Summary

Chapter 3, “Stereotype Threat Comes to Light, and in More than One Group,” starts with the Seattle Sonics’ losing streak. When they got a new coach, they start winning championships, but sports writers wrote as if the players had just gotten better. Steele uses this as a metaphor for how members of marginalized groups are often treated. It’s easier to watch a person and try to figure out what they are doing wrong than to figure out what is going on around them that might affect their performance. Steele thinks, contrary to prevailing wisdom that says people fail when they believe the stereotypes about themselves, that it is the people working hardest to overcome stereotypes who struggle with that additional pressure. He and his post-doc, Josh, designed an experiment in which white and black students were presented with part of a difficult test...