WEPAN Prof. Dev. 

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Stereotype Threat:

The Nature and Nurture of Intelligence


The Way Human Beings Respond to

Negative Stereotypes About Their Racial and Gender Group

Dr. Joshua Aronson, Associate Professor of Applied Psychology at NYU and internationally recognized expert on stereotype threat and the social psychology of achievement will discuss what psychologists have learned about how certain situations can make people less intelligent, and what we can do to counter the power of these situations to encourage the expression and the development of intelligent thought and academic achievement.   

Joshua Aronson and his team have conducted numerous studies showing how stereotype threat depresses the standardized test performance of black, Latino and female college students. Understanding can help young people achieve their academic aspirations. 

 

Aronson and his colleagues are widely considered experts in this field, and they are now working to boost the learning achievement, test performance and enjoyment of school among underachieving youth.  

Joshua Aronson and His Research:

Joshua Aronson is associate professor of developmental, social, and educational psychology, at NYU.  He received his Ph.D. in 1992 from Princeton University.  Before coming to NYU, he was on the faculty at the University of Texas and was a postdoctoral scholar and lecturer at Stanford University. 

 

Aronson's research focuses on the social and psychological influences on academic achievement.  One of the most widely cited social scientists in the past decade, Aronson is internationally known for his research on "stereotype threat" and minority student achievement, research that offers a strong challenge to traditional genetic and sociological explanations of why African Americans and Latinos perform less well on tests of intelligence than their White counterparts, and why women trail men in hard math and science.

 

Aronson's research with colleague Claude Steele has been cited in two Supreme Court cases and is considered a modern classic in social psychology, with over 1800 citations in scientific publications. This research showed how stereotypes that allege lower ability among these groups depresses Black and Latino students' test and school performance, and women's comfort and performance in advanced mathematics and science domains. 

 

Aronson has authored numerous chapters and scholarly articles on this work and is the Editor of Improving Academic Achievement: Impact of Psychological Factors on Education (Academic Press) and Readings about the Social Animal, (Worth).  

 

His current work focuses on methods of boosting the learning and test performance of underachieving youth.  Aronson has received several awards and grants for his research including Early Career awards from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and the National Science Foundation, and the G. Stanley Hall Lecturer Award from the American Psychological Association.  He was the founding director of the Center for Research on Culture, Development and Education at New York University.   His forthcoming book is called The Nurture of Intelligence.

Tuesday
May 8, 2012
1:00 EDT
Dr. Joshua Aronson
NYU
 
"Most of my work seeks to understand and remediate race and gender gaps in educational achievement and standardized test performance.