Research shows that priming affects behavioral tasks; fewer studies, however, have been conducted on how social category primes affect cognitive tasks. The present study aimed to examine the effects of social category primes on math performance and word recall. It was hypothesized that Asian prime words would improve math performance and word recall whereas elderly prime words would improve math performance, but not memory. Asian primes (a math ability-relevant prime) led to an increase in math performance, as compared to a baseline measurement whereas the presentation of elderly primes did not affect math performance. In addition, elderly prime words had a lower recall rate than did Asian prime words. The current research is interpreted as showing how social category stereotypes can have potentially positive and/or negative influences on performance in testing situations. (Contains 2 tables.)