Editing Race and intelligence (section)

==Environmental factors==
===Health and nutrition===
{{Main|Impact of health on intelligence}}
[[File:Lead levels children.png|thumb|Percentage of children aged 1–5 with blood lead levels ''at least'' 10 μg/dL. Black and Hispanic children have much higher levels than white children. A 10 μg/dL increase in blood lead at 24 months is associated with a 5.8-point decline in IQ.<ref name="Bellinger, Stiles & Needleman 1992">{{harvnb|Bellinger|Stiles|Needleman|1992}}</ref> Although the Geometric Mean Blood Lead Levels (GM BLL) are declining, a CDC report (2002) states that: "However, the GM BLL for non-Hispanic black children remains higher than that for Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white children, indicating that differences in risk for exposure still persist."<ref>{{harvnb|MMWR|2005}}</ref>|380x380px]]

Environmental factors including [[Lead poisoning#Effects on children|childhood lead exposure]],<ref name="Bellinger, Stiles & Needleman 1992"/> low rates of [[breast feeding]],<ref name="Campbell et al. 2002">{{harvnb|Campbell et al.|2002}}</ref> and poor [[nutrition]]<ref>{{harvnb|Ivanovic et al.|2004}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Saloojee| Pettifor|2001}}</ref> are significantly correlated with poor cognitive development and functioning. For example, childhood exposure to {{nowrap|lead{{tsp}}{{mdash}}{{tsp}}}}associated with homes in poorer {{nowrap|areas<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/ped_env_health/docs/ped_env_health.pdf |title=Principles of Pediatric Environmental Health, The Child as Susceptible Host: A Developmental Approach to Pediatric Environmental Medicine |last=Agency For Toxic Substances And Disease Registry Case Studies In Environmental Medicine (CSEM) |date=2012-02-15 |website=U.S. Department for Health and Human Services |access-date=2019-01-30 |archive-date=2019-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131093309/https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/ped_env_health/docs/ped_env_health.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{tsp}}}}correlates with an average IQ drop of 7 points,<ref name="Lanphear Hornung Khoury Yolton 2005 pp. 894–899">{{cite journal |last1=Lanphear |first1=Bruce P. |last2=Hornung |first2=Richard |last3=Khoury |first3=Jane |last4=Yolton |first4=Kimberly |last5=Baghurst |first5=Peter |last6=Bellinger |first6=David C. |last7=Canfield |first7=Richard L. |last8=Dietrich |first8=Kim N. |last9=Bornschein |first9=Robert |last10=Greene |first10=Tom |last11=Rothenberg |first11=Stephen J. |last12=Needleman |first12=Herbert L. |last13=Schnaas |first13=Lourdes |last14=Wasserman |first14=Gail |last15=Graziano |first15=Joseph |last16=Roberts |first16=Russell |title=Low-Level Environmental Lead Exposure and Children's Intellectual Function: An International Pooled Analysis |journal=Environmental Health Perspectives |volume=113 |issue=7 |date=2005-03-18 |issn=0091-6765 |pmid=16002379 |pmc=1257652 |doi=10.1289/ehp.7688 |pages=894–899|bibcode=2005EnvHP.113..894L }}</ref> and [[Cretinism|iodine deficiency causes a decline]], on average, of 12 IQ points.<ref>{{harvnb|Qian et al.|2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=James |last1=Feyrer |first2=Dimitra |last2=Politi |first3=David N. |last3=Weil |title=The Cognitive Effects of Micronutrient Deficiency: Evidence from Salt Iodization in the United States |year=2017 |journal=Journal of the European Economic Association |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=355–387 |doi=10.1093/jeea/jvw002 |pmid=31853231 |pmc=6919660 |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w19233.pdf |access-date=2019-07-22 |archive-date=2020-08-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813174601/https://www.nber.org/papers/w19233.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Such impairments may sometimes be permanent, but in some cases they be partially or wholly compensated for by later growth. 
  
