Whistling Vivaldi
Aug. 10th, 2010 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetI have just finished reading Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us by Claude M. Steele. I have it from the library, but am strongly considering purchasing my own copy. This is a book I think everyone should read. Really, everyone.
At last there is theory and evidence to explain under-performance by various groups in academic and professional settings that does not fall back on the idea that, for example, women simply aren't as good as men at math and science, that black students can't hack it in university, that older workers are simply inferior to younger workers. That idea is stereotype-threat, the concern that one's performance may conform to a negative stereotype of one's group, which results in an extra cognitive load and other effects with negative consequences.
The book is straightforward in laying out a progression of experiments by social psychologists that has led to a much better understanding of the forces at work and the ways in which identity-threats in our functional environments act on us all to reduce our effectiveness and create gulfs between our groups that may have nothing to do with the attitudes of the people involved. Best of all, it begins to look at ways to mitigate these threats and to counter their effects in order to create situations in which people can reach their potentials without crippling their own achievements.
This work feels so deeply true to me that I expect it will become "common knowledge" and considered "intuitively obvious" within a decade. But it is revolutionary in looking not at the qualities of the individuals for explanations that have always been unsatisfying, but at the context in which the individual operates.
Who should read this book? Everyone. Really. Teachers and parents and HR professionals and anyone in a mentoring position. Men--if anyone's ever told you that you just don't get it, this book might be the clue you're missing! Women. People of all colors and backgrounds. People need to read this book.
At last there is theory and evidence to explain under-performance by various groups in academic and professional settings that does not fall back on the idea that, for example, women simply aren't as good as men at math and science, that black students can't hack it in university, that older workers are simply inferior to younger workers. That idea is stereotype-threat, the concern that one's performance may conform to a negative stereotype of one's group, which results in an extra cognitive load and other effects with negative consequences.
The book is straightforward in laying out a progression of experiments by social psychologists that has led to a much better understanding of the forces at work and the ways in which identity-threats in our functional environments act on us all to reduce our effectiveness and create gulfs between our groups that may have nothing to do with the attitudes of the people involved. Best of all, it begins to look at ways to mitigate these threats and to counter their effects in order to create situations in which people can reach their potentials without crippling their own achievements.
This work feels so deeply true to me that I expect it will become "common knowledge" and considered "intuitively obvious" within a decade. But it is revolutionary in looking not at the qualities of the individuals for explanations that have always been unsatisfying, but at the context in which the individual operates.
Who should read this book? Everyone. Really. Teachers and parents and HR professionals and anyone in a mentoring position. Men--if anyone's ever told you that you just don't get it, this book might be the clue you're missing! Women. People of all colors and backgrounds. People need to read this book.
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