THE EFFECT OF STEREOTYPING IN THE STUDY OF MATHEMATICS IN BEKWARRA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF CROSS RIVER STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background of the study

Suffice it to say that stereotyping is a malignant force ravaging students’ interest in mathematics, thereby making them develop a negative attitude towards the subject without envisaging the aftermath effect. The effect of stereotyping in the study of mathematics is so obvious and catastrophic that it cannot be over emphasized. The misconceptions people have regarding the complexity of mathematics and its concomitant dissemination creates a mental image of inferiority and inability in the students which consequently affects their performance in mathematics. Hence the popular dictum by Mahatma Gandhi “a man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks, he becomes”.

Most often in life, students are being carried away by what people think and say about them. They tend to act in a way that is consistent to how they are being stereotyped. Sequel to this, their thoughts feelings and actions are affected thus resulting to a shift in focus as a result of the negative stereotype held against them. Inzlincht reporting his observations said: “people perform poorly in situations where they feel they are being stereotyped” (Nauert 2010). That is, actions are commensurate with believes.

Steele and Aronson (1995) demonstrated that stereotype threat hinders intellectual performance of students who are being stereotyped. Experience has shown that some students who perform below expectation are only limited by their feeling of inferiority complex and also the stereotype others hold against them. In every class, some students are seen to be very brilliant while others are seen to be dull. But in reality, every body has the innate ability to perform certain task. As a result of the stereotype held against some members of the class, they relent in their effort to step up their performance on the simple misconception that mathematics is not meant for them. This misconception prompts students to undermine their innate abilities, thus resulting in weak performance.

It is worthy of note that some students perform below average, simply on the ground of their geographical location. Just like it is commonly believed that man is a product of his environment, most students are of the opinion that mathematics is meant for a particular race, tribe or ethnic group which in turn, hinders their performance in mathematics.               

Nauert (2010) pointed out that when a group of people are being labeled in a negative manner, it has a lasting detrimental effect on those who experience the prejudice. This group of people may be a particular race, tribe, town, village, ethnic group etc. Whatever the group maybe, once they experience stereotyping or they feel they are being stereotyped, it is bound to leave a lasting detrimental effect on them, as far as corrective measures are not put in place.

Nwachukwu (2007) noted that the confusion students face when it comes to making the right occupational choice in most cases is highly traumatic at any point, especially at the senior secondary level. This is not supposed to be the case in situations where students are being guided on the right choice of occupation. Teachers are supposed to use their knowledge of psychological concepts to improve upon teaching and learning and also guide students in their career choice. But unfortunately, this is often not the case (Chew 2005, 2007). Most students in secondary school choose their career such that mathematics is excluded while others do not develop interest in mathematics with the notion that they will not encounter mathematics in their future career. Such students, when they gain admission to the higher institution and unfortunately find themselves in another faculty different from faculty of law and faculty of arts, feel confused and frustrated when they encounter the preliminary mathematics offered by these other faculties.

The likelihood that the female students will be able to compete adequately and favourably with their male counterparts in any mathematics test is highly negligible. The chances of high and optimum performance is often preferential in favour of the males. This is in line with the research by Obioma and Ohuche (1980), in which case they found a significant effect of sex in favour of males. A contrary finding by Ekwueme and Umoinyang (2005) revealed that girls have more positive attitude towards mathematics hence leading to a more successful study and a better performance than the boys. While Inyang in 2004 found that there is no significant difference in the performance of the students bearing in mind the different sexes.

The above claims, some of which are contrary to the others necessitated the adventure into this research project. That is, to determine the effect of stereotyping in the study of mathematics in Bekwarra Local Government Area of Cross River State.

1.2      Theoretical framework         

The following are considered under theoretical framework:

Michael Inzlincht – Long-term effect of stereotyping

Claude steele      -  Effect of racial stereotyping

Eric Erikson        -  Theory of psychosocial development  

Michael Inzlincht is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. His research interest is on stigmatization, prejudice and discrimination. The aim of his research according to him, was to “look at what happens afterwards. Are there lingering effects of prejudice? Does being stereotyped have an impact beyond the moment when stereotyping happens?” In this first experiment, the participants were placed in a situation where they had to perform a task in the face of negative stereotype. After removing them from the prejudicial situation, the result of the observation showed that prejudices and stereotyping have lingering adverse impacts. Even after people leave a situation where they face negative stereotypes, the effects of coping with that situation remains.

        In another section of the study, Inzlincht the leader of the research team said they told the women that “the test” would determine whether or not they were capable and smart in mathematics, subtly injecting stereotypes about women and mathematics into the air”.

        A separate group of women wrote the same test, but were given the necessary coping strategies and support to deal with the stress involved. After this, the two groups of women performed other tasks. “In this follow-up test, the women who felt discriminated against ate more than their peers in the control group, showed more hostility than the control group and performed more poorly on tests that measured their cognitive ability”.

        This in reality is most often the situation. Whenever people are being stereotyped, they are bound to perform poorly irrespective of the domain that is being measured. In most situations, the effect of stereotyping may still be experienced a long time after the stereotype situation is over. “These lingering effects hurt people in a very real way, leaving them at a disadvantage. Even many steps removed from a prejudicial situation, people are carrying around this baggage that negatively impacts their lives”.

Claude Steele was born January 1, 1946 in Chicago. He had his B.A in 1967 at Hiram College (Hiram OH). He obtained his M.A. in 1969 in Ohio State University and Ph.D in 1971.

        Claude Steele and his Colleague Joshua Aronson in early 1990s performed the first experiment to demonstrate the effect of stereotype threat on intellectual performance. In their study, they had two groups of students: the African-American and the European- American students take the graduate record examination. The African-American students in their examination performed below average.

        In another experiment, Steele and Aronson made the students believed that the test was not meant to measure their ability. This second experiment reduced the achievement gap between the two groups of students. This made Steele and Aronson came to the conclusion that changing the test situation such that students do not feel the effect of stereotyping can reduce the achievement gap caused as a result of the stereotyping.

        To sum it, what Steele and Aronson were trying to experiment is that stereotyping is situational. Students confirm the negative stereotype when it is framed such that it affects their group. For students to be able to overcome the effect of stereotyping, they should understand how they are being stereotyped, when they are being stereotyped and should cause people to stereotype them in the positive direction. 

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