The first two years of life are critical for malnutrition, the consequences of which are often irreversible and include poor cognitive development, educability, and future economic productivity.<ref>[http://www.thelancet.com/series/maternal-and-child-undernutrition The Lancet Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717005704/http://www.thelancet.com/series/maternal-and-child-undernutrition |date=2011-07-17 }}, 2008.</ref><!--Which paper? Link points only to to listed series of papers (yes, need more specific, preferably secondary, reference) --> Mackintosh points out that, for American black people, infant mortality is about twice as high as for white people, and low birth weight is twice as prevalent. At the same time, white mothers are twice as likely to breastfeed their infants, and breastfeeding is directly correlated with IQ for low-birth-weight infants. In this way, a wide number of health-related factors which influence IQ are unequally distributed between the two groups.{{sfn|Mackintosh|2011|pages=343–44}}

The [[Copenhagen consensus]] in 2004 stated that lack of both iodine and iron has been implicated in impaired brain development, and this can affect enormous numbers of people: it is estimated that one-third of the total global population is affected by [[iodine deficiency]]. In developing countries, it is estimated that 40% of children aged four and under have [[anaemia]] because of insufficient iron in their diets.<ref>{{harvnb|Behrman|Alderman|Hoddinott|2004}}</ref>

Other scholars have found that simply the standard of nutrition has a significant effect on population intelligence, and that the Flynn effect may be caused by increasing nutrition standards across the world.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Colom |first1=R. |last2=Lluis-Font |first2=J. M. |last3=Andrés-Pueyo |first3=A. |year=2005 |title=The generational intelligence gains are caused by decreasing variance in the lower half of the distribution: supporting evidence for the nutrition hypothesis |journal=Intelligence |volume=33 |pages=83–91 |doi=10.1016/j.intell.2004.07.010}}</ref> James Flynn has himself argued against this view.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Flynn |first1=J. R. |year=2009a |title=Requiem for nutrition as the cause of IQ gains: Raven's gains in Britain 1938 to 2008 |journal=Economics and Human Biology |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=18–27 |doi=10.1016/j.ehb.2009.01.009 |pmid=19251490}}</ref>

Some recent research has argued that the retardation caused in brain development by [[infectious disease]]s, many of which are more prevalent in non-white populations, may be an important factor in explaining the differences in IQ between different regions of the world. The findings of this research, showing the correlation between IQ, race and infectious diseases was also shown to apply to the IQ gap in the US, suggesting that this may be an important environmental factor.<ref name="Eppig 2011">{{harvnb|Eppig|2011}}</ref>

A 2013 meta-analysis by the World Health Organization found that, after controlling for maternal IQ, breastfeeding was associated with IQ gains of 2.19 points. The authors suggest that this relationship is causal but state that the practical significance of this gain is debatable; however, they highlight one study suggesting an association between breastfeeding and academic performance in Brazil, where "breastfeeding duration does not present marked variability by socioeconomic position."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Long-term effects of breastfeeding – a systemic review |first1=Bernardo L. |last1=Horta |first2=Cesar G. |last2=Victoria |publisher=World Health Organization |year=2013 |access-date=18 June 2018 |url=http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/79198/9789241505307_eng.pdf |archive-date=9 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200409233115/https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/79198/9789241505307_eng.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Colen and Ramey (2014) similarly find that controlling for sibling comparisons within families, rather than between families, reduces the correlation between breastfeeding status and WISC IQ scores by nearly a third, but further find the relationship between breastfeeding duration and WISC IQ scores to be insignificant. They suggest that "much of the beneficial long-term effects typically attributed to breastfeeding, per se, may primarily be due to selection pressures into infant feeding practices along key demographic characteristics such as race and socioeconomic status."<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Cynthia G. |last1=Colen |first2=David M. |last2=Ramey |journal=Social Science & Medicine |volume=109 |issue=1 |pages=55–65 |year=2014 |pmc=4077166 |title=Is Breast Truly Best? Estimating the Effect of Breastfeeding on Long-term Child Wellbeing in the United States Using Sibling Comparisons |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.01.027 |pmid=24698713}}</ref> Reichman estimates that no more than 3 to 4% of the black–white IQ gap can be explained by black–white disparities in low birth weight.<ref>{{harvnb|Reichman|2005}}</ref>

===Education===
Several studies have proposed that a large part of the gap in IQ test performance can be attributed to differences in quality of education.<ref>{{harvnb|Manly et al.|2002}} and {{harvnb|Manly et al.|2004}}</ref> [[Racial discrimination]] in education has been proposed as one possible cause of differences in educational quality between races.<ref>{{harvnb|Mickelson|2003}}</ref> According to a paper by Hala Elhoweris, Kagendo Mutua, Negmeldin Alsheikh and Pauline Holloway, teachers' referral decisions for students to participate in [[gifted education|gifted and talented]] educational programs were influenced in part by the students' ethnicity.<ref>{{harvnb|Elhoweris et al.|2005}}</ref>

