> negative stereotypes raise inhibiting doubts and high-pressure anxieties in a test-taker's mind... even passing reminders that someone belongs to one group or another, such as a group stereotyped as inferior in academics, can wreak havoc with test performance.
Of course as with everything in this area, there is no consensus; studies have contradictory results and some dispute whether stereotype threat even exists.
> negative stereotypes raise inhibiting doubts and high-pressure anxieties in a test-taker's mind... even passing reminders that someone belongs to one group or another, such as a group stereotyped as inferior in academics, can wreak havoc with test performance.
http://www.apa.org/research/action/stereotype.aspx
http://www.npr.org/2012/07/12/156664337/stereotype-threat-wh...
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/news/2008/1/29/Stereotype_Threat_A...