In one research study, a golf task was presented either as tapping "natural athletic ability" or as measuring "sports intelligence." Which of the following concepts offers a possible explanation why black students underperformed when the task was presented as measuring sports intelligence but not when it was measuring natural athletic ability ?

Stereotype threat refers to a situation when people from a certain groups is under performing when doing a certain task because they feel pressured that they will perpetuated a negative stereotype about their group if they fail to fulfill a certain expectation.

Let's take black athletes for example,

There is a negative stereotype in united states that they are better than any other group in term of physical ability but less so when doing activities that require intelligence. (For example, you will often heard NFL fans point out that quarterback position held mostly by white athletes because they're smarter)\

When a student who are aware for this stereotyped are asked to perform an activity that require intelligence, they will feel overwhelming pressure to over perform because they fear that other black students' characteristics will be measured by his/her performance. In this end, this pressure prevent that student from fulfilling his/her full potential.