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Claude Steele

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Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do (Issues of Our Time) Reprint Edition

by Claude M. Steele (Author)

4.6 1,391 ratings

Part of: Issues of Our Time (7 books)

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The acclaimed social psychologist offers an insider’s look at his research and groundbreaking findings on stereotypes and identity.

Claude M. Steele, who has been called “one of the few great social psychologists,” offers a vivid first-person account of the research that supports his groundbreaking conclusions on stereotypes and identity. He sheds new light on American social phenomena from racial and gender gaps in test scores to the belief in the superior athletic prowess of black men, and lays out a plan for mitigating these “stereotype threats” and reshaping American identities.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Conveys an understanding of why race remains such a powerful factor even in a society where racial discrimination is seen as abhorrent."
― Adam Serwer, American Prospect

"Startles, beguiles, and challenges as it exposes the myriad ways that threats to our identities exert a powerful stranglehold on our individual and collective psyche."
― Lani Guinier, Harvard University

"An intellectual odyssey of the first order―a true tour de force."
― William G. Bowen, former president of Princeton University and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

About the Author

Claude Steele is the provost of Columbia University. He is the author of numerous published articles and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Education, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (April 4, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393339726
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393339727
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #33,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #80 in Medical Social Psychology & Interactions
- #103 in Discrimination & Racism
- #156 in Popular Social Psychology & Interactions

Customer Reviews:
4.6 1,391 ratings

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1,391 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book insightful and relevant to social psychology. They describe it as a good, fun read with compelling stories and study results. Many consider it an eye-opening and new look at old issues. However, some readers feel the examples are repetitive and predictable, which can make the book boring at times.

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Insight Readability Narrative quality Value for money Look Repetition

124 customers mention "Insight"110 positive14 negative

Customers find the book insightful and well-written. They say it opens their minds to see things from different perspectives and explores ideas on how to reduce stereotypes. The topic is highly relevant to the development of social psychology and public schooling. Readers describe it as an academic piece of work with good lessons and surprising information.

"...only is this book, a quick and easy read, but it does have a really impactful message...." Read more

"...The topic is highly relevant both to the development of social psychology and to the development of our educational systems and societies at large...." Read more

"While this is a book of social science, it is somewhat of an autobiography of psychologist Claude Steele and his quest to understand something..." Read more

"...The author gives us some remedies to reduce stereotype threat. There are some researches he has done on the students from different backgrounds...." Read more

109 customers mention "Readability"103 positive6 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They describe it as an interesting read for educators, with clear and simple prose that builds an evidenced-based argument. The writing style is not overly academic, making it a fun yet serious read.

"...Written by an excellent author, but more importantly, written by the person who was affected by the events in the book, not just some talking head..." Read more

"...Conclusion The tone of the book is informal, friendly, and personal, and the content is profound...." Read more

"...This book is very interesting because it comes from a real-life story." Read more

"Great book I think it should be a read for everybody." Read more

26 customers mention "Narrative quality"26 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and relatable. It offers research and experiences from the author's own life.

"...This book is very interesting because it comes from a real-life story." Read more

"...Steele not only offers his readers relatable, applicable research, but also goes on to discuss ways in which we can combat stereotype threat,..." Read more

"...It is chock-full of stories and study results that paint a very powerful story of racism and sexism in our society - including the impact of..." Read more

"An intriguing book, pointing toward the ways in which broad societal expectations and notions of performance when personally internalized can..." Read more

8 customers mention "Value for money"6 positive2 negative

Customers appreciate the book's value for money. They say it's a tough read but well worth it, and a nice price for college students.

"...at times it was a bit annoying but none the less it was still a good book to read. I definitely recommend reading it." Read more

"...work with other people who might be different than yourself - THIS IS A MUST READ! I found it to be really enlightening...." Read more

"...Not worth buying for more than a buck or two, so it is overpriced right now on Amazon for the casual reader." Read more

"This was a tough read, but well worth it. We are all affected by stereotypes, and we need to know the consequences of this...." Read more

6 customers mention "Look"6 positive0 negative

Customers like the book's look. They find it interesting and eye-opening, providing a new perspective on old topics.

"...as long (seemed a bit stretched out and repetitive) but still an interesting look into how we internally respond to stereotypes." Read more

"...Everything else looks pretty new, I'm guessing it got damaged in the mail. But i really don't the dents on the book." Read more

"I read this for a class and it was very eye-opening. It is well-written and is easy to read." Read more

"Probably the best book I have ever been required to read. Very eye-opening and powerful." Read more

10 customers mention "Repetition"0 positive10 negative

Customers find the book repetitive and predictable. They feel it lacks a storyline and is boring at times. The explanations are too lengthy, making it tedious.

