The Obama effect

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Surprising new research suggests President Barack Obama has had a profoundly positive effect on African-Americans who view him as a role model. Why is this surprising? Because it is increasing their scores on tests.

"The Takeaway" talks to Ray Friedman, a management professor at Vanderbilt University, who has tried to measure the effects of role models like Obama on African-Americans.

Friedman explains how the study was set up: "We had a set of black and white respondents take a subset of a GRE test, and they did it at four points in time: one before Obama was nominated, one right after the nomination speech, then halfway towards the election, and then right after he was elected. And we were able to compare at each point in time what the differences were between black and white responses. Number of correct answers on this mini GRE test to see if there was a difference in … scores over time."

Friedman explains why they conducted this study in the first place: "There’s an effect called the "stereotype threat affect" and that is where, if you look at blacks taking tests or women taking math tests, there’s often a concern that there’s a stereotype about our group saying that we can’t do well."

How this relates to role models: "We know that if you have a role model in the room when they’re taking tests; if you have for example an advanced PhD student who’s black in mathematics at Harvard walk in the room and giving that test, we know that reduction in test performance goes away."  

What Friedman found: "What we found is that … prior to Obama being highly prominent, right after the nomination speech, there was about a three-question difference between black and whites in this test that we did under conditions of stereotype threat. Then right after the convention speech, among those who watched the speech, that black/white difference virtually disappeared.

"Then halfway towards the election, the difference reappeared. So there was again a spread of about three question differences. But then right after the election, when again he was very, very prominent … the difference disappeared."

"The Takeaway" is PRI’s new national morning news program, delivering the news and analysis you need to catch up, start your day, and prepare for what’s ahead. The show is a co-production of WNYC and PRI, in editorial collaboration with the BBC, The New York Times Radio, and WGBH.

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