The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Steele, Claude M. Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do. Norton, 2010.

In Chapter 1, “An Introduction, At the Root of Identity,” Steele introduces the readers to the main ideas of the book, as well as to himself. He talks about his childhood in mid-1900s Chicago, and how he first became aware of discrimination because black families were only allowed to use the pool on Wednesdays. He then describes the concept of stereotypes, and how they can affect people in less tangible, but still just as harmful, ways. He describes a study he performed that lead to the development of the term “stereotype threat,” because in it, he was able to impact black and white students’ performance on a golf exercise just by changing how he described it.

In Chapter 2, “A Mysterious Link between Identity and Intellectual Performance,” Steele explains several more of his and his colleagues’ experiments, and what inspired them to perform them. He details his experiences as a professor, both in studying stereotypes from an experimental, psychological standpoint, and from his position as a potential mentor to young Black students.

In Chapter 3,” Stereotype Threat Comes to Light, and in More than One Group,” Steele examines how stereotype threat affects women taking college-level math courses. He talks about how women, similarly to African-Americans, have historically been stereotyped as less intelligent. In recent years, the stereotype has changed to say that women are just bad at math, not necessarily other subjects, so Steele and colleagues were able to design experiments that showed stereotype threat impacted women’s performance on math tests in a way it did not on history or English tests. Thus, stereotype threat is based on the conditions you live under.

In Chapter 4, “A Broader View of Identity: In the Lives of Anatole Broyard, Amin Maalouf, and the Rest of Us,” discusses that fact that most people hold multiple identities, and tend to identify most strongly with the one that feels like the group that is most threatened, or the way in which they most stand out. He tells the story of an African-American man who managed to start his life over in a new city where he passed as a white man and found much greater opportunity. He draws on the work of Lebanese-French writer Amin Maalouf, and gives the example of a young woman with bipolar disorder who attended one of his talks, to discuss the factors that make one’s identity feel under threat.

In Chapter 5, “The Many Experiences of Stereotype Threat,” expands upon the ideas introduced in Chapters 1 and 2. Steele talks more about the “observer-actor” effect and how people tend to try to focus on the individual actors when determining the reasons behind their performance. He then details how he and his graduate students tested for outside factors, like stereotype pressure, that can affect a person’s performance on a task regardless of their other skills and motivations.

In Chapter 6, “Identity Threat and the Efforting Life,” Steele addresses the idea of “just working harder” to overcome stereotypes, and how that actually plays into stereotype threat. The harder someone thinks about the stereotype they want to overcome and how they must do well on the task in front of them to overcome it, the fewer mental resources they have left to complete the task. While this strategy may provide good motivation to do well at something someone is already good at, it seriously impairs their ability to do well at something new or challenging.

In Chapter 7, “The Mind of Stereotype Threat: Racing and Overloaded,” Steele discusses a number of studies that prove scientific evidence of the effects of stereotype threat, through measures like blood pressure and brain activity. He cites a number of studies that explore this phenomenon in several different groups – black students, white students, college-aged women, poor students, etcetera. Steele talks about how even when working twice as hard to get as far succeeds in the initial goal, for example financial success, it can have serious long-term downsides, like elevated blood pressure and a shortened life span.

In Chapter 8, “The Strength of Stereotype Threat: The Role of Cues,” Steele looks at several different ways a stereotype can be invoked. He focuses heavily on Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. Many factors, some implicit and some explicit, forced her to confront stereotypes on an almost constant basis. There were the reporters who specifically asked her how she planned to rule as a woman, and the lawyers who would only speak to her male colleagues, not to her. But there were also more subtle issues, like having to walk alone to the women’s bathroom, while the men could walk and chat together, a weight she felt lifted off her shoulders when Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined her on the court. Steele calls the point at which you no longer feel like a token or feel the threat of stereotype “critical mass.”

In Chapter 9, “Reducing Identity and Stereotype Threat: A New Hope,” Steele looks at ways to overcome stereotype threat. He relays his individual experience as a graduate student, then covers a number of studies that look at how to overcome stereotype threat for larger groups of people. The key, he says, is to give constructive criticism that is clear that it is constructive. To say, “I know you can do better,” rather than “you didn’t do well.”

In Chapter 10, “The Distance between Us: The Role of Identity Threat,” Steele discusses how stereotype threat make cause people to act as if they were prejudiced when they are trying to avoid being stereotyped themselves.

In Chapter 11, “Conclusion: Identity as a Bridge between Us,” Steele offers some concrete solutions. He does not agree with the notion of a post-racial society, because structural and implicit interpersonal factors can lead to segregation even when no one is being explicitly prejudiced. Instead, he advocates for fostering environments in which people can speak openly about their frustrations and work together to learn and improve.