Threatening Stereotypes: Vocabulary Noun Verb Adjective Definitions amelioration, ameliorator ameliorate ameliorative to improve or make better aptitude x apt capability; ability; innate or acquired capacity for something; talent consciousness x conscious awareness of something for what it is depression depress depressed, depressing to lower in amount or value. discrimination discriminate discriminated, to single out a particular person, discriminating group, etc, often because of a characteristic such as race, colour, sex, intelligence, etc x x inevitable unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped; certain; necessary x inhere inherent existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute x x innate salience, salient x salient society x societal a body of individuals living as members of a community stereotype stereotype stereotypical method of printing from a plate; a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly existing in a person or animal from birth; congenital; inborn prominent, conspicuous, or striking Word Usage Example from the Text 1. Ameliorate ­ But in two meta­analyses involving nearly 19,000 students, Walton and Spencer found that when schools and colleges go out of their way to ameliorate stereotype threats, the performance of women and minorities soars—it’s as if these students are athletes who have been running against a headwind. 2. Aptitude ­ SAT scores are typically seen as measures of aptitude and predictors of a student’s performance. 3. Consciousness ­ Readers are also put in the position of identifying with those who feel threatened by stereotypes because Vedantam highlights that “the threats do not have to take place at the conscious level” and that “the findings [are not] limited to blacks and Latinos.” 4. Depress ­ Reminding women about their gender or telling them that men generally outperform women on math tests invariably depresses the women’s scores. 5. Discrimination ­ “We would argue if you simply use test scores, you are building in discrimination into a system,” Spencer said. 6. Inevitably ­ A woman in a math class, a black or Latino man confronted by a vocabulary test, a white man trying to make a basketball team. When confronted by challenges that inevitably arise in these contexts, people threatened by stereotypes get the false message that they ought to be doing something else. 7. Inherent / Innate ­ Dozens of field experiments have found that reminding African Americans and Latinos about their race before administering academic tests, or telling them that the tests are measures of innate intelligence, can hurt their performance compared with minorities who were not reminded about race and not told that the results reflect inherent ability. 8. Salient ­Stereotype threats are diminished when race and gender are not made salient in academic or workplace settings, and when people are told that tests are not measures of inherent ability. 9. Societal ­ Vocabulary questions like this have been routinely posed to thousands of Americans as part of the General Social Survey, a national survey that tracks societal trends. 10. Stereotype ­ The reason African Americans scored more poorly on tests administered by white interviewers, Huang theorized, is that these situations can make the issue of race salient and subtly remind the test­takers of the societal stereotype that blacks are intellectually inferior to whites. Word Forms Noun Verb Adjective Adverb amelioration, ameliorator ameliorate ameliorative x aptitude x apt aptly consciousness x conscious consciously depression depress depressed, depressing depressingly discrimination discriminate discriminated, discriminating discriminately x x inevitable inevitably x inhere inherent inherently x x innate innately salience, salient x salient saliently society x societal societally stereotype stereotype stereotypical stereotypically Threatening Stereotypes: Vocabulary Test Form A Write the Noun and verb form of the word except where there is an X Noun Verb Adjective Definition 1 ameliorative 2 x apt 3 x conscious 4 depressed, depressing 5 discriminated, discriminating 6 x x inevitable 7 x inherent 8 x x innate 9 x salient 10 x societal 11 stereotypical A) to improve or make better B) prominent, conspicuous, or striking G) to lower in amount or value C) capability; ability; innate or acquired capacity for something; talent H) a body of individuals living as members of a community D) method of printing from a plate; a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly I) to single out a particular person, group, etc, often because of a characteristic such as race, colour, sex, intelligence, etc E) unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped; certain; necessary J) existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute F) existing in a person or animal from birth; congenital; inborn K) awareness of something for what it is Vocabulary Test Form A: Answers Noun Verb Adjective Definitions amelioration, ameliorator ameliorate ameliorative A aptitude x apt C consciousness x conscious K depression depress depressed, depressing G discrimination discriminate discriminated, discriminating I x x inevitable E x inhere inherent J x x innate salience, salient x salient society x societal H stereotype stereotype stereotypical D F B Threatening Stereotypes: Vocabulary Test Form B Write the Noun and verb form of the word except where there is an X Noun Verb Adjective Definition 1 ameliorative 2 x apt 3 x conscious 4 depressed, depressing 5 discriminated, discriminating 6 x x inevitable 7 x inherent 8 x x innate 9 x salient 10 x societal 11 stereotypical A) to single out a particular person, group, etc, often because of a characteristic such as race, colour, sex, intelligence, etc B) prominent, conspicuous, or striking G) existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute C) existing in a person or animal from birth; congenital; inborn H) a body of individuals living as members of a community D) method of printing from a plate; a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly I) unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped; certain; necessary E) capability; ability; innate or acquired capacity for something; talent J) to lower in amount or value F) to improve or make better K) awareness of something for what it is Threatening Stereotypes: Vocabulary Test Form B: Answers Write the Noun and verb form of the word except where there is an X Noun Verb Adjective Definition 1 amelioration, ameliorator ameliorate ameliorative F 2 aptitude x apt E 3 consciousness x conscious K 4 depression depress depressed, depressing J 5 discrimination discriminate discriminated, discriminating A 6 x x inevitable I 7 x inhere inherent G 8 x x innate 9 salience, salient x salient 10 society x societal H 11 stereotype stereotype stereotypical D C B A) to single out a particular person, group, etc, often because of a characteristic such as race, colour, sex, intelligence, etc B) prominent, conspicuous, or striking G) existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute C) existing in a person or animal from birth; congenital; inborn H) a body of individuals living as members of a community D) method of printing from a plate; a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly I) unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped; certain; necessary E) capability; ability; innate or acquired capacity for something; talent J) to lower in amount or value F) to improve or make better K) awareness of something for what it is Vocabulary Test C ­ Write the correct word next to the definition Word Definition 1 to improve or make better 2 capability; ability; innate or acquired capacity for something; talent 3 awareness of something for what it is 4 to lower in amount or value. 5 to single out a particular person, group, etc, often because of a characteristic such as race, colour, sex, intelligence, etc 6 unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped; certain; necessary
