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The Up‐ and Downside of Dual Identity: Stereotype Threat and Minority Performance
Author(s) -
Baysu Gülseli,
Phalet Karen
Publication year - 2019
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.12330
Subject(s) - stereotype threat , dual (grammatical number) , social psychology , identity (music) , psychology , acculturation , stereotype (uml) , ethnic group , social identity theory , model minority , political science , social group , asian americans , art , physics , literature , acoustics , law
Social identity and acculturation research mostly documents benefits of dual identity for immigrant minorities’ adaptation. Drawing on stereotype threat research, we argue that dual identity can be (1) beneficial in low‐threat contexts and (2) costly in high‐threat contexts. Two field experiments in schools induced stereotype threat by randomly assigning minority students (Study 1: N = 174, Study 2: N = 735) to stereotype threat (making ethnicity salient) versus control conditions before taking a test. We assessed dual identity as dual commitments to (combined) minority and majority cultures. In support of the predicted benefits of dual identity in low‐threat contexts, dual identifiers outperformed and had higher self‐esteem than did otherwise‐identified students in the control condition, while the advantage of dual identity disappeared in the threat condition (Study 1). In support of the predicted costs of a dual identity in high‐threat contexts, dual identifiers reported more anxiety (Study 1) and performed worse (Study 2) in the threat condition compared to the control condition. These experimental findings suggest that dual identities may either help or hinder minority performance depending on stereotype threat in academic contexts.