Educational psychology is a branch of psychology dealing with the ways, in which human beings acquire and retain information. Psychologists study affective and cognitive learning processes in different individuals to understand any distinctions in the self-concept, behavior, intellect, and personality. Educational psychology involves testing, training, measurement, and evaluation for promoting learning processes and educational activities (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002). Individuals may have differences in intellectual performance because of various factors, which include racial, economic, and cultural background. The racial or cultural background may lead to stereotyping, which affect the academic performance significantly. Economic background is associated with the cognitive development among individuals. Children from the low-income families are likely to experience malnutrition that leads to retarded cognitive development (Lerner, Jacobs, & Wertlieb, 2003). The paper considers the risks associated with the stereotype threat, and explains how intervention may decrease the stereotype threat, and how poverty can add to the risks of academic difficulty.

        Studies have shown that the stereotype threat is extremely significant in affecting the academic performance among the minority groups. For instance, the stereotypes impugn the intellectual abilities of the low-income, Black, Hispanic, and female students (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002). The stereotype threat causes the development of anxiety among the low-income, female, and minority students thereby affecting their academic performance negatively. Science and mathematics are the main domains, in which the Hispanic and Black students are underperforming. The Hispanic and Black students consider academic performance to have a significant relationship with the intellectual ability. Therefore, the Hispanic, Black, and female students have negative stereotypes regarding their intellectual abilities (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003). The underperformance results from the students’ pejorative interpretations of the academic failure, which occurs as a result of stereotyping. Pejorative interpretations show that the underperformance is caused by the low ability and insurmountable academic challenges. Therefore, the minority and female students develop self-doubt and stress, which diminish the sense of becoming successful academically.

The stereotype threat starts to influence academic performance at the stage of adolescence when the students experience extreme stress. The students consider themselves to possess low intellectual ability, which cannot allow them to compete with their White and Asian counterparts (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002). The stereotype threat continues to cause underperformance as the minority and female students believe that the intellectual ability is an inborn trait. Students fail to understand that the intellectual ability depends on the academic effort that individuals put into studies. While considering that the intellectual ability is an inborn trait, the minority and female students suffer from the decreased confidence, performance impairment, and loss of enjoyment (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003). It is extremely necessary to change the mentality of the minority and female students regarding their intellectual abilities. Researchers have found effective interventions against the negative influence of the stereotype threat.

Studies show that the minority and female students demonstrate an improved academic performance when they reattribute academic difficulties to external causes, which are temporary. Students should not explain academic difficulties with lack of intelligence. Changing the stereotyped explanations for academic difficulty from the pejorative attribution to the non-pejorative attribution can reduce the vulnerability of the minority and female students to the stereotype threat (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002). Dedication and hard work can enable students overcome any academic difficulties by developing their intelligence. The minority and female students can perform successfully in both mathematics and science. Consequently, they consider themselves able to overcome any academic difficulties with the hard work.

  Another strategy that can overcome the stereotype threat is the adoption of the incremental-theory mind-set (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002). The minority and female students should understand that the brain undergoes a positive change every time a person acquires new information. Students should watch scientific films explaining how the person’s intelligence develops in the process of acquiring new information from the environment. The incremental training can allow students value and enjoy their academic life in the process of interacting with the environment for gaining new information. The malleability training is another intervention technique that has overcome the stereotype threat among many minority and female students by increasing their academic performance (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002). The malleability training helps the stereotyped students consider intelligence as a changeable trait, thereby reducing their vulnerability to the stereotype threat. Expansion of intelligence takes place through encountering new challenges and finding their solutions. Therefore, the intelligence is not a fixed trait, but can undergo changes in the process of acquiring new information from the environment.

  Research has shown that poverty can add to the risks of academic difficulty due to inadequate nutrition among children (Brown & Pollitt, 1996). Malnutrition may hinder the brain growth and development of a child. Individuals may experience brain damage due to malnutrition that takes place during early stages of their development. Brain damage can affect education negatively because individuals may not be able to gain new information and retain it successfully. Insufficient nutrition may also affect education negatively because of reduced brain energy (Lerner, Jacobs, & Wertlieb, 2003). The brain requires a lot of energy for analyzing and storing information that a person acquires. A weary person may not be able to interact with other people in the environment (Lerner, Jacobs, & Wertlieb, 2003). Interaction of individuals enhances learning since people acquire information from others in different social activities. Therefore, adequate nutrition is extremely significant in influencing knowledge acquisition among individuals. Children from the low income families are likely to underperform academically due to underdeveloped brains or reduced brain energy that is necessary for concentration (Brown & Pollitt, 1996).

  In conclusion, the stereotype threat can hinder the acquisition of knowledge among the minority and female students. Researchers have identified a variety of interventions that can help in treating the stereotype threat significantly (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002). For instance, reattribution of academic difficulties to external causes, incremental training, and malleability training are the most effective interventions against the stereotype threat among the minority and female students (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003). Poverty can also hinder educational successes due to malnutrition among children. Malnutrition leads to brain damage and reduced brain energy (Brown & Pollitt, 1996).

References

Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., and Good, C. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 113–125.

Brown, J. L. and Pollitt, E. (1996). Malnutrition, poverty and intellectual development. Scientific American, 38-43.

Good, C., Aronson, J., and Inzlicht, M. (2003). Improving adolescents' standardized test        performance: An intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 645–662.

Lerner, R. M., Jacobs, F., and Wertlieb, D. (2003). Handbook of applied developmental science:         Promoting positive child, adolescent, and family development through research, policies,    and programs. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.