Motivated cultural worldview adherence and culturally loaded test performance

Landau, Mark J.; Greenberg, Jeff; Rothschild, Zachary K.

doi:10.1177/0146167208329630

Cited by 17Death Anxiety and Social ExclusionSocial and Intergroup PsychologyPsychometric Methodologies and Testing

Motivated cultural worldview adherence and culturally loaded test performance

Landau, Mark J., Greenberg, Jeff, Rothschild, Zachary K.·2009·Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

DOI 10.1177/0146167208329630

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Abstract

Academic tests and their conditions of administration are culturally loaded when they make salient culturally specific knowledge structures in addition to measuring the intended cognitive ability. Cultural loading demonstrably influences test performance, but why? Drawing on converging perspectives on the psychological function of culture, this article proposes that one factor is the individual's internal motivation to affirm and uphold the cultural worldview. This possibility is tested within the framework of terror management theory, which claims that cultural worldview adherence defends against mortality-related concerns. It is hypothesized that making mortality salient would (a) improve performance on standardized test items when, incidental to the problem structure, the correct answers affirm prevailing cultural stereotypes and (b) impair test performance when excelling violates stereotypic expectancies for one's group. Two studies provide support for these hypotheses. Implications for test validity are briefly discussed.

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“Other work has similarly shown that MS enhances basketball performance [36] and improves performance on academic tasks (e.g., reading comprehension) [37,38].”
From An Appreciative View of the Brighter Side of Terror Management Processes (2015) · cites this paper as [37]

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Authors: Landau, M. J., Greenberg, J., & Rothschild, Z. K.
Affiliations: University of Kansas (US)
University of Arizona (US)
Corresponding author: Landau, Mark J.
ORCID: Landau, Mark J.
Greenberg, Jeff
Rothschild, Zachary K.
Venue: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2009-01-22
Volume: 35
Issue: 4
Pages: 442-453
ISSN: 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
1552-7433
DOI: 10.1177/0146167208329630
OpenAlex: W2054742909
Cited by: 17
References: 56
Citations by year: 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 3
FWCI: 1.73
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
Keywords: test performance, terror management theory, mortality salience, cultural stereotypes, standardized testing, test validity
MeSH terms: Culture, Educational Measurement, Female, Humans, Male, Motivation, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Identification, Stereotyping, United States

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Motivated cultural worldview adherence and culturally loaded test performance

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