When ignorance is bliss: stereotype threat knowledge heightens endorsement of gender essentialism

Women continue to be underrepresented academically in science, technology,\ud engineering, and math fields, which could partially be explained by stereotype threat. A\ud recent intervention by Johns and colleagues (2005) demonstrated that giving women\ud knowledge about stereotype threat allowed them to perform equally to men on a math test\ud compared to controls. The current study expanded on the intervention by imparting\ud knowledge about stereotype threat potentially allowing equity in performance, but may\ud also promote higher gender essentialism beliefs. Specifically, we examined whether\ud women who received the intervention perceived gender to be more biological, immutable,\ud discrete, and informative than women who received no such intervention. Results\ud indicate that women in the threat and threat with knowledge conditions held significantly\ud higher essentialist beliefs than women in the control condition. Thus, there may be\ud detrimental effects for women who experience stereotype threat because endorsement of\ud gender essentialism has been linked with stereotyping and prejudice