Root URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/
Source URL: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/324/5925/400
Publication title: Recursive Processes in Self-Affirmation: Intervening to Close the Minority Achievement Gap
Authors: Cohen, Geoffrey L., et al.
Year: 2009
Publisher: Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science

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This study examined whether having African-American student (seventh to eighth grade), write essays affirming their personal values, improves their academic performance. These subtle interventions would lessen minority students' psychological threat related to being negatively sterotyped in school. 
Ending results show that over 2 years, the grade point average of African Americans was on average, raised by .24 grade points, and those who were low-achieving, benefited the most, improving their average .41 points. 

Recursive Processes in Self-Affirmation: Intervening to Close the Minority Achievement Gap 

Low-achieving students will perform badly this first year, and recap this attitude and progress in the next year. This creates the downward trend low-achieving students tend to follow, however, if we were to interrupt this recursive or repeated process, the intervention will have a great affect on the student as their attitudes will change, keeping the values focused on in the intervention, in mind. 
The interventions given in this study were short written assignments where the student has to focus on self-defining values (personal relationships, family, goals, intrests, etc). When the students recieved these assignments, they were eager to do them and the results showed a lot of improvment on their academic performance as well as self-perception. 

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