Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

"Paper Sack Brown" : Effects Of Age, Skin Tone, And Stereotype Threat On Cognitive Performance And Self-Efficacy Among African Americans, Breonte Stephan Guy

Master's Theses

Divergent African American skin tones have led to negative stereotypes and outcomes regarding darker-skinned African Americans in many domains, including educational and occupational (Hill, 2002). This study assessed the effects of skin tone and stereotype threat (Steele and Aronson, 1995; Steele, 1997) on cognition in younger and older African Americans. A 2(Skin Tone: light, dark) X 2(Age: young, old) X 2(Stereotype Threat: Threat, Non-Threat) between subjects design was used. Seventy-four African American adults ranging in age from 18 to 86 years completed a battery of cognitive measures. Darker-skinned adults performed more poorly on three tests of intelligence, a paired-associates memory …