Racial Categorization and Intergroup Relations in Children: The Role of Social Status and Numerical Group Size

The aim of this review was to examine the effect of social and numerical group size on racial categorization and intergroup relations in children. We first described the development of racial categorization and the factors that increase the saliency of the race criterion in different contexts. Then, we examine the role of social status in intergroups relations and show that low status children express lower ingroup favoritism compared to their peers from high status groups. Few studies investigated the role of ingroup size on intergroup biases. Here, we look at this numerical variable through the proportion of children of different racial groups in the school environment. The results show that homogeneous environments contribute to the decrease of bias and negative attitudes. We discuss how identifying specific and interactive effects of the social and numerical group size would allow us to implement early and efficient intervention programs.

Download Full-text

Social Status Affects the Causal Relationship Between Prejudice, Discrimination, Personality, Subjective Well-Being, and Self-Esteem

10.31234/osf.io/8jr4g ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Rafael Valdece Sousa Bastos ◽

Víthor Rosa Franco ◽

Annalisa Myer

Keyword(s):

Social Status ◽

Well Being ◽

Self Esteem ◽

High Status ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Status Group ◽

Group Members ◽

Prejudice And Discrimination

People who repeatedly experience prejudice and discrimination are at greater risk for developing several negative consequences, such as low self-esteem (SE). However, scholars have not explored the role of social status as an important variable for this relationship, and its consequences. The current study is aimed at investigating the role of status on the relationship between self-perceived prejudice and discrimination (SPPD), subjective well-being (SWB), SE, and the Big-Five. In a Brazilian sample (N = 1,130), we found that social status affects the network structure among low- and high-status group members. We also found that not all causal relations are equal between groups, such that the influence of SPPD, SE, and neuroticism is different depending on participants’ social status. Our results demonstrate the importance of accounting for social status when crafting psychological interventions to mitigate the negative effects of prejudice and discrimination and dismantle systems of oppression for low-status group members.

Download Full-text

A Comparison of Social Dominance Theory and System Justification: The Role of Social Status in 19 Nations

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin ◽

10.1177/0146167218757455 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 44 (7) ◽

pp. 1060-1076 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Salvador Vargas-Salfate ◽

Dario Paez ◽

James H. Liu ◽

Felicia Pratto ◽

Homero Gil de Zúñiga

Keyword(s):

Social Status ◽

Low Socioeconomic Status ◽

Social Dominance ◽

National Level ◽

Social Dominance Orientation ◽

System Justification ◽

Conflict Theory ◽

High Status ◽

Social Dominance Theory

This study tests specific competing hypotheses from social dominance theory/realistic conflict theory (RCT