Is your stereotype a hinderance?

clipped from www.sciam.com How Stereotyping Yourself Contributes to Your Success (or Failure) People's performance on intellectual and athletic tasks is shaped by awareness of stereotypes about the groups to which they belong. New research explains why— and how we can break free from the expectations of others By S. Alexander Haslam, Jessica Salvatore, Thomas Kessler and Stephen D. Reicher More important, however, social identity research examines not only how we both take on (internalize) and live out (externalize) identities that are shared with our peers—other members of our in-group—but also how these things can change. This research helps us to understand the debilitating consequences of sexism, racism, homophobia and the like, as well as to identify ways of addressing the problems they cause so that human talent and potential are not neglected or squandered. clipped from www.sciam.com who we think we are determines both how we perform and what we are able to become.