Summary

Steele starts Chapter 7, “The Mind on Stereotype Threat: Racing and Overloaded,” talking about how one emotion can be confused for another with the example of a group of men who were asked to walk a bridge. Men who walked over a scary bridge were more likely to find themselves attracted to the interviewer who met them on the other side. Steele says this represents how one strong emotion can be confused with another. Many of the students Steele and his colleagues interviewed did not report being anxious about the tests they were taking under stereotype threat, and yet showed many signs of anxiety. In addition to under-performing, they also over-policed themselves, tried to change their preferences and appearances to not fit stereotypes, and came up with excuses like lack of sleep to try to explain away their poor performance. The fact that people...