The Effect of Stereotype Threat on Aggressive Reactions

Two studies investigated the impact of stereotype threat on aggressive reactions. Female participants performed a working memory task under a stereotype threat or a control condition. Following this task, they had the opportunity to display aggression towards a simulated partner (Study 1) or the experimenter (Study 2). Study 2 also included a measure of aggressive thought accessibility. Findings showed heightened indirect verbal, but not indirect physical, aggression among threatened participants. Threatened participants also performed worse on the memory task, suggesting depleted executive resources as a potential driver of their aggressive reactions in the absence of differences in the accessibility of aggressive thoughts.