Claude Steele facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Claude M. Steele
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| Born | January 1, 1946 |
| Alma mater | Hiram College (BA) Ohio State University (PhD) |
| Known for | Stereotype threat, self-affirmation |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychology (Social) |
| Institutions | Stanford University University of California, Berkeley Columbia University University of Utah University of Washington University of Michigan |
| Doctoral advisor | Thomas Ostrom |
Claude Mason Steele (born January 1, 1946) is a famous social psychologist. He is a professor emeritus at Stanford University. This means he is a retired professor who still holds an honored title. He is known for his important research on how stereotypes affect people.
Dr. Steele's work mainly focuses on two big ideas: stereotype threat and self-affirmation. Stereotype threat is about how knowing about negative stereotypes can make people perform worse. Self-affirmation is about how reminding yourself of your values can help you deal with challenges.
In 2010, he wrote a book called Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us. This book shares his many years of research on stereotype threat. It explains how stereotypes can affect students, especially those from minority groups, in school.
Contents
Becoming a Psychologist
Early Life and Education
Claude Steele was born in Chicago, Illinois, on January 1, 1946. His parents, Ruth and Shelby, were very interested in social issues. His family, including his twin brother Shelby Steele, often talked about the Civil Rights Movement. Claude's father encouraged him to find a secure job. But Claude found his passion in education and learning.
He went to Hiram College in Ohio. There, he studied psychology and earned his bachelor's degree in 1967. He loved reading novels, which made him curious about how individuals deal with the world around them.
Discovering Social Psychology
Growing up, Claude was deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement. He saw the issues of racial equality and prejudice firsthand. This made him want to study these topics scientifically. He wanted to understand how they affected people's relationships and lives.
He was inspired by a psychologist named Kenneth Clark. Clark talked on TV about the psychological effects of the 1964 race riots in Harlem. This pushed Steele to do his own research on human behavior. He studied how African-American ways of speaking helped kids keep their ethnic identity. He also studied animal behavior.
Steele continued his studies at Ohio State University. He earned his master's degree in 1969 and his PhD in 1971. His advanced studies focused on how people's attitudes are measured and how they can change.
Dr. Steele's Career Journey
After finishing his PhD, Dr. Steele began his career as a psychology professor.
- He first taught at the University of Utah for two years.
- Then, he moved to the University of Washington, where he taught for 14 years. He became a tenured professor there in 1985. This means he earned a permanent teaching position.
- In 1987, he joined the University of Michigan as a psychology professor. He also worked as a research scientist there.
- In 1991, he moved to Stanford University. He taught psychology there for 18 years. He became a special professor called the Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences. At Stanford, he also led the Psychology Department and other research centers.
Leadership Roles
Dr. Steele also took on important leadership roles at universities:
- From 2009 to 2011, he was the provost of Columbia University. The provost is a senior leader who oversees academic programs and faculty.
- He then returned to Stanford to be the Dean of the Stanford University Graduate School of Education.
- From 2014 to 2016, he served as the executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of California, Berkeley. He stepped down for family reasons.
Key Research Ideas
Throughout his career, Dr. Steele focused on two main areas in social psychology. These are stereotype threat and self-affirmation. Both areas explore how people deal with challenges to their self-image and how they see themselves.
Self-Affirmation Theory
Dr. Steele developed the idea of self-affirmation in the 1980s. This theory suggests that people can reduce stress or threats to their self-image. They do this by thinking about a value that is important to them. For example, if you feel bad about a test score, you might remind yourself that you are a kind person.
His research showed that self-affirmation can have many positive effects. It can help reduce biased attitudes. It can also encourage healthy behaviors. It can even help improve how well minority students do in school.
Understanding Stereotype Threat
Dr. Steele is most famous for his work on stereotype threat. This idea helps explain why some groups of students might not perform as well as expected. For example, it looks at why girls might struggle in math or science, or why Black students might underperform in academic settings.
He first started studying this problem at the University of Michigan. He noticed that Black students were dropping out of college at a higher rate than white students. This was happening even though they had good grades and test scores. This observation led him to develop his idea of stereotype threat.
Stereotype threat happens when people are in situations where a negative stereotype about their group exists. Just knowing about this stereotype can be distracting. This distraction can make them perform worse in areas related to the stereotype. For example, if there's a stereotype that "girls are bad at math," a girl taking a math test might feel extra pressure. This pressure can make her perform below her true ability.
It's important to know that in 2024, some aspects of Steele's theory were re-examined and debated by other researchers.
Dr. Steele showed that stereotype threat can affect anyone. It especially affects people who care a lot about doing well in the area being threatened. He also found that stereotype threat can even affect the health of Black people.
His theories can help us understand differences in performance. This applies not only to school but also to sports and other areas. Dr. Steele has also worked on ways to reduce stereotype threat. He has shown how teachers can give helpful feedback. He also showed how teachers can create a safe environment where students feel accepted. This helps improve how well students from minority groups perform in elementary school.
Whistling Vivaldi Book
In 2010, Dr. Steele published his book, Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us. The book explains the idea of stereotype threat in detail. It shows how this idea helps explain why minority students sometimes don't do as well in higher education.
In his book, Steele talks about "identity contingencies." These are clues in an environment that remind a person of stereotypes linked to their identity. These clues can negatively affect how a person performs. He explains how this can lead to differences in school performance between different racial groups and genders.
Dr. Steele also offers many ways to reduce stereotype threat. He shares strategies to help minority students perform better. He hopes that by understanding stereotype threat, society can better understand and accept different groups of people.
Personal Life
Claude Steele lives in California. He and his late wife, Dorothy, worked together on projects. These projects focused on reducing prejudice in American society. They also worked on improving academic success for minority students. His twin brother, Shelby Steele, is a writer.
Awards and Honors
Dr. Claude Steele has received many awards and honors for his important work. Here are some of them:
- 1996: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1997: Gordon Allport Prize in Social Psychology
- 2000: William James Fellow Award for his scientific contributions
- 2003: Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
- 2007: Distinguished Scientific Impact Award
- 2010: Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award for mentoring students
- 2011: Elected to The National Science Board
- He has also received honorary doctorates from many top universities. These include University of Chicago, Yale University, and Princeton University.
- 2020: The Legacy Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. This award honors people whose career work has shaped the field.
