Joshua Aronson
Department of Applied Psychology
New York University
246 Greene Street, 4th Floor
New York, New York 10003
U.S.A.
Home Page
Phone: (212) 998-5543
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Broadly speaking, my research examines the social
forces that shape learning and intellectual performance, motivation,
and self-image. A good deal of this research examines the educational
disparities between blacks, Latinos and whites, and what
social psychology can do to explain and address this problem. Often, the low performance of African Americans, and other
minorities gets casually chalked up to genetic, cultural, or
other hard-to-change factors that supposedly block
acquisition of skills or values necessary for academic
achievement. My research examines the more tractable
social psychological factors in this underachievement. Work
my students and colleagues have done suggests that being
targeted by well-known cultural stereotypes ("blacks are
unintelligent", "girls can't do math", and so on) can
undermine achievement by creating a threatening social
environment. Claude Steele and I called the predicament
this creates "stereotype threat." Numerous studies show how
stereotype threat depresses the standardized test
performance of black,
Latino, and female college students. These same studies
showed how changing the testing situation (even subtly) so
as to reduce stereotype threat, can dramatically improve
standardized test scores and motivation. This work offers a
far more optimistic view of race and gender gaps than the
older theories that focused on poverty, culture, or genetic
factors. We have found that we can do a lot to boost both
achievement and the enjoyment of school by understanding
and attending to these psychological processes. My ongoing
research looks at basic psychological and developmental
processes in how individuals contend and cope with
stereotype threat, as well as applied interventions in schools
aimed at reducing the minority-white achievement
gap, and the gap in STEM learning and participation for girls and
women.
 Books:
 Aronson, J. (2002). Improving academic achievement: Impact of psychological factors on education. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
- Gonzales, M. H. C. Tavris, C., Aronson, J. (2010). The scientist and the humanist: A festschrift in honor of Elliot Aronson. New York: Psychology Press.
Journal Articles:
- Aronson, J., Blanton, H., & Cooper, J. (1995). From dissonance to disidentification: Selectivity in the self-affirmation process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 986-996.
- Aronson, J., Fried, C., & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 113-125.
- Aronson, J., & Inzlicht, M. (2004). The ups and downs of attributional ambiguity: Stereotype vulnerability and the academic self-knowledge of African-American students. Psychological Science, 15, 12, 829-836.
- Aronson, J., Lustina, M. J., Good, C., Keough, K., Steele, C. M., & Brown, J. (1999). When white men can't do math: Necessary and sufficient factors in stereotype threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 29-46.
- Cohen, G., Aronson, J., & Steele, C. M. (2000). When beliefs yield to evidence: Reducing biased evaluation by affirming the self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26(9), 1151-1164.
- Good, C., Aronson, J., & Inzlicht, M. (2003). Improving adolescents' standardized test performance: An intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 645-662.
- McGlone, M., & Aronson, J. (2006). Social identity salience and stereotype threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 27, 486 – 493.
- Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African-Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(5), 797-811.
- Suzuki, L. & Aronson, J. (2005). Cultural Malleability of the Racial/Ethnic Hierarchy of Intelligence. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law.
Other Publications:
- Aronson, J. (2009). Low Numbers: Stereotype Threat and the Under-representation of Women in Math and Science Careers . In Hoff Summers, Christina (Ed.). The Science of Women in Science. Washington D.C.: American Enterprise Institute.
- Aronson , J., & Steele, C. M. (2005). Stereotypes and the fragility of human competence, motivation, and self-concept. In C. Dweck & E. Elliot (Eds.), Handbook of Competence & Motivation. New York: Guilford.
- Halpern, D., Aronson, J. et al (2008). Encouraging Girls in Math and Science, Washington DC: Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences.
- Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1998). How stereotypes influence the standardized test performance of talented African American students. In C. Jencks & M. Phillips (Eds.), The Black-White Test Score Gap (pp. 401-427). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
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