7 existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute 8 9 10 a body of individuals living as members of a community 11 method of printing from a plate; a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly existing in a person or animal from birth; congenital; inborn prominent, conspicuous, or striking ameliorative innate discriminate apt salient inevitable conscious societal inherent depress stereotypical Vocabulary Test C ­ Write the correct word next to the definition Word Definition 1 prominent, conspicuous, or striking 2 method of printing from a plate; a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly 3 awareness of something for what it is 4 to lower in amount or value. 5 to single out a particular person, group, etc, often because of a
characteristic such as race, colour, sex, intelligence, etc 6 unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped; certain; necessary 7 existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute 8 9 10 11 capability; ability; innate or acquired capacity for something; talent to improve or make better a body of individuals living as members of a community existing in a person or animal from birth; congenital; inborn ameliorative innate discriminate apt salient inevitable conscious societal inherent depress stereotypical Vocabulary Test C: Answers ­ Write the correct word next to the definition Word Definition 1 salient prominent, conspicuous, or striking 2 stereotypical method of printing from a plate; a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly 3 conscious awareness of something for what it is 4 depress to lower in amount or value. 5 discriminate to single out a particular person, group, etc, often because of a characteristic such as race, colour, sex, intelligence, etc 6 inevitable unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped; certain; necessary 7 inherent existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute 8 apt 9 ameliorative 10 societal 11 innate capability; ability; innate or acquired capacity for something; talent to improve or make better a body of individuals living as members of a community existing in a person or animal from birth; congenital; inborn Vocabulary Test Form D: Words in Sentences ­ Write the correct word in the blank. 1. Dozens of field experiments have found that reminding African Americans and Latinos about their race before administering academic tests, or telling them that the tests are measures of __________ intelligence, can hurt their performance compared with minorities who were not reminded about race and not told that the results reflect __________ ability. 2. A woman in a math class, a black or Latino man confronted by a vocabulary test, a white man trying to make a basketball team. When confronted by challenges that __________ arise in these contexts, people threatened by stereotypes get the false message that they ought to be doing something else. 3. SAT scores are typically seen as measures of __________ and predictors of a student’s performance. 4. Readers are also put in the position of identifying with those who feel threatened by stereotypes because Vedantam highlights that “the threats do not have to take place at the __________ level” and that “the findings [are not] limited to blacks and Latinos.” 5. Reminding women about their gender or telling them that men generally outperform women on math tests invariably __________ the women’s scores. 6. “We would argue if you simply use test scores, you are building in __________ into a system,” Spencer said. 7. But in two meta­analyses involving nearly 19,000 students, Walton and Spencer found that when schools and colleges go out of their way to __________ stereotype threats, the performance of women and minorities soars—it’s as if these students are athletes who have been running against a headwind. 8. The reason African Americans scored more poorly on tests administered by white interviewers, Huang theorized, is that these situations can make the issue of race salient and subtly remind the test­takers of the societal __________ that blacks are intellectually inferior to whites. 9. Stereotype threats are diminished when race and gender are not made __________ in academic or workplace settings, and when people are told that tests are not measures of inherent ability. 10. Vocabulary questions like this have been routinely posed to thousands of Americans as part of the General Social Survey, a national survey that tracks __________ trends. ameliorate innate societal stereotype salient aptitude inherent discrimination depresses inevitably conscious Answer Sheet for Vocabulary Test Form D: Sentence Test Answers 1. Dozens of field experiments have found that reminding African Americans and Latinos about their race before administering academic tests, or telling them that the tests are measures of innate intelligence, can hurt their performance compared with minorities who were not reminded about race and not told that the results reflect inherent ability. 2. A woman in a math class, a black or Latino man confronted by a vocabulary test, a white man trying to make a basketball team. When confronted by challenges that inevitably arise in these contexts, people threatened by stereotypes get the false message that they ought to be doing something else. 3. SAT scores are typically seen as measures of aptitude and predictors of a student’s performance. 4. Readers are also put in the position of identifying with those who feel threatened by stereotypes because Vedantam highlights that “the threats do not have to take place at the conscious level” and that “the findings [are not] limited to blacks and Latinos.” 5. Reminding women about their gender or telling them that men generally outperform women on math tests invariably depresses the women’s scores. 6. “We would argue if you simply use test scores, you are building in discrimination into a system,” Spencer said. 7. But in two meta­analyses involving nearly 19,000 students, Walton and Spencer found that when schools and colleges go out of their way to ameliorate stereotype threats, the performance of women and minorities soars—it’s as if these students are athletes who have been running against a headwind. 8. The reason African Americans scored more poorly on tests administered by white interviewers, Huang theorized, is that these situations can make the issue of race salient and subtly remind the test­takers of the societal stereotype that blacks are intellectually inferior to whites. 9. Stereotype threats are diminished when race and gender are not made salient in academic or workplace settings, and when people are told that tests are not measures of inherent ability. 10. Vocabulary questions like this have been routinely posed to thousands of Americans as part of the General Social Survey, a national survey that tracks societal trends.