UC Berkeley

Stereotype threat is a situational experience, in which individuals feel vulnerable to the possibility of being judged because of a negative stereotype associated to their social group. This experience leads to decline in performance, even among highly skilled individuals. The objective of this research is to provide researchers with a comprehensive theoretical framework of measuring stereotype threat and develop and validate the stereotype threat instrument. To date, no instrument has completely been able to explain the amount of stereotype threat experienced by individuals, placed in different situations and belonging to different social groups.

In Chapter 1, we review past research on stereotype threat and discuss various influential moderators of stereotype threat. We identify gaps in the pre-existing measures and explore ways of operationalizing the stereotype threat construct. In Chapter 2, we establish the stereotype threat balance framework and define a new stereotype threat construct. We develop the stereotype threat instrument using the four building blocks approach. In Chapter 3, we measure stereotype threat experienced by transfer students studying in four-year universities across the nation. We collect evidence in support of using the proposed instrument as a valid metric for measuring stereotype threat. In Chapter 4, using differential item functioning, we investigate for any potential item bias in the stereotype threat instrument for the different racial groups in our sample. Once we establish no measurement bias, we analyze differences in outcomes for the five racial groups, Asians, Blacks, Latinos, Whites and Others (American Indians or Native Americans, Bi-racial, Pacific Islanders)