---
title: "Stereotype Threat"
artifact: "summary"
resource_person: "Claude Steele"
resource_person_role: "Social psychologist and co-author of the foundational stereotype-threat research"
vertical: "psychological-literacy"
module: "Psychologically Safe Classrooms"
lesson: "Stereotype Threat"
lesson_key: "stereotype-threat"
source: "curated"
source_channel: "Not In Our School"
---
# Stereotype Threat

**Resource person:** Claude Steele - Social psychologist and co-author of the foundational stereotype-threat research

**Curated from:** Not In Our School

## Summary

Claude Steele describes stereotype threat as the pressure that appears when a person may be judged through a negative stereotype about one of their groups. The pressure is situational. It can affect a capable, well-prepared student precisely because doing well matters to them.

In an evaluative moment, part of the student's attention can become occupied with monitoring how they are seen or whether a mistake will confirm the stereotype. That extra load can depress performance and make the result a poorer measure of what the student knows. Steele calls the constructive response identity safety: credible cues that a learner is seen as an individual and belongs in the setting.

For a teacher, this means looking closely at task framing, examples, classroom climate and feedback. Clear standards, confidence in the student's ability to meet them, representative material and a steady sense of belonging can reduce avoidable identity pressure.

The research field has active debates about effect sizes and publication bias. This interview is a strong explanation from a principal researcher; it should be read alongside the original experiments and later meta-analyses.