The [[Abecedarian Early Intervention Project]], an intensive early childhood education project, was also able to bring about an average IQ gain of 4.4 points at age 21 in the black children who participated in it compared to controls.<ref name="Campbell et al. 2002"/> [[Arthur Jensen]] agreed that the Abecedarian project demonstrated that education can have a significant effect on IQ, but also declared his view that no educational program thus far had been able to reduce the black–white IQ gap by more than a third, and that differences in education are thus unlikely to be its only cause.<ref>{{harvnb|Miele|2002|p=133}}</ref>

A series of studies by [[Joseph Fagan]] and Cynthia Holland measured the effect of prior exposure to the kind of cognitive tasks posed in IQ tests on test performance. Assuming that the IQ gap was the result of lower exposure to tasks using the cognitive functions usually found in IQ tests among African American test takers, they prepared a group of African Americans in this type of tasks before taking an IQ test. The researchers found that there was no subsequent difference in performance between the African-Americans and white test takers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fagan |first1=Joseph F |last2=Holland |first2=Cynthia R |year=2002 |title=Equal opportunity and racial differences in IQ |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_intelligence_2002_30_4/page/361 |journal=Intelligence |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=361–387 |doi=10.1016/S0160-2896(02)00080-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fagan |first1=J.F. |last2=Holland |first2=C.R. |year=2007 |title=Racial equality in intelligence: Predictions from a theory of intelligence as processing |journal=Intelligence |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=319–334 |doi=10.1016/j.intell.2006.08.009}}</ref> Daley and Onwuegbuzie conclude that Fagan and Holland demonstrate that "differences in knowledge between black people and white people for intelligence test items can be erased when equal opportunity is provided for exposure to the information to be tested".{{sfn|Daley|Onwuegbuzie|2011}} A similar argument is made by [[David Marks (psychologist)|David Marks]] who argues that IQ differences correlate well with differences in literacy suggesting that developing literacy skills through education causes an increase in IQ test performance.<ref name="Marks, D.F. 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Marks |first1=D.F. |year=2010 |title=IQ variations across time, race, and nationality: An artifact of differences in literacy skills |journal=Psychological Reports |volume=106 |issue=3 |pages=643–664 |doi=10.2466/pr0.106.3.643-664 |pmid=20712152 |s2cid=12179547}}</ref><ref name="psychologytoday.com">{{cite magazine |last=Barry |first=Scott |url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201008/the-flynn-effect-and-iq-disparities-among-races-ethnicities-and-nations- |title=The Flynn Effect and IQ Disparities Among Races, Ethnicities, and Nations: Are There Common Links? |magazine=Psychology Today |date=2010-08-23 |access-date=2014-08-22 |archive-date=2023-03-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320043730/https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/beautiful-minds/201008/the-flynn-effect-and-iq-disparities-among-races-ethnicities-and-nations |url-status=live }}</ref>

A 2003 study found that two variables—[[stereotype threat]] and the degree of educational attainment of children's fathers—partially explained the black–white gap in cognitive ability test scores, undermining the hereditarian view that they stemmed from immutable genetic factors.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McKay |first1=Patrick F. |last2=Doverspike |first2=Dennis |last3=Bowen-Hilton |first3=Doreen |last4=McKay |first4=Quintonia D. |title=The Effects of Demographic Variables and Stereotype Threat on Black/White Differences in Cognitive Ability Test Performance |journal=Journal of Business and Psychology |date=2003 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.1023/A:1025062703113 |s2cid=142317051}}</ref>

===Socioeconomic environment===
Different aspects of the socioeconomic environment in which children are raised have been shown to correlate with part of the IQ gap, but they do not account for the entire gap.{{sfn|Hunt|2010|page=428}} According to a 2006 review, these factors account for slightly less than half of one standard deviation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Magnuson |first1=Katherine A. |last2=Duncan |first2=Greg J. |title=The role of family socioeconomic resources in the black–white test score gap among young children |journal=[[Developmental Review]] |date=December 2006 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=365–399 |doi=10.1016/j.dr.2006.06.004}}</ref>

