Social identity threat impairs math performance via increased intrusive thoughts and working memory load (being-cognition disfluency)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Women reminded of gender-math stereotypes showed greater intrusive negative thoughts and working memory load and performed worse on a math task than women not experiencing threat and men, who performed similarly. → Alexander S. Browman 2025

Evidence¶

Alexander S. Browman 2025¶

Alexander S. Browman. (2025). Centering Social Fit, Self-Concept Fit, Goal Fit, and Resource Fit as Core Elements of Students' Experiences of Belonging at School. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10009-3

q3 · i? · review · r2

The review reports experimental social identity threat research (Beilock et al., 2007; Cadinu et al., 2005; Schmader & Johns, 2003) in which women reminded of stereotypes about gender differences in math abilities experienced greater intrusive negative thoughts, greater working memory load, and ultimately performed worse on the math task, while unthreatened women and men showed "similarly low levels of intrusive negative thoughts and working memory load" and similar performance.

"This research has shown that women not experiencing threat and men experienced similarly low levels of intrusive negative thoughts and working memory load while waiting to complete a math task—indicative of being-cognition fluency—and demonstrated similar performance on the task."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Identity — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Stereotype Threat — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Chronic stereotype threat is negatively associated with mathematical achievement in secondary schoolgirls — related
• Gender identification moderates the relation between chronic stereotype threat and both working memory effectiveness and intellectual helplessness — related
• Working memory effectiveness mediates the relation between chronic stereotype threat and mathematical achievement only for highly gender-identified girls — related
• Intellectual helplessness mediates the relation between chronic stereotype threat and mathematical achievement only for highly gender-identified girls — related
• Stereotype threat in collaborative contexts can interfere with working memory and reduce meaningful contribution — related
• Negative stereotype salience combined with high ethnic self-identification inhibits academic performance, while positive stereotypes facilitate it — related
• Sequential mediation through both intellectual helplessness and working memory is not significant — related
• Threat of an aversive scream lowers verbal working memory accuracy at low and medium load but not at high load in both adolescents and adults — related
• White men performed measurably worse on tests of innate athletic ability when under stereotype threat — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Experimental stereotype threat effects in SLD samples are heterogeneous (Hedges's g 0.06–1.16), with effects more robust for motivation-related psychological outcomes than for cognitive or academic performance outcomes — related
• Stereotype threat compromises the test performance of learners whose group is the target of a negative stereotype — a broader claim this one bears on
• Fixed mindset peer cultures are theorized to erode belonging via identity threat, especially for minoritized students — related
• Altering the order of administration of math and verbal tests serves as an ecological intervention that reduces stereotype threat on girls’ math performance. — related