Study Sees an Obama Effect as Lifting Black Test-Takers

New York Times ^ | January 22, 2009 | Sam Dillon

[reaganaut1]

...

[R]esearchers have documented what they call an Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administered before Mr. Obama’s nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election.

The inspiring role model that Mr. Obama projected helped blacks overcome anxieties about racial stereotypes that had been shown, in earlier research, to lower the test-taking proficiency of African-Americans, the researchers conclude in a report summarizing their results.

“Obama is obviously inspirational, but we wondered whether he would contribute to an improvement in something as important as black test-taking,” said Ray Friedman, a management professor at Vanderbilt University, one of the study’s three authors. “We were skeptical that we would find any effect, but our results surprised us.”

The study has not yet undergone peer review, and two academics who read it on Thursday said they would be interested to see if other researchers would be able to replicate its results.

Dr. Friedman and his fellow researchers, David M. Marx, a professor of social psychology at San Diego State University, and Sei Jin Ko, a visiting professor in management and organizations at Northwestern, have submitted their study for review to The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Dr. Friedman said.

“It’s a very small sample, but certainly a provocative study,” said Ronald F. Ferguson, a Harvard professor who studies the factors that have affected the achievement gap between white and nonwhite students, which shows up on nearly every standardized test. “There is a certainly a theoretical foundation and some empirical support for the proposition that Obama’s election could increase the sense of competence among African-Americans, and it could reduce the anxiety associated with taking difficult test questions.”

[acliffhang3r]

That is quite insightful. Seems like it is not the Man that’s keeping them down. It’s crab mentality.

[brytlea]

I think a lot of that starts in our education system. We tell kids they are a wonderful and we don’t really let them fail (not 100% but to a great extent). They parents follow that protocol as well.
I have said for a long time that we are going to have a bunch of bitter 40 year olds one day who don’t understand why they weren’t really able to be a Dr. or the President, after all they were always told they could be whatever they wanted to be.

[Mike Darancette]

Racial differences in test taking is a subject that usually gets results that the researchers have to deny. I wonder if any IQ differences between races has been changed by the election of BHO?

[Mike Darancette]

Notice they don't say whether the blacks did better or the whites did worse.

First test was taken in a normal classroom environment. Second test was taken in a classroom decorated like the Black Panther headquarters.