Precis #5

In his article, "Battling Doubt by Avoiding Practice: The Effect of Stereotype Threat on Self-Handicapping in White Athletes," Jeff Stone discusses how stereotype threat has a negative effect on the performance of white athletes. He conducted an experiment that observed the ways in which white athletes responded to various negative stereotypes. In order to support his claim that stereotype threat has a negative impact on white athletes, Jeff Stone provides all of the results of his various experiments.

Freewrite #4

Sian L Beilock and Allen R. McConnell wrote an article entitled "Stereotype Threat and Sport: Can Athletic Performance be Threatened?." Their article talks about the ways in which stereotypes can have a negative effect on an athletes performance.  They define a stereotype threat as "when knowledge of a negative stereotype about a social group leads to a less-than-optimal performance by members of that group." The authors believe that the less than average academic performance by black student athletes is not due to a lack of intelligence, but is due to the stereotype of black student athletes not being as intelligent as white student athletes. Steele and McConnell coined the phrase stereotype threat and set up a series of experiments to test the phenomenon. Results of their experiments showed that those who were informed of a negative stereotype before performing, performed significantly worse than those who were not informed of the negative stereotype and exponentially worse than those who were informed of a positive stereotype.

Precis #4

The article "Stereotype Threat and Sport: Can Athletic Performance be Threatened?" written by Sian L. Beilock and Allen R. McConnell discusses the negative impacts that stereotypes can have upon an athletes performance. In order to present their argument the authors provide a variety of sources and examples that support their claim of stereotypes having negative effects on athletes.

Freewrite #3

In their article, "White Men Can't Jump," Laura Azzarito and Louis Harrison Jr discuss natural athleticism, race and gender and the roles they play in athletics. They conducted a study on high school aged students in their physical education class. Their study showed that "white boys complied with the notion of blacks' `natural' physical superiority, and black boys occupied an ambiguous position within dominant discourses of race and natural athleticism." The authors believe that if a white student is told that their black classmates are more athletic, then they will perform in a less superior manner than if they believe themselves to be equals in an athletic setting. In order to eliminate this problem Laura Azzarito and Louis Harrison Jr believe that "sport educators' and physical education teachers' should adopt a critical media pedagogy to promote a democratic consciousness among young people in sport and physical education settings"

Precis #3

In their article, "White Men Can't Jump," Laura Azzarito and Louis Harrison Jr discuss natural athleticism, race and gender and the roles they play in athletics. They conducted a study on high school aged students in their physical education class. Their study showed that white students firmly believe that black students have a natural athleticism that the white student simply do now possess. In order to support their research, the authors bring forth a wide variety of information that was collected while conducting their experiment.

Working Thesis

Athletic stereotypes are prevelant within the world of college and proffessional sports and can have an impact on the athletes natural ability.

Freewrite #2

In their article, "'White Man Can't Jump': Evidence for the Perceptual Confirmation of Racial Stereotypes Following a Basketball Game," Jeff Stone, W. Perry, and John M. Darley. Discuss an experiment in which they attempted to determine whether or not stereotypes were a factor within basketball. They conducted an experiment in which they gave all of the participants a photo of a basketball player and then had them listen to a basketball game on the radio. They were instructed to write down how they thought their particular player performed. They were instructed to judge their athlete based upon the “target's athletic abilities, individual performance, and contribution to his team' s performance. “Results showed that particpants believed that an african american athlete had a more athletic game while the white athletes played a more technical game. According to the authors “The results suggest that participants relied on a stereotype of Black and White athletes to guide their evaluations of the target's abilities and performance.”