Back in 1995,Claude Steele published a study that showed that negative stereotypes could hold a detrimental effect on students' academic performance. But the big surprise was that he could gain that effect disappear with just a few simple changes in language. We were completely enamoured with this research when we first heard approximately it, but in the current roil of replications and self-examination in the field of social psychology, or we hold to wonder whether we can still cling to the hopes of our earlier selves,or whether we might hold to grow up just a little bit.
This piece was produced by Simon Adler and Amanda Aronczyk and reported by Dan Engber and Amanda Aronczyk. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate.
Source: wnyc.org