Other research has focused on different causes of variation within low socioeconomic status (SES) and high SES groups.<ref name="Scarr-Salapatek1971">{{cite journal |last1=Scarr-Salapatek |first1=S. |year=1971 |title=Race, social class, and IQ. |journal=Science |volume=174 |issue=4016 |pages=1285–95 |doi=10.1126/science.174.4016.1285 |pmid=5167501 |bibcode=1971Sci...174.1285S}}</ref><ref name="Scarr-Salapatek1974">{{cite journal |last1=Scarr-Salapatek |first1=S. |year=1974 |title=Some myths about heritability and IQ. |doi=10.1038/251463b0 |journal=Nature |volume=251 |issue=5475 |pages=463–464 |bibcode=1974Natur.251..463S |s2cid=32437709 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Rowe1994">D. C. Rowe. (1994). ''The Limits of Family Influence: Genes, Experience and Behaviour''. Guilford Press. London</ref>
In the US, among low SES groups, genetic differences account for a smaller proportion of the variance in IQ than among high SES populations.<ref name="Kirkpatrick2015">{{cite journal |last1=Kirkpatrick |first1=R. M. |last2=McGue |first2=M. |last3=Iacono |first3=W. G. |year=2015 |title=Replication of a gene-environment interaction Via Multimodel inference: additive-genetic variance in adolescents' general cognitive ability increases with family-of-origin socioeconomic status |doi=10.1007/s10519-014-9698-y |journal=Behav Genet |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=200–14 |pmc=4374354 |pmid=25539975}}</ref> Such effects are predicted by the ''[[Bioecological model|bioecological]]'' hypothesis—that genotypes are transformed into phenotypes through nonadditive synergistic effects of the environment.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Nature-nuture reconceptualized in developmental perspective: A bioecological model. |journal=Psychological Review |pages=568–586 |volume=101 |issue=4 |doi=10.1037/0033-295x.101.4.568 |first1=Urie |last1=Bronfenbrenner |first2=Stephen J. |last2=Ceci |pmid=7984707 |date=October 1994|s2cid=17402964 }}</ref> {{harvp|Nisbett|Aronson|Blair|Dickens|2012a}} suggest that high SES individuals are more likely to be able to develop their full biological potential, whereas low SES individuals are likely to be hindered in their development by adverse environmental conditions. The same review also points out that adoption studies generally are biased towards including only high and high middle SES adoptive families, meaning that they will tend to overestimate average genetic effects. They also note that studies of adoption from lower-class homes to middle-class homes have shown that such children experience a 12 to 18 point gain in IQ relative to children who remain in low SES homes.{{sfn|Nisbett|Aronson|Blair|Dickens|2012a}} A 2015 study found that environmental factors (namely, family income, maternal education, maternal verbal ability/knowledge, learning materials in the home, parenting factors, child birth order, and child birth weight) accounted for the black–white gap in cognitive ability test scores.{{sfn|Cottrell|Newman|Roisman|2015}}

===Test bias===
A number of studies have reached the conclusion that IQ tests may be biased against certain groups.<ref>{{harvnb|Cronshaw et al.|2006|p=278}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Verney et al.|2005}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Borsboom|2006}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Shuttleworth-Edwards et al.|2004}}</ref> The validity and reliability of IQ scores obtained from outside the United States and Europe have been questioned, in part because of the inherent difficulty of comparing IQ scores between cultures.<ref name="Richardson 2004">{{harvnb|Richardson|2004}}</ref><ref name="Hunt & Wittmann 2008">{{harvnb|Hunt|Wittmann|2008}}</ref> Several researchers have argued that cultural differences limit the appropriateness of standard IQ tests in non-industrialized communities.<ref>{{harvnb|Irvine|1983}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Irvine|Berry|1988}} a collection of articles by several authors discussing the limits of assessment by intelligence tests in different communities in the world. In particular, {{harvp|Reuning|1988}} describes the difficulties in devising and administering tests for Kalahari bushmen.</ref>

A 1996 report by the [[American Psychological Association]] states that intelligence can be difficult to compare across cultures, and notes that differing familiarity with test materials can produce substantial differences in test results; it also says that tests are accurate predictors of future achievement for black and white Americans, and are in that sense unbiased.{{sfn|Neisser|Boodoo|Bouchard|Boykin|1996}} The view that tests accurately predict future educational attainment is reinforced by [[Nicholas Mackintosh]] in his 1998 book ''IQ and Human Intelligence'',<ref>{{harvnb|Mackintosh|1998|p=174}}: "Despite widespread belief to the contrary, however, there is ample evidence, both in Britain and the USA, that IQ tests predict educational attainment just about as well in ethnic minorities as in the white majority."</ref> and by a 1999 literature review by {{harvp|Brown|Reynolds|Whitaker|1999}}.

