Understanding Stereotype Lift: On the Role of the Social Self: [1]

Editorial Expression of Concern

Understanding Stereotype Lift: On the Role of the Social Self David M. Marx and Diederik A. Stapel

Social Cognition, Vol. 24, No. 6, 2006, pp. 776-792doi: 10.1521/soco.2006.24.6.776

The article, Understanding Stereotype Lift: On the Role of the Social Self, by David M. Marx and Diederik A. Stapel, focused on a critical moderator of stereotype lift, namely activation of nontargets social self in stereo-typerelevant (i.e., diagnostic) testing situations. In March 2012, Tilburg University announced interim findings of its investigation into possible data fraud in the body of work published by Stapel. The official report indicates that the extent of the fraud by Stapel is substantial. Pending further details of the Tilburg Committees findings, Social Cognition is publishing this Editorial Expression of Concern to alert readers that serious concerns have been raised about the validity of the findings in this article.

Social Cognition, Vol. 24, No. 6, 2006, pp. 776-791

David M. Marx

San Diego State University

Diederik A. Stapel

Tillburg University

Stereotype lift occurs when nontargets perform better in a stereotyperelevant testing situation compared to a testing situation that is less stereotyperelevant. The boundary conditions of this effect, however, are not well understood. To this end, the present research focuses on one critical moderator of stereotype lift, namely activation of nontargets social self in stereotyperelevant (i.e., diagnostic) testing situations. Results showed that simply describing a test as diagnostic of ability did not lead to strong lift effects unless the social self was also activated (either indirectly or directly): nontargets need more pushing to activate their social self in diagnostic testing situations because they arenot threatened by a negative stereotype. In contrast, we found that the test diagnosticity manipulation was enough to cause stereotype threat because targets need less pushing to activate their social self and the associated negative stereotype in diagnostic testing situations.

Considerable research has focused on the adverse effects of negative stereotypes on targets test performance in stereotyperelevant situations (i.e., stereotype threat; Steele, 1997; Steele & Aronson, 1995). In contrast, far less work has focused on the test performance boost of nontargets in those same settings, for example, when male partici-

This research was conducted while the authors were at the University of Groningen and was supported by a Pionier...