In the 90’s an experiment was done on women who were ranked as exceptionally good at math at the university of Michigan. From prior surveys, these female math majors felt that they had to prove themselves constantly, that their career commitment was constantly questioned because there’s this stereotype that women are naturally less skilled at math than men. The experiment was to place both female and male majors to take a relatively short exam in math and a short exam in english. On the english test, both men and women scored equally. In math, the women scored in average twenty points less. But not because their logic and answers were wrong, but because they ran out of time double checking their answers and re-doing calculations. Because the female students felt stereotyped into a prejudiced category, they felt the need to compensate, which unfortunately hindered their performance rather than helped. The psychologist conducting the experiment, Claude Steele, coined the term stereotype threat.
As Artists, we are swamped with stereotyped narratives that define our value. The starving artist stereotype, the not smart-enough artist because we are more creative and emotional rather than rational, can’t be good business owners because being creative is the opposite of visionary entrepreneurs, art isn’t a professional career it’s just a glorified hobby, etc. And because we can assimilate ourselves into some of these characteristics, artists began to limit their performances within the frames of these typecasts, completely affecting outcomes that could be vastly different.
In the art sector, artists are generally known as professionals that take the longest to have a fulfilling career, both financially and in recognition. The stereotypes previously mentioned are unfortunately backed up by statistics and testimonies from artists worldwide. The biggest problem though is that we live in an era where opportunities are endless and that similar to the challenges that artists face as their career develops, there are also an extraordinary amount of artists who have broken records in all stereotype categories that are succeeding beyond expectations! With social media, new business models, etc., the artworld has changed in a way where artists can now have extraordinary careers! As in the math experiment where female math geniuses had their performances compromised because of their belief into a limiting stereotype, so do millions of artists compromise their extraordinary value and career opportunities because they sabotage their efforts into “making up” for their limitations instead of braving the opportunities.
The psychologist Claude Steele was adamant to help people affected by stereotype prejudices perform better, so in another research setting, he divided the women into three different groups to take math exams. The first group went into a room and started straight to take the test. The second group, before taking the test, had to draw a simple bubble graph with their identities and roles. So as an example: Woman- sister, student, and wife. In the third group, Steele had them do similarly, but then asked that they be expansive on their sense of identities in the graph chart. When the test results came in, guess which group did better? THE THIRD GROUP! Come to find out, when you see yourself as valuable in other categories outside of the limiting stereotype group, the threat for you to compensate your performance in that category lessens significantly.
As an artist, you are more than the technique you create, the academic sphere you’re associated with, the sales you get, the followers that are on your social media account… artists are far more than metrics of performance. Bringing creativity into a world helps people have a more flexible mindset, which is one of the greatest factors to enhance quality of life! When we step away from rigid performances to guarantee specific outcomes, we are the happiest in life! And Artists, are tools to make people see, live, understand life better. So better start with ourselves ;)
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