Another group of participants, however, went through exactly the same procedure, except that they were told the anagram task was a measure of cognitive abilities. For the black students in this group, this labeling made the stereotype about blacks’ cognitive abilities relevant to the anagram task. Their frustration on the task could now confirm the stereotype about their group’s abilities. Unlike the whites in this group, then, they were now under stereotype threat.
Black students tried 2x the optional anahrams as white/Asian.
Was this researcher-blind study though? Or did they know they were giving instructions to specific groups (control vs exp, or black vs white)? Exp conditions can have as much of an effect as the stereotype threat conditions, perhaps acting through similar means, but perhaps not.
