Research article When a new group identity does harm on the spot: Stereotype threat in newly created groups SARAH E. MARTINY 1 * , JENNY ROTH 2 , PETRA JELENEC 3 , MELANIE C. STEFFENS 3 AND JEAN-CLAUDE CROIZET 4 1 University of Konstanz, Germany; 2 Technische Universität Dresden, Germany; 3 Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany; 4 Université de Poitiers and CNRS, France Abstract The detrimental consequences of negative stereotypes on performance have been demonstrated in a variety of social groups with various stereotypes. The present studies investigate the minimal conditions for stereotype threat using newly created groups. Results of three experiments (total N = 184) demonstrate that in the negative stereotype condition, the more participants identi- fied with their novel group, the stronger was their decrease in performance. In the control condition, identification was either not related to performance, or it had by trend a positive effect. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are dis- cussed with regard to stereotype threat and social identity theory. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. In everyday life, people often join new groups, voluntarily or involuntarily. Nearly all social groups are stereotyped in one way or another. For example, imagine moving to a new town. The only available soccer team is the University Soccer Club. As you like playing soccer, you immediately join this soccer club. Only when telling your friends about it, you realize that negative stereotypes about the club exist. Will this knowledge influence your performance on proceeding soccer matches? If so, under which conditions will your performance be hindered by the negative stereotypes about your new team? The aim of the following research is to answer these questions. It is well established that members of groups that they have a lifelong history with (e.g., males and females, African Americans) suffer performance decreases when a negative per- formance-related stereotype about the in-group is activated— stereotype threat (e.g., Steele & Aronson, 1995). Yet, can in- formation about a group’s expected performance even hinder the performance of new group members? If random placement in a negatively stereotyped group decreases new group members’ performance immediately, this would indicate that stereotype threat can harm on the spot, and it would add evidence to the claim that stereotype threat is a powerful phenomenon hindering everyone when a negative stereotype about one’s in-group is sa- lient (Steele, 1997). We therefore investigate stereotype threat effects in newly created groups. Newly created groups allow the investigation of group phenomena under controlled condi- tions (e.g., Ellemers, 1993; Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, & Flament, 1971). This is especially fruitful when investigating “real” groups 1 is problematic because of possibly confounding vari- ables. Newly created groups allow controlling all information given about the in-group, the out-group, and the intergroup situ- ation. This is particularly important in research on stereotype threat. Despite a large body of evidence, it remains unclear whether the disruptive nature of the evaluation situation is suffi- cient for creating stereotype threat or whether specific precondi- tions of the target are needed in addition (e.g., low status). Thus, showing stereotype threat in newly created groups would sup- port the claim that stereotype threat is solely about the content of the stereotype and not about the groups’ position in the social hierarchy; factors that were typically confounded in previ- ous research (but see Leyens, Désert, Croizet, & Darcis, 2000). Demonstrating stereotype threat in newly created groups would thus add to the evidence that a history of stigma- tization is not a necessary precondition for stereotype threat to occur (Aronson et al., 1999; Leyens et al., 2000). In line with social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), we argue that stereotype threat should only influence the per- formance of new group members when the new group has be- come an important part of the group members’ self-concept. Activating a negative stereotype can be understood as a threat to a person’s positive social identity. Thus, the more group members perceive themselves as being part of the negatively stereotyped group, the more should their self-concept be harmed by the activated (negative) stereotype. Consequently, those highly identified with the negatively stereotyped group should be especially vulnerable to stereotype threat. Whereas *Sarah E. Martiny, University of Konstanz, Universitaetsstrasse 1078464, Konstanz, Germany. E-mail: sarah.martiny@uni-konstanz.de Sarah E. Martiny and Jenny Roth contributed equally to this work. 1 For reasons of simplicity, we use the term “real” groups only for groups existing in society (e.g., ethnic groups), even though the social groups created in the present experiments also are “real” as they constitute psychological reality for participants. European Journal of Social Psychology, Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 42, 65–71 (2012) Published online 24 August 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.840 Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 22 July 2010, Accepted 7 July 2011