Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us (Issues of Our Time)

Claude M. Steele

Apr 2011 · Issues of Our Time Book 0 · W. W. Norton & Company

About this ebook

The acclaimed social psychologist offers an insider’s look at his research and groundbreaking findings on stereotypes and identity. Claude M. Steele, who has been called “one of the few great social psychologists,” offers a vivid first-person account of the research that supports his groundbreaking conclusions on stereotypes and identity. He sheds new light on American social phenomena from racial and gender gaps in test scores to the belief in the superior athletic prowess of black men, and lays out a plan for mitigating these “stereotype threats” and reshaping American identities.

Ratings and reviews

As part of the "Issues of Our Time" series, Whistling Vivaldi by Claude M. Steele, offers up a 'journey' of his scholarly research in social psychology that walks us through intimate examples, psychological experiments, and expert analysis of some of society's most important social problems to argue that stereotypes affect us individually in terms of how we think, act, talk and what we can and can't accomplish, as well as affect some of our most valued social institutions. Using a series of everyday observations to explain the stigmatization of women in field of math, he also explains that pressure alone can affect the conventional knowledge and skills that women already have in Math (40). Through an experiment where women were informed of the under-performance that happens to them on standardized tests, they were found to have typically scored lower upon receiving this information. However, when told that this did not pertain to this particular standardized test, they performed as well or even superior to men. By taking this stereotype out of the equation and noticing that women did perform well or even better, it clearly demonstrates that the pressure of being the underestimated will be enough to lower an overall score. Then Steele proceeds to deal with a central question: Does stereotype threat only affect minorities or is it more of a generalized phenomenon? Through personal anecdotes and controlled experiments, Steele proves that identity threat knows no boundaries and is a universal human condition. Though he cites many experiments, the real-life account of a white male college student in an African-American political science class in which he was the minority, proves to be one of the most significant. Steele writes: "he often worried about proving himself academically at this university. But in this class, he knew he had to prove himself in another way – as a good person, as an ally of the cause, as a nonracist white person” (86). Through this narrative, Steele proves that situational differences alone are fully sufficient to hamper academic performance, with all other research concluding the same thing: no previous susceptibilities are required to feel these social pressures, as long as a desire to succeed is present. Thus, this chapter is an example of how Steele contributes more evidence to his argument Steele’s belief that stereotype threat is a standard human issue that shapes individual experiences in society. Steele and his colleagues delve into the physiological and physical properties, extensive cognitive activity in relation to anxiety, which causes stable heart beat intervals depending on how much thinking a brain is performing. In one experiment involving two groups of men stride across a rope to complete an activity with an interview at the end, one group was paired up with a male interviewer, and the other group was paired up with a female interviewer. At the end of the task, each man who completed the activity was given the chance to obtain the interviewer's number to contact and connect with them. Studies showed that the group of men that had the male interviewer didn't strive to accomplish the task rather than the group that had the female interviewer, because of the reward of receiving her number at the end (115). According to Steele, this study shows that the group of men that had the male interviewer didn't strive to accomplish the task rather than the group that had the female interviewer, because of the reward of receiving her number at the end (115). As the purpose of Steele's argument is to reach a broader audience, he also uses uses the example of the Seattle Supersonics and their coaching change to show how performance is affected by identity contingency. In everyday terms, Steele uses this example to highlight how sports writers have an effect on player performance. The coach helped the players realize their potential. After doing so, the sports writers realized this as well...

Great.read the paper version,too.

About the author

Claude Steele is the provost of Columbia University. He is the author of numerous published articles and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Education, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.