Blascovich, Spencer, Quinn, and Steele XXXXXXXXXXwanted to test the hypothesis that stereotype threat causes an increase in blood pressure among African Americans, but not among European Americans. To...

Blascovich, Spencer, Quinn, and Steele (2001) wanted to test the hypothesis that stereotype threat causes an increase in blood pressure among African Americans, but not among European Americans. To test this hypothesis, African American and European American participants were randomly assigned to a high-stereotype or low-stereotype threat condition. In the high-stereotype condition, the experimenter was a European American man presumably from Stanford University who informed the participants about the debate regarding standardized tests—whether they were biased toward particular subcultural groups—and that a new test of intelligence had been developed and asked the participants to take the new test to obtain a nationally representative sample. In the low-stereotype condition, the experimenter was an African American man presumably from Stanford University. He noted the debate about the use of standardized tests and said he wanted them to take a new culturally unbiased test. He further noted that prior studies had indicated that the test was unbiased. All participants then completed the Remote Associates Test, which consists of presenting three words and asking the participants to generate a fourth word related to the three they see. Arterial blood pressure of the participants was taken prior to hearing the instructions and continuously while they took the Remote Associates Test.