James R. Flynn, surveying studies on the topic, notes that the weight and presence of many test questions depends on what sorts of information and modes of thinking are culturally valued.<ref name="FlynnIntelligence">{{cite journal |journal=Intelligence |issue=70 |pages=73–83 |year=2018 |url=https://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/1-s2.0-S0160289618300904-main.pdf |title=Reflections about intelligence over 40 years |access-date=2019-02-02 |archive-date=2019-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203030438/https://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/1-s2.0-S0160289618300904-main.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Stereotype threat and minority status===
{{Main|Stereotype threat}}
[[Stereotype threat]] is the fear that one's behavior will confirm an existing [[stereotype]] of a group with which one identifies or by which one is defined; this fear may in turn lead to an impairment of performance.<ref>{{harvnb|Aronson|Wilson|Akert| 2005}}</ref> Testing situations that highlight the fact that intelligence is being measured tend to lower the scores of individuals from racial-ethnic groups who already score lower on average or are expected to score lower. Stereotype threat conditions cause larger than expected IQ differences among groups.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Steele |first1=Claude M. |title=A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance |journal=American Psychologist |volume=52 |issue=6 |year=1997 |pages=613–629 |issn=0003-066X |doi=10.1037/0003-066X.52.6.613 |pmid=9174398 |citeseerx=10.1.1.319.8283|s2cid=19952 }}</ref> Psychometrician [[Nicholas Mackintosh]] considers that there is little doubt that the effects of stereotype threat contribute to the IQ gap between black people and white people.{{sfn|Mackintosh|2011|p=348}}

A large number of studies have shown that systemically disadvantaged minorities, such as the African American minority of the United States, generally perform worse in the educational system and in intelligence tests than the majority groups or less disadvantaged minorities such as immigrant or "voluntary" minorities.{{sfn|Neisser|Boodoo|Bouchard|Boykin|1996}} The explanation of these findings may be that children of caste-like minorities, due to the systemic limitations of their prospects of social advancement, do not have "[[effort optimism]]", i.e. they do not have the confidence that acquiring the skills valued by majority society, such as those skills measured by IQ tests, is worthwhile. They may even deliberately reject certain behaviors that are seen as "[[acting white]]."{{sfn|Neisser|Boodoo|Bouchard|Boykin|1996}}{{sfn|Ogbu|1978}}{{sfn|Ogbu|1994}} Research published in 1997 indicates that part of the black–white gap in cognitive ability test scores is due to racial differences in test motivation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chan |first1=D. |last2=Schmitt |first2=N. |last3=DeShon |first3=R. P. |last4=Clause |first4=C. S. |last5=Delbridge |first5=K. |date=April 1997 |title=Reactions to cognitive ability tests: the relationships between race, test performance, face validity perceptions, and test-taking motivation |journal=The Journal of Applied Psychology |volume=82 |issue=2 |pages=300–310 |issn=0021-9010 |pmid=9109288 |doi=10.1037/0021-9010.82.2.300|url=https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/230 }}</ref>

