Cultural Mistrust Paper

1264 Words3 Pages

Review for MKGT 850
Title: “Cultural Mistrust as a Determinant of Test Perceptions and Racial Subgroup Differences on Cognitive Ability Test Performance”
This paper looks at the concept of cultural mistrust as a reason for why subgroup differences exist in cognitive ability test performance. The authors begin by introducing the concern of how subgroup differences in these test scores is still a problem today. The difference in scores between White and Black is a such a problem that it could lead to adverse impact in the selection process. The average standard deviation of test scoring difference between the two groups ranges from .66-1 SD. The problem is that the cognitive ability measure is extremely predictive for various forms of work-related …show more content…

They provided the needed motivation for a reader to care about the differences in cognitive ability scores and the ramifications of such differences. There is no theoretical mechanism attempting to explain why cultural mistrust could be a determinant of test perceptions. For instance, something like social identity theory may be able to explain an in-group and out-group perspective of how Blacks may saliently self-categorize themselves as belonging to the Black group that those considered as an out-group are not trusted, therefore leading to cultural mistrust in test perceptions and subsequent performance. This paper is an empirical piece, but typically if this was aimed for AMJ or JAP it would be best to develop theory when you …show more content…

I was surprised to see the huge effect for cultural mistrust (1.32). I can imagine this effect would be even stronger in a setting outside of higher education, perhaps in a high school. I’m curious if students further into their college career would have had the same effect, or if it would have reduced. It was very interesting to see support for the hypotheses of the authors, but also to see that motivation was not statistically significant in this study as other studies have shown. Given the inclusion of the cultural mistrust the effect size from race to performance dropped from .55 to -.34. I believe this is where the contribution

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