MLK lecturer addresses stereotype threat
Stanford professor and author Claude Steele knows first-hand the pressures of being an underrepresented minority on a college campus. At the 15th annual Martin Luther King Jr. lecture Wednesday afternoon, Steele discussed the influence of negative stereotypes on minority academic performance and urged a packed audience of students, faculty members and local teachers to embrace their identities rather than succumb to preconceptions.
Steele opened the lecture, delivered in the Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts auditorium, by pointing out a problem — the "academic underperformance" of individuals belonging to certain minority groups distinguished by race, gender or religion. Highlighting topics in his book, "Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us," Steele pointed out that even highly motivated and capable individuals can be discouraged by negative influences, and their performance suffers as a result. He talked about his own experience, specifically the pressure and anxiety of being the only black graduate student studying psychology at Ohio State University.