Some researchers have suggested that stereotype threat should not be interpreted as a factor in real-life performance gaps, and have raised the possibility of [[publication bias]].<ref name="Ganley2013">{{cite journal |vauthors=Ganley CM, Mingle LA, Ryan AM, Ryan K, Vasilyeva M, Perry M |title=An examination of stereotype threat effects on girls' mathematics performance |journal=Developmental Psychology |volume=49 |issue=10 |pages=1886–97 |date=October 2013 |pmid=23356523 |doi=10.1037/a0031412 |url=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/85192141/2013-ganley.pdf |citeseerx=10.1.1.353.4436 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140719005546/https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/85192141/2013-ganley.pdf  |archive-date=19 July 2014}}</ref><ref name="Stoet2012">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Stoet G, Geary DC |doi=10.1037/a0026617 |title=Can stereotype threat explain the gender gap in mathematics performance and achievement? |journal=Review of General Psychology |volume=16 |pages=93–102 |year=2012 |s2cid=145724069}} [http://volition.gla.ac.uk/~stoet/pdf/Stoet-Geary-RGP2012.pdf Pdf.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112130459/http://volition.gla.ac.uk/~stoet/pdf/Stoet-Geary-RGP2012.pdf |date=2016-01-12 }}</ref><ref name="Flore2014">{{cite journal |vauthors=Flore PC, Wicherts JM |title=Does stereotype threat influence performance of girls in stereotyped domains? A meta-analysis |journal=Journal of School Psychology |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=25–44 |date=February 2015 |pmid=25636259 |doi=10.1016/j.jsp.2014.10.002|s2cid=206516995 }}</ref> Other critics have focused on correcting what they claim are misconceptions of early studies showing a large effect.<ref name="Sackett2004a">{{cite journal |vauthors=Sackett PR, Hardison CM, Cullen MJ |title=On interpreting stereotype threat as accounting for African American-White differences on cognitive tests |journal=The American Psychologist |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=7–13 |date=January 2004 |pmid=14736315 |doi=10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.7 |url=http://www2.uni-jena.de/svw/igc/studies/ss03/sackitt_hardison_cullen_2004.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404150510/http://www2.uni-jena.de/svw/igc/studies/ss03/sackitt_hardison_cullen_2004.pdf  |archive-date=2013-04-04}}</ref> However, numerous [[Meta-analysis|meta-analyses]] and systematic reviews have shown significant evidence for the effects of stereotype threat, though the phenomenon defies over-simplistic characterization.<ref name="Pennington-2016">{{cite journal |vauthors=Pennington CR, Heim D, Levy AR, Larkin DT |date=2016-01-11 |title=Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=e0146487 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1146487P |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0146487 |pmc=4713435 |pmid=26752551 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Nguyen-2008">{{cite journal |vauthors=Nguyen HH, Ryan AM |date=November 2008 |title=Does stereotype threat affect test performance of minorities and women? A meta-analysis of experimental evidence |journal=The Journal of Applied Psychology |volume=93 |issue=6 |pages=1314–34 |doi=10.1037/a0012702 |pmid=19025250|s2cid=36769821 }}</ref><ref name="Walton-2009">{{Cite journal |last1=Walton |first1=Gregory M. |last2=Spencer |first2=Steven J. |date=2009-09-01 |title=Latent Ability: Grades and Test Scores Systematically Underestimate the Intellectual Ability of Negatively Stereotyped Students |journal=Psychological Science |volume=20 |issue=9 |pages=1132–1139 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02417.x |issn=0956-7976 |pmid=19656335 |s2cid=25810191|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gentile |first1=Ambra |last2=Boca |first2=Stefano |last3=Giammusso |first3=Isabella |date=2018-11-01 |title='You play like a Woman!' Effects of gender stereotype threat on Women's performance in physical and sport activities: A meta-analysis |journal=Psychology of Sport and Exercise |volume=39 |pages=95–103 |doi=10.1016/j.psychsport.2018.07.013 |s2cid=149490634 |issn=1469-0292}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lamont |first1=Ruth A. |last2=Swift |first2=Hannah J. |last3=Abrams |first3=Dominic |year=2015 |title=A Review and Meta-Analysis of Age-Based Stereotype Threat: Negative Stereotypes, Not Facts, Do the Damage. |journal=Psychology and Aging |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=180–193 |doi=10.1037/a0038586 |issn=1939-1498 |pmc=4360754 |pmid=25621742}}</ref><ref name="Picho-2013">{{Cite journal |last1=Picho |first1=Katherine |last2=Rodriguez |first2=Ariel |last3=Finnie |first3=Lauren |date=May 2013 |title=Exploring the Moderating Role of Context on the Mathematics Performance of Females Under Stereotype Threat: A Meta-Analysis |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237000996 |journal=The Journal of Social Psychology |volume=153 |issue=3 |pages=299–333 |doi=10.1080/00224545.2012.737380 |pmid=23724702 |s2cid=45950675}}</ref><ref name="Liu-2020">{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Songqi |last2=Liu |first2=Pei |last3=Wang |first3=Mo |last4=Zhang |first4=Baoshan |date=July 2020 |title=Effectiveness of Stereotype Threat Interventions: A Meta-Analytic Review |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343149798 |journal=Journal of Applied Psychology |volume=currently in press |issue=6 |pages=921–949 |doi=10.1037/apl0000770 |pmid=32772526 |s2cid=221098319}}</ref>{{excessive citations inline|date=June 2024}} For instance, one meta-analysis found that with female subjects "subtle threat-activating cues produced the largest effect, followed by blatant and moderately explicit cues" while with minorities "moderately explicit stereotype threat-activating cues produced the largest effect, followed by blatant and subtle cues".<ref name="Nguyen-2008" />

Some researchers have argued that studies of stereotype threat may in fact systematically under-represent its effects, since such studies measure "only that portion of psychological threat that research has identified and remedied. To the extent that unidentified or unremedied psychological threats further undermine performance, the results underestimate the bias."<ref name="Walton-2009"/>