Samantha Green vs. Peter Stevens: Reversed Gender Stereotype Threat in Online Chess

Previous studies have shown that exposure to gender stereotypes has a detrimental impact on women’s performance. In chess, it has been demonstrated that the performance level of women is negatively influenced when they are exposed to negative stereotypes about their ability to play chess. However, it is still largely unclear whether the influence of a negative stereotype of women’s ability to play chess is only limited to their level of performance, or whether it could also affect their opponent’s performance. The present study investigated this reversed stereotype threat in online chess playing an unrated game. It was expected that a chess player’s performance would be influenced by the gender of their opponent. However, the participants’ online opponent was neither a female nor male chess player, but rather, unknown to the participants, it was a computer program that either played with a male or female nickname. The results showed that participants who played against a female nickname played less well, lost more games, and made more mistakes and blunders than participants who played against a male nickname. In sum, findings indicate that, in chess, the influence of a gender stereotype is not limited to the group the stereotype is targeted at, but also reduces the performance of the opponent’s level of play, leading to a reversed stereotype threat.