Combatting Stereotype Threat

In her article on hidden biases (OPN, May 2012), former OSA President Elsa Garmire alluded to a phenomenon known as “stereotype threat,” which refers to the fear that one’s academic or job performance might confirm a negative stereotype about their gender or ethnic group. When I started my career 32 years ago, I’d never heard of this term—although I was acutely aware that I was the only African-American physicist in my department. For that reason, I wanted to do exceptionally well, and that added a lot of pressure to an already stressful environment.