Myomancy ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism

The role of expectations, the pupils and the teachers, in education is hard to quantify but undoubtedly has a notable impact. Now Cognitive Daily is reporting In a fascinating study on Sterotype Threat . This is a pattern of behaviour where knowledge of a stereotype such as ‘Boys are better at maths’ causes girls to be be afraid they will do badly. This anxiety then causes them to perform poorly and so the stereotype is reinforced.
To learn how to combat this catch-22 type problem researchers from the University of Arizona gave three groups of men and women the same test. The first group were told it was a problem solving test and in this the women out performed men by a small margin. The second group was told it was a maths test and in this the women only scored about two-thirds of what the first group had where as the men did a little bit better. Now this was exactly the same test yet women did 30% - 40% worse than they had when told it was a problem solving test. The third group were told it was a maths test and then the nature of the stereotype threat was explained to them. The results of this was that both men and women performed very similarly to those in the first group.
This is clear evidence that how we perceive our abilities effects our performance. In this case the women were quite comfortable taking a problem solving test but were anxious about maths. This anxiety caused them to perform worse. When their anxiety was addressed they performed better. This highlights the care that must be taken in teaching not to label children unduly and to address children’s fears about their own abilities.
See also Dog Day Afternoon, Stress And Dyslexia