Understanding the Obama Effect

The “Obama Effect” is a theory that combats the effects of negative stereotyping, which is when a group confirms a negative social stereotype for their social group. For example, a negative stereotype is Black-Americans perform worse on tests than White-Americans, and when Black-Americans are made aware of the stereotype before testing, they perform worse than White-Americans. The “Obama Effect” is an effect which combats the negative stereotype. When a stereotype-defying role model is very salient and known, such as President Obama, it is believed this eliminates the effects of negative stereotyping on performance. A role-model must be seen as competent, as an ingroup role model for the stereotyped group of individuals, and the group must be well-aware of the role model’s success in areas where the group is negatively stereotyped. The researchers hypothesized Obama’s negative-stereotype defying success will reduce race-performance differences even when the participants are aware of the stereotype threat as long as Obama’s success is well-known and salient. Also, the “Obama Effect” does not eliminate Black-Americans’ concern for confirming the negative stereotype. However, it will prevent the negative stereotype from affecting their performance.

For the study, 472 participants took part from all over the country; 83 African-Americans, and 388 Caucasians. The two groups were matched on English proficiency and also education level, in order to eliminate any possible confounds relating to intelligence. Data was collected at four times, either at a time when Obama’s success was salient, or less apparent. These times were before he was nominated to be the democratic presidential candidate, right after his acceptance of the candidacy,...

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... completely feel a role model is part of their group for some reason, the “Obama Effect” would not apply. I think the continuation of this study needs to look at other populations for Black- and White- Americans such as those who may not have internet access, and those with lower SES. Also, at the end of the paper, the researchers make brief references about how the “Obama Effect” could parallel the impact of role models in close proximity have in overcoming stereotype threats. This would be interesting to study because while the role model is closer, a Black-American teacher may not be seen as a very strong defiance of a negative stereotype because their position is not as powerful or difficult to achieve as president. Thus they don’t have as much salience as President Obama, and possibly no real effect on an individual’s ability to overcome a negative stereotype.