ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews empirical studies demonstrating that prejudicial and discriminatory frames of reference can be changed and that lifting the burden of stereotypes and stereotype threat has a marked and often immediate impact on perception and performance. It looks at four new violinists," remembers Herb Weksleblatt, a tuba player for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, who led the fight for blind auditions at the met in the mid 1960s. To explain the psychological and social effects of negative stereotypes, Claude Steele introduced the concept of "stereotype threat." The concept of stereotype threat is so powerful because it demonstrates that the enduring, socially embedded problems of racism and sexism do not have to be solved in order to create environments where the negative effect of stereotypes is dramatically diminished. Since stereotype threat is situational and social rather than individual and internal, it can be immediately changed by changing the environment.
