Stereotypes have been around for as long as time can tell, and while their origin are unclear there is without a definitive doubt that they still have a profound impact on us in the future. However, in our modern age technology has transported stereotypes significantly faster than in the past through word of mouth.
I paid little attention to stereotypes growing up, but in my high school years I became more aware of them. As a Chinese boy there were very few stereotypes that were significantly harmful. Sure there was the occasional “do you eat dogs?” or “hey can you help me with my math homework? Because you know…”, but these were nothing compared to the bigger stereotypes that loomed over the population. The kind of stereotypes I am referring to are the ones that subtly limit people of a certain party from succeeding.
This is commonly referred to as stereotype threat. Stereotype threat is when a person from a certain party that the negative stereotype is referencing is at risk of being confirmed. An example of this would be a study conducted by Steele and Aronson in 1995 when they showed through several experiments that Black college undergraduates performed poorly in standardized tests than their White counterparts when their race was emphasized. Through the emphasis of one’s own race or party that a negative stereotype is referring to, a person from that race or party can suffer from it.
Stereotypes may appear harmless, but through society’s constant use and reference to certain stereotypes that could cause results similar to the case study conducted by Steele and Aronson, it would appear that they may not be as harmless as we once thought. I remember when I was a peer tutor at my high school, teaching different subjects that I excelled in to different kinds of people when this kind of force proved formidable. Mental health stereotypes operate the same way.
In one of my encounters with this threat, I was teaching – for the sake of this story let us call the boy, Mark – Mark how to solve a quadratic equation. Mark is an intelligent person and I really believed that I could help him, however after struggling with a certain problem for a while he burst out in anger.
“Dammit! How am I supposed to solve this?” he flustered.
“Look. It’s quite simple. What-” I began to explain
“Easy for you to say,” he said, looking away, “I mean this is what your people are good at.”
At that moment I began to realize my racial identity as well as his. He was black and I was Chinese. He was supposed to be good at basketball and I was supposed to be good at math. In the next twenty years, he is supposed to be a “thug” of some sort and I am supposed to obediently do well in school and be a doctor or lawyer. Does that appear right? No, it certainly does not.
We cannot allow stereotypes to govern our lives. They do not define us. What they prove is how harmful the shallow thinking of those who only perceive their surroundings can be. I did not understand the full extent or mapping of this issue, but I knew that what Mark had brought up was not right.
And so I told him that. I encouraged him. I told him what he could accomplish should he solve the problem in front of him. That he should disregard the stereotype of him being black would prevent him from succeeding and just being good at basketball. In that moment, Mark was not black and I was not Chinese. We were both human and working solely for the betterment of both of our futures: for Mark, it was passing the class he had the potential to excel in and for me, realizing the huge impact of stereotype threat.
My story may sound ridiculous but it really isn’t. Going back to the case study that Steele and Anderson conducted, they found that when there was no emphasis on race, Black students performed as well as their White counterparts, if not better. What this conveys is how the academic performance can be harmed by the awareness one has if they shape their behavior to conform to the “norm” that society has for him/her.
Stereotype threat has posed itself as an invisible adversary and a huge problem for society. It produces unneeded anxiety and pressure on people from certain races, genders and parties and it has to stop. While awareness of one’s racial/party identity to a stereotype can produce negative results, awareness to the existence of stereotype threat proves as an effective antidote to this poison.
Never stop believing in your own potential. Do not let yourself be governed by the “norms” that society puts upon you. If you are Chinese and you love to paint but people expect you to be a doctor or lawyer, disregard it; pursue your passion. If you are a woman who has heart for the sciences but people tell you to put down the screwdriver and do something more suitable for your gender, disregard it; pursue your passion. Be passionate, be hungry for success and never forget to have faith in yourself.
By: Wai Wing Lai, Anxiety In Teens Contributor
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