The “Obama Effect”: How a salient role model reduces race-based performance differences

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.03.012

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Volume 45, Issue 4, July 2009, Pages 953-956

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.03.012 Get rights and content

Abstract

Barack Obama, the first Black-American president, has been widely heralded as a role model for Black-Americans because he inspires hope. The current study was conducted to assess whether, beyond simply inspiring hope, this “Obama Effect” has a concrete positive influence on Black-Americans’ academic performance. Over a three-month period we administered a verbal exam to four separate groups of Black- and White-American participants at four predetermined times. When Obama’s stereotype-defying accomplishments garnered national attention – just after his convention speech, and election to the presidency – they had a profound beneficial effect on Black-Americans’ exam performance, such that the negative effects of stereotype threat were dramatically reduced. This effect occurred even when concerns about racial stereotypes continued to exist. The fact that we found performance effects with a random sample of American participants, far removed from any direct contact with Obama, attests to the powerful impact of ingroup role models.

Section snippets

Role models in stereotyped domains

The effectiveness of role models for boosting the academic performance of stereotyped individuals is based on three assumptions. First, a role model must be perceived as competent (e.g., Marx, Stapel, & Muller, 2005). Second, stereotyped individuals need to perceive the role model as an ingroup member. For example, past work has shown that role models are most effective when stereotyped individuals and role models share the same gender or racial group membership (e.g., Lockwood, 2006, Marx and

Present study

In this article we capitalized on Obama’s role model status as a way to provide the first real-world documentation of how specific markers of Obama’s success can positively impact Black-Americans academic performance. Based on past laboratory research on role models (see Marx and Goff, 2005, Marx et al., 2005) and our current theorizing we made the following predictions. When Obama’s stereotype-defying successes are pronounced he should boost Black-Americans’ exam performance (i.e., Obama

Overview

The present research tested the Obama Effect using an online quasi-experimental design that drew from a large, nationwide sample of Black and White-American participants.¹ A total of 472 participants (Black-American = 84, White-American = 388) took part for a chance to win one of four

Time 1

The purpose of this data collection time was twofold. First, it allowed us to get a baseline measure of race-based performance differences in our real-world population. Second, it served to establish that performance differences can be captured using an online exam procedure. Time 1 occurred just prior to the DNC when Obama had not yet accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. We analyzed verbal exam performance as a function of participant race, controlling for education level

Discussion

These findings provide strong evidence for the notion that the Obama Effect can reduce the adverse effects of stereotype threat, even when concerns about racial stereotypes continue to exist. Hence, the Obama Effect embodies the ability of Black-American role models to buffer Black-Americans academic performance from the negative effects of racial stereotypes. Our work has wide applicability because it demonstrates the powerful impact role models have in the real world (Buunk et al., 2007,

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Sean Rhea for his assistance with the online experimental software and for his maintenance of the website. We are also grateful to Chris Cole, Martin Davidson, Michael Inzlicht, Jan Marx, Patricia McFarland, and Allyce Monroe for their helpful feedback on earlier versions of this article.

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^☆: This research was supported by the Dean’s Research Fund, from the Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University.

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FlashReportThe “Obama Effect”: How a salient role model reduces race-based performance differences☆

Abstract

Section snippets

Role models in stereotyped domains

Present study

Overview

Time 1

Discussion

Acknowledgments

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

A positive role model may stimulate career-oriented behavior

Journal of Applied Social Psychology

Someone like me can be successful: Do college students need same-gender role models?

Psychology of Women Quarterly

Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Clearing the air: The effect of experimenter race on targets’ test performance and subjective experience

British Journal of Social Psychology

Female role models: Protecting women’s math test performance

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

FlashReport
The “Obama Effect”: How a salient role model reduces race-based performance differences☆