Joshua Aronson

{{Short description|American social psychologist}}

{{Infobox scientist

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| name = Joshua Aronson

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| nationality = American

| fields = Social psychology

| workplaces = New York University

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| education = University of California, Santa Cruz, Princeton University

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| thesis_title = From Dissonance to Dis-identification: The Impact of Consistency on Affirmation Responses to Self-esteem Threats

| thesis_url = https://books.google.com/books/about/From_Dissonance_to_Dis_identification.html?id=adkCtwAACAAJ

| thesis_year = 1992

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| known_for = Work on stereotype threat and the achievement gap

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| awards = 2016 Society of Experimental Social Psychology's Scientific Impact Award (with Claude Steele)

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Joshua Michael Aronson is an American social psychologist and Associate Professor of Applied Psychology at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.{{Cite web |url=http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/faculty/Joshua_Aronson |title=Joshua Aronson |website=Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development |language=en |access-date=2017-09-30}} He is known for his pioneering work on stereotype threat, which he conducted in the 1990s along with Claude Steele and Steven Spencer.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/27/us/tutors-see-stereotypes-and-gender-bias-in-sat-testers-see-none-of-the-above.html |title=Tutors See Stereotypes and Gender Bias in SAT. Testers See None of the Above. |last=Hartocollis |first=Anemona |date=2016-06-26 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2017-09-30 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.apa.org/research/action/stereotype.aspx |title=Stereotype threat widens achievement gap |date=2006-07-15 |work=American Psychological Association |access-date=2017-09-30 |language=en}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/10/24/09gap.h27.html |title=Experiments Aim to Ease Effects of 'Stereotype Threat' |last=Viadero |first=Debra |date=2007-10-24 |work=Education Week |access-date=2017-09-30}} This work has shown that female, minority, and low-income children are stereotyped as performing worse on standardized tests, and that when they are taught to overcome these stereotypes, their standardized test scores improve.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/20/health/in-fighting-stereotypes-students-lift-test-scores.html |title=In Fighting Stereotypes, Students Lift Test Scores |last=McNamara |first=Melissa P. |date=2004 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2017-09-30 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} He also co-authored a study in 2009 in which he reported no evidence that African Americans' test scores had improved as a result of the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States the previous year.{{Cite journal |last=Aronson |first=Joshua |last2=Jannone |first2=Sheana |last3=McGlone |first3=Matthew |last4=Johnson-Campbell |first4=Tanisha |title=The Obama effect: An experimental test |journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=957–960 |doi=10.1016/j.jesp.2009.05.006|year=2009 }}{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#social_science |title=The Ninth Annual Year in Ideas: Social Science |last=Tough |first=Paul |work=The New York Times Magazine |access-date=2017-09-30}}