Do Women Do as Well as Men on a Math Test?

Stereotype threat affects the person who is target of a stereotype. Unwittingly, this could actually make the stereotype appear true. If women under performed at math because of stereotype threat, some one could look at their results and say, see, we knew it. The researchers had shown they could generate stereotype threat in the lab with men and women taking the tough math test. But to prove they were right, they also wanted to show they could turn off stereotype threat and boost the performance of the students.