"...outstanding points obviously, but I can't help but feel that it was repetitive and that its facts were supported with evidence...." Read more

"...this for class, I wouldn’t have finished it because it was a bit boring at times." Read more

"...My one critique would be its highly repetitive nature. The author only makes a few points that he really drives home throughout the book." Read more

"...The examples were rather predictable and none of the findings were all that earth shattering...." Read more

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professorroyhinkley
Powerful story
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2024
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Not only is this book, a quick and easy read, but it does have a really impactful message. It really talks about an authentic story of facing implicit bias, without being preachy or smacking you over the head. Written by an excellent author, but more importantly, written by the person who was affected by the events in the book, not just some talking head trying to teach you a lesson. Highly recommend recommended for students or educators or, well, anyone!

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Coert Visser
How stereotypes affect us and what can be done about it
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2010
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This book by social psychologist and Columbia University provost, Claude Steele, is a splendid example of how psychologists can make valuable contributions to society. In the book, Steele writes about the work he and his colleagues have done on a phenomenon called stereotype threat, the tendency to expect, perceive, and be influenced by negative stereotypes about one's social category, such as one's age, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, profession, nationality, political affiliation, mental health status, and so on.

Experiments demonstrating the impact of stereotype threat
When trying to understand certain performance gaps between groups, Steele and his colleagues did not focus on internal psychological factors.. Instead, they tried to understand the possible causal role of identity contingencies, the things you have to deal with in a situation because you have a given social identity. Over the years they carried out a series of creative experiments* in which there was a control condition in which a task was given under normal conditions life. In the experimental condition, the identity contingency was either cleverly removed or it was deliberately induced. Here are three examples of experiments to clarify how they worked.

Experiment 1: Steele and Aronson (1995)
In this experiment the researchers had African American and white college students take a very challenging standardized test. In the control condition, the test was presented as these tests are always presented - as a measure of intellectual ability. This condition contained the stereotype that African Americans would be less intelligent. In the experimental condition the test was presented in a non-evaluative way. The test takers were told that the researchers were not interested in measuring their ability with the test but that they just wanted to use the test to examine the psychology of verbal problem solving. In the control condition, the African American test takers, on average, scored much lower than the white test takers. For the white test takers there was no difference in their scores between the control condition and the experimental condition. For the African American test takers there was a big difference between the control condition and the experimental condition. They solved about twice as many problems on the test in the experimental condition. Moreover, there was no difference between the performance of the black test takers and the white test takers.

Experiment 2: Aronson, Lustina, Good, Keough, Steele & Brown (1999)
In this experiment, the researchers asked highly competent white males to take a difficult math test. In the control condition the test was taken normally. In the experimental condition, the researchers told the test takers that one of their reasons for doing the research was to understand why Asians seemed to perform better on these tests. Thus, they artificially created a stereotype threat. In the experimental condition, the test takers solved significantly fewer of the problems on the test and felt less confident about their performance.

Experiment 3: Shih, Pittinsky & Ambady (1999)
In this experiment, a difficult math test was given to Asian women under three conditions. In condition one, they were subtly reminded of their Asian identity, in condition 2 they were subtly reminded of their female identity. In the control condition they were not reminded of their identity. The women reminded of their Asianness performed better than the control group, whereas those reminded of their female identity performed worse than the control group.

How does stereotype threat harm performance?
Today, research on stereotype threat effects is done throughout the world by many researchers. Much insight has been gained into what it is and how it works. Briefly, you know your group identity and you know how society views it. You are aware that you are doing a task for which that view is relevant. You know, at some level, that you are in a predicament: your performance could confirm a bad view of your group and of yourself as a member of that group. You may not consciously feel anxious but your blood pressure rises and you begin to sweat. Your thinking changes. Your mind starts to race: you become vigilant to all things relevant to the threat and to what your chances of avoiding it are. The book title comes from an observed behavior: an African American whistling Vivaldi to make clear that certain stereotypes attached to the group don't apply. You get some self-doubts and start to worry about how warranted the stereotype may be. You start to constantly monitor how well you are doing. You try hard to suppress threatening thoughts about not doing well or about the negative consequences of possibly failing. While you are having all of these thoughts you are distracted from the task at hand and your concentration and working memory suffer.

Does it always happen? No. There is only one prerequisite for stereotype threat to happen: the person in question must care about the performance in question. The fear of confirming the negative stereotype then becomes upsetting enough to interfere with performance. It is now known that stereotype has the strongest negative impact when people are highly motivated and performing at the frontier of their skills.

Solutions: bridging performance gaps through small interventions
Can something be done about it? Yes. The promising news is that there are some rather small interventions which can help a lot. Experiments have shown that subtly removing or preventing stereotype threats can completely or largely eliminate performance gaps between stereotyped groups and non-stereotyped groups.

Examples of helpful interventions are:
- Make it clear in the way you give critical feedback that you use high standards and let the person know that you expect him or her to be able to eventually succeed.
- Improve the number of people from the social category in the setting so that a critical mass is reached.
- Make it clear that you value diversity.
- Foster inter-group conversations and frame these as a learning experience.
- Allow the stereotyped individuals to use self-affirmations.
- Help the stereotyped individuals to develop a narrative about the setting that explains their frustrations while projecting positive engagement and success in the setting.

Conclusion
The tone of the book is informal, friendly, and personal, and the content is profound. The topic is highly relevant both to the development of social psychology and to the development of our educational systems and societies at large. Of course it also can inspire positive psychology research: how have certain individuals managed to overcome stereotype threat, how do certain organizations manage to bridge performance gaps, how do societies manage to do the same?

This review was published on Positive Psychology News Daily

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Kevin Currie-Knight
How Stereotypes Can Affect Us Even When We Are Not Actively Being Stereotyped!
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2014
Verified Purchase
While this is a book of social science, it is somewhat of an autobiography of psychologist Claude Steele and his quest to understand something puzzling. Steele was concerned that black students who had done well in high school went to college and suddenly were not doing well. It wasn't that they weren't smart, probably wasn't that they weren't putting in the effort, so what could it be? He had an idea: what if people who are stereotyped don't do well in part because the stereotype they know (or think) exists about them causes them, affects their performance? What if black students who have heard the stereotype that black students are not as smart as white students end up performing less well than white students solely because the stereotype affects their performance?

And thus began his and others' quest to discover the ins and outs of the, now quite well documented, existence of stereotype threats. In some studies, they had black students take a test, where one group was told that the test was a gauge of intelligence (to induce thought of the stereotype) and the other group was told something more innocuous, like, that the test was to study how people solve problems. The second group - the group not performing under stereotype threat. Another test had white students shooting hoops: one group was told that they were testing people's skill at basketball (to induce stereotype threat) and another, that they were testing people's throwing style. Again, the group not under stereotype threat did better. More persuasively, Steele recounts another study where Asian girls took a math test. One group was reminded that Asians are historically good at math, and another that girls and women are historically not as good at math. Not surprisingly (to Steele), the former group did better than the latter. Same girls, different stereotype.

But Steele's book doesn't just recount studies. He gets into the question of why we stereotype (even when we don't mean to), how identity is constructed and how stereotypes (that others have) makes up part of a person's identity, and even offers some very apolitical suggestions for how we can try and lessen the effects of stereotypes. Some suggestions are just common sense: when you know that you have a stereotype of a group, go out of your way from time to time to act in the way opposite from what the stereotype would tell you to do. Another - probably most relevant for teachers and parents - is to tell students who might be affected by stereotype threat to look at the stereotype as a challenge (show them that you can do the math!) rather than as a limit to what you can do.

All in all, I liked this book quite a bit. Steele takes a topic that could be very charged and sensitive and makes it a bit less so. He suggests that EVERYONE is susceptible both to holding stereotypes and stereotype threat. Steele's organization of the book along the lines of an autobiographical (and chronological) story of how he came to the idea of stereotype threat and how he and others have tested it is also very effective.

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Phil
A book for the ages.
Reviewed in Canada on July 26, 2020
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Recommend to me by a friend, this book has become life altering. As a black man currently a PhD(c), I see myself and an explanation of so many of my own life experiences, both past and current, aptly explained. I am grateful for the new knowledge imparted to me and will pay this forward to the students in my College classes where I teach and to anyone else who will listen to me. Thank you.

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Olga R
Altamente recomendable
Reviewed in Mexico on May 1, 2018
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Un libro muy útil y que todo el mundo debería leer. Es un buen análisis de cómo los prejuicios permean nuestras actitudes y nuestra afectividad de maneras insospechadas e inconscientes. Además es ameno, con muchos ejemplos y bien escrito.

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Samara
It open minds and eyes
Reviewed in Spain on August 29, 2018
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This book opened my eyes to all the racism we see nowadays and how we can stereotype without even noticing. It also shows how even "good cliches" might not be that good at all. Great read!

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Joanna Woodall
Really worth reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2016
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A really illuminating book which suggests that stereotyping is a universal human characteristic, practised by and affecting us all. It considers particularly the negative stereotypes perceived by women, older people, and African Americans. Through the use of numerous examples of psychological experiments, it demonstrates that the anxiety caused by the perception of negative stereotypes, and the energy involved in trying to overcome them, affects performance, particularly amongst those most invested in success, when faced with a very challenging task. It suggests ways in which the perception of negative stereotypes can be mitigated by institutions and society as a whole, and demonstrates that such changes remove the deficit in performance. The writing is lively and humane but somewhat repetitive in structure.

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MARTHA F.
Bien
Reviewed in Mexico on April 9, 2019
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Todo perfecto

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