Claude Steele

Claude Mason Steele is an American psychology professor known for his work on stereotype threat.

He earned B.A. Psychology Hiram College in Ohio in 1967. He then studied Social Psychology, earning an M.A. in 1969 and a Ph.D. in 1971 from Ohio State University. Teaching appointment have included:

According to Social Psychology Network:
 * 1971-1973 University of Utah
 * 1973-1985 University of Washington
 * 1987-1991 University of Michigan
 * 1991-Present Stanford University
 * Director of Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences


 * His research interests are in three areas. Throughout his career he has been interested in processes of self-evaluation, in particular in how people cope with self-image threat. This work has led to a general theory of self- affirmation processes. A second interest, growing out of the first, is a theory of how group stereotypes -- by posing an extra self-evaluative and belongingness threat to such groups as African Americans in all academic domains and women in quantitative domains -- can influence intellectual performance and academic identities. Third, he has long been interested in addictive behaviors, particularly alcohol addiction, where his work with several colleagues has led to a theory of "alcohol myopia," a theory in which many of alcohol's social and stress-reducing effects -- effects that may underlie its addictive capacity -- are explained as a consequence of alcohol's narrowing of perceptual and cognitive functioning.