Minding and mending the gap: Social psychological interventions to reduce educational disparities.

Autor/inn/en	Spitzer, Brian; Aronson, Joshua
Titel	Minding and mending the gap: Social psychological interventions to reduce educational disparities.
Quelle	In: British journal of educational psychology, (2015) 1, S.1-18Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext (2); PDF als Volltext (3); PDF als Volltext (4) Verfügbarkeit
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0007-0998
DOI	10.1111/bjep.12067
Schlagwörter	Psychological interventions; Educational disparities; Social psychology; Behavior modification; Education reform; Academic achievement gaps
Abstract	Achievement gaps continue to garner a great deal of attention both in academic and in popular circles. Many students continue to struggle despite broad educational reforms aimed at narrowing these gaps in learning and performance. In this article, we review a number of social psychological interventions that show promise in reducing gaps in achievement, not by addressing structural barriers to achievement, but by helping students cope with threats to their identity that impair intellectual functioning and motivation. For example, interventions involving meditation, role models, emotional reappraisal, growth mindsets, imagining possible selves, self-affirmations, belongingness and cooperative learning have been shown to ameliorate threats to identity and raise achievement. We describe and evaluate these social psychological interventions. Many achievement gaps involve a psychological predicament: a threat to one's social identity or to one's sense of belonging. Students' implicit theories - how they mind the gap - can act as barriers to their success. By helping students cope with these threats, these theory-based interventions represent a genuine advance in the way schools may reduce gaps in achievement. These interventions show how students' educational success depends partly on fluid aspects of context - how tasks are framed, who else is in the room, or what they believe about intelligence. Because of this fluidity, these interventions may not work in all settings. Achievement gaps are ultimately caused by a variety of factors, both objective and subjective that produce inequality. The research reviewed here suggests that even without changes in objective barriers to success, brief psychological interventions can narrow what many see as intractable gaps in academic achievement.
Erfasst von	OLC
Update	2022/1/02