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This stuff is pretty amazing

Stereotype Threat

The principle of Stereotype Threat says that negative stereotypes about the group to which you associate will impact your performance, academically, professionally. These stereotypes will ultimately impact your life choices about where you live, your profession and social relationships.

Social Queues

One important aspect of Stereotype Threat appears when an individual joins a group either being hired as a new employee or attending a class at school. The individual realizes his or her identity in relation to the group. The differences between the individual and the group appear and are reasons for concerns for the individual. These are queues to the individual telling he or she "I am different". Other questions emerge that may bring self doubt about whether or not the individual belongs, or is capable of being a part of the group. The individuals knowledge of his or her own group stereotype may creep in and consume the thoughts of the individual, so that the individual may not perform optimally. An example would be races in under-privileged communities who may not perform as well academically have to test themselves along side others. A view of being stereotyped as not successful students becomes reality, when tested along side their peers.

I believe that as a person who is almost 40 I can be categorized as in a group that is older than my peers, who may be for the most part as young as their early 20s. I believe a younger group will continue to surround me in this career and it is a concern for me. There are stereotypes associated with being older that may include they are not as quick to learn or not as hard working, devoted or passionate. I believe I may think these things subconsciously also, but I have the power in myself to prove whether it is true for me or not. Even though I will try not to let this be a set-back for me I have no doubt that this will be in the back of my head and potentially affect my performance or take actions I would have not otherwise. These feeling may even create anxiety in me. I have to realize that diversity in background of groups is what gives the group strength. Different points of view can be the best resource for a group.

Minimizing Stereo-type Threat Impact

One of the methods to get around this may be to bring together individuals who have as much of a diverse background as possible, and emphasize that this is a good quality for a group and that it gives the group strength. There will be no majority culture established, only that of a diverse team group and no feelings of being an outsider for most.

One possible way to approach the problem would be to embrace individuality and diversity. It may seem that this could be suspicious that diversity is singled out though.

How can we approach an individual and give them critical feedback, so that the individual can accept the feedback and trust someone who is different than them. I think this may be a problem because individuals might be suspicious of others who are different and part of the majority. There may be a lack of trust between the individual and the group. One method is to de-emphasize the queues to the individual that there is a majority existing, while not creating suspicion in the individual by over-emphasizing diversity.