This is the theory that you internalise your stereotype and then act it out. You can read more about it
here (page two detail why the Germans beat us at penalty shootouts if you want motivation to read it). This has obvious effects on behaviour and intelligence.
In a similar vein, in
Blink, Malcolm Gladwell wrote about a psychology experiment where, after emphasis was placed on black students' skin pigmentation, a large number of them visited their university professor and spoke that they suspected they were not up to par with the requisite course level. Whereas the control group, where no emphasis was placed on skin pigmentation, made no such statements. Bizarre?
During my childhood I had a mixed peer-recognition experience. In some areas I was below average, and in other areas I exceeded most of my peers. Therefore, I was never certain how "intelligent" I was, and nor was anyone else from what I could tell.
I now realise that you cannot view intelligence as either all encompassing or static, but back then I did not realise this. Back then I also measured intelligence relatively - another mistake. The sum of my uncertainty towards my own potential meant that I muddled along at school.
After I hit eighteen, it was time for me to choose the rest of my life by filling in a UCAS form (...). Like most students, I suspect, I chose the subject at which I was the most skilled. During university, because of my grades and perhaps because of the environment in which I resided, a strange thing happened: a lot of people told me I was intelligent and particularly creative.
I never really understood this because I had never experienced such statements before, but begrudgingly, strangely enough, I eventually accepted the complements and started to
believe them (with qualifiers, anyway). Subsequent to my degree I have ventured out into subjects areas where I have also succeeded in a similar manner, notably in a much greater degree than I ever did in school when I studied such subjects.
Obviously since childhood to my current state I have exercised my intellectual abilities and thus improved them in various areas. But, importantly, it seems important that I
did exercise them. To clarify what I mean, no matter how "intelligent" or "dumb" you are, you will always encounter subjects and concepts you find difficult to grok. My rhetorical question is: when someone encounters difficult subjects and concepts, how soon will that someone quit (or not even start) if they believe they are of lesser intelligence compared with someone who believes they are intelligent?
Although the article and my little story concentrates on intelligence, stereotype threat (and lift) applies to many more areas and it's fascinating to read about, so you probably should do so now.