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History as a Resource: Effects of Narrative Constructions of Group History on Intellectual Performance
Author(s) -
Bikmen Nida
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/josi.12112
Subject(s) - narrative , disadvantaged , psychology , stereotype threat , resource (disambiguation) , developmental psychology , psychological resilience , group (periodic table) , social psychology , test (biology) , identification (biology) , political science , literature , computer science , law , art , computer network , chemistry , paleontology , organic chemistry , biology , botany
Two studies examined the effects of exposure to historical narratives about group resilience on the intellectual performance of two groups negatively stereotyped for their abilities in academic domains: African Americans in verbal ability, and women in mathematics. In both studies, participants who were exposed to a narrative about their group's historical resilience in the domain of the stereotype performed better on an intellectual test as their group identification increased. In the control condition, performance was negatively related to group identification. These findings suggest that history of marginalized groups can act as a resource for current challenges depending on how it is narrated, and that history curriculum can be designed to enhance these effects in order to improve the educational performance of disadvantaged group members.