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Science 17 April 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5925, pp. 400 - 403
DOI: 10.1126/science.1170769
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Reports

Recursive Processes in Self-Affirmation: Intervening to Close the Minority Achievement Gap

Geoffrey L. Cohen,1* Julio Garcia,1 Valerie Purdie-Vaughns,2 Nancy Apfel,3 Patricia Brzustoski3

A 2-year follow-up of a randomized field experiment previously reported in Science is presented. A subtle intervention to lessen minority students' psychological threat related to being negatively stereotyped in school was tested in an experiment conducted three times with three independent cohorts (N = 133, 149, and 134). The intervention, a series of brief but structured writing assignments focusing students on a self-affirming value, reduced the racial achievement gap. Over 2 years, the grade point average (GPA) of African Americans was, on average, raised by 0.24 grade points. Low-achieving African Americans were particularly benefited. Their GPA improved, on average, 0.41 points, and their rate of remediation or grade repetition was less (5% versus 18%). Additionally, treated students' self-perceptions showed long-term benefits. Findings suggest that because initial psychological states and performance determine later outcomes by providing a baseline and initial trajectory for a recursive process, apparently small but early alterations in trajectory can have long-term effects. Implications for psychological theory and educational practice are discussed.

1 Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Muenzinger Psychology Building, Boulder, CO 80309–0345, USA.
2 Department of Psychology, Columbia University, 405 Schermerhorn Hall, New York, NY 10027, USA.
3 Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: cohen.geoff{at}gmail.com

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)