The Ups and Downs of Attributional Ambiguity

Abstract

This research examined whether stereotype vulnerability—the tendency to expect, perceive, and be influenced by negative stereotypes about one's social category—is associated with uncertainty about one's academic self-knowledge in two important ways. We predicted that stereotype-vulnerable African American students would (a) know less about how much they know than less vulnerable students do and (b) have unstable academic efficacy. In Study 1, Black and White participants took a verbal test and indicated the probability that each of their answers was correct. As expected, stereotype-vulnerable Black participants were more miscalibrated than other participants. In Study 2, participants completed measures of self-efficacy twice daily for 8 days. Also as expected, the academic efficacy of stereotype-vulnerable Blacks fluctuated more—and more extremely—than that of other participants. The results suggest that, in addition to undermining intellectual performance, stigma interferes with academic self-knowledge.