Overcome by stereotypes, psychologist launches study

The effects of stereotypes first raised questions for psychologist Yolanda Flores Niemann, PhD, back in her high school days in Houston. She repeatedly found herself the only Mexican-American student in her college-bound classes. And she wondered if negative racial stereotypes could help explain the absence of her Mexican-American peers.

Niemann was bothered that she had opportunities her peers didn?t?opportunities that led to a scholarship to Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. There she started her studies in journalism but soon found her interests drifting to another subject: psychology.

'In journalism it wasn?t the news that interested me, it was the hows and whys,' says Niemann. 'I always did the in-depth feature stories on people?s histories, what motivated them. I was interested in human nature.'

It would be a while before Niemann majored in psychology. (In 1975, she took a hiatus from academics to care for her ailing mother and start a family of her own.) But, determined to finish, Niemann eventually earned her bachelor?s degree from the University of Houston in 1987. She stayed on at Houston to pursue graduate work in social psychology, combining her interests in psychology and racial stereotyping. Her doctoral research explored issues of stereotyping and tokenism among Hispanic and African-American people.

And her findings, corroborated by other psychological research, shocked her. She found that minority groups themselves believe?and live by?negative racial stereotypes imposed on them by the majority group. 'I couldn?t believe stereotypes were that powerful,' says Niemann.

Consistent with stereotypes, for example, many Mexican Americans characterized their own people as uneducated or uninterested in education. Some even described Mexican men as heavy drinkers and criminally inclined.

Now Niemann seeks to demonstrate that those negative stereotypes become self-fulfilling prophecies. She?s currently investigating whether immigrant Mexican men become heavier drinkers after living in the United States. And in other studies, she hopes to further investigate the apparent association between negative stereotypes and an absence of Mexican-American students and faculty in the classroom?the concern that initially triggered her interest in stereotypes in high school.

?Bridget Murray