is known to be predominantly liberal/progressive. There are a very few politically conservative social psychologists. It could suggest many of the research studies that have been conducted could have liberal bias. As to why this is the case is a mystery still.

[@miriam7872]

If you're already talking about biases then why use labels? You sound like you just want to spill salt. Also: most research is biased, honestly. But this effect is so well studied that we can say its pretty unbiased.

[@ingetnamn5447]

The facts are true. But the lack of other information like that steriotypes really can be true wich is a big part in this topic is sjw biased.

[@edouarddubois9402]

How so? None of the comments really have any ring-wing-type messages in them.

[@hawkecrail5186]

are you sure because most comments i see are complaining about the complainers b uh t j don't see the original group of complainers

[@sgtpepper138]

Scientists have had trouble replicating this result in the last couple years after the awareness of P-Hacking began to spread. You shouldn't spread these results without caveat, certainly not without any significant mention of the replication trouble. Remember when P-Hacking was in all the science news and psychologists found that they couldn't replicate the results of a significant number of classic studies? This was one of those studies.

[@SupermaxLaFrom]

A video on other cognitive biases could be interesting!

[@madelynhanes5759]

another interesting thing that i find i do is when i tell myself that i will do bad on a test, i will. but if i'm open minded or confident, i do well!

[@DeathbyPixels]

“If you’re a student in the US right now...” I’m already prepared to laugh at my own misfortune and my country’s pure ineptitude to do anything other than piss off other countries

[@jmz1736]

Your dress looks like mrs frizzle is about to study the ocean I like it

[@KayleeWhite1]

So the SATs and AP exams with all those question about who you are before?

[@SymmetricalDocking]

But who is reminding these people every time they go to drive a car?

[@gromitvt10]

U can only be dank if u believe u can be :)

[@JornamMusic]

So tests should actually ask me for my name at the very end, so as to not remind me of the dumbass I am xD

[@nonameanymore2080]

very interesting

[@spider2783]

huh i actually learned something today

[@T1Oracle]

Another factor to consider is childhood exposure to lead. Lead is a neurotoxin and the highest levels are in the south, the west, inner cities, and any place with old buildings. Typically the poor and minorities live in these places. Lead exposure causes ADD, lower IQ, and an inrease in violence in adulthood. Of course self confidence matters, so you shouldn't tell a test taker this before an exam.

[@armybeast1823]

Yeah believe it!

[@Danilego]

In my country, the stereotype is that girls are better students. And it was pretty accurate, at least in my school

[@kolby4078]

I think the stereotyping of the subjects has an even bigger than the stereotyping of people For example when I was growing up I was told I would never use most the stuff I was learning so I put less effort in or being told math is super duper ultra hard and boring when really mathematics is usually just procedural and is still an unsolved science with interesting concepts still in development

[@Mystic-Dust]

What's weird is that a few stereotypes could actually be beneficial. For example, the stereotype that Asians do better in mathematics actually led to an increase in test scores (so it wouldn't necessarily be a "stereotype threat" in this case because the stereotype actually motivated them to do better).

[@LinnyThePooh100]

Mystic Dust but it's a double edged sword for those asians who aren't as good as math. theyll remember the stereotype that they should be good at math, become disparaged, and perform much lower than they should be

[@ColterDewitt]

I wonder how many confounding factors are present in these studies. Does this work in different cultures and fit their stereotypes, for instance?

[@intermedianguitarsguild4482]

Nova Fusion that's actually a huge problem in psychology. Almost all of our research is based on western civilization, and sometimes the research we think is going to carry over to other cultural groups doesn't. That doesn't mean that this is false for this culture, but finding universal psychological behavior seems to be difficult.

[@celinak5062]

Nova Fusion + like the 5 basic emotions

[@ziqi92]

A friendly reminder to all of you that positive thinking matters

[@satiethetutor3337]

veritasium did a video on learned helplessness, which is somewhat on a similar note.

[@darelh1348]

While the stereotype threat effect may be true- and we shouldn't just say "There is research so it must be true" because a lot of research can be flawed, and indeed you can pick up a few flaws in the research from this video alone- that doesn't mean this video is free from the influence of any agenda or bias. Take note of which group they looked at as victims of stereotype threat the most- women. Funny fact about women/girls is that (in the UK at least, and since that's where I'm from that's the data I'm familiar with) they actually outperform men/boys in most of our schooling system. Girls are likely to get higher GCSE and A-level scores than boys for nearly all subjects... maths being one of the only subjects that is an exception to this. So if you wanted to reduce the performance​ gap between boys and girls then the focus should primarily be on helping boys (still helping girls with maths of course). Yet whenever this sort of topic is touched it's girls who are depicted as the 'victims', the ones who are underperforming in education due to stereotypes or discrimination; people cite that women are behind in maths but not that they're ahead nearly everywhere else. More women attend university than men, yet we still talk about encouraging more women to go to uni (specifically into STEM, because it's not like women can make their own choices, huh?). One can only speculate as to why this is, but my own theory is that those who are trying to support women's rights and wellbeing are actually still strongly under the influence of the stereotype that women are weak and victims. I think a lot of supposed equality advocates are incredibly condescending towards women, and that's not going to have a good influence. Giving women so much extra encouragement to go into STEM when they're already have that choice open to them, doesn't it give the message (even if unintentional) that you believe women are incapable of getting into STEM without extra support? Well those are just my thoughts. I'd like to note that I don't think this is something SciShow does intentionally, exclusively, or to a greatly significant extent; this is just a symptom of a society wide phenomenon, that even advocates of women treat women like helpless victims.

[@drakan4769]

wait? asians who were reminded about the smart asian stereotype did better in tests? I'm going to start reading through my family tree before tests from now on

[@AtarahDerek]

Study concusion: Self-fulfilling prophecies are real and common.

[@ijmwpiano]

I KNEW IT!

[@lonestar98]

believe in yourself

[@jjc5475]

so, believe in yourself! that you failed miserably and have all kinds of mental/physical health problems doesn't matter! i disagree, i think we should tell people to try, and care less about how they are compared to others. believing in yourself works only if you have reason to do so or if you do not see your own flaws (which sometimes is a blessing) i rather say, hey. i'm shit. but guess what, so is half of the world. "normal people" do not exist. don't compare yourself to others and try to make the best of your own live and of the people around you. its alright to be sh*t.

[@mymodernrenaissance]

I really want that dress

[@petros_adamopoulos]

Wait, does it still work on people who believe "Stereotype threat" is real? If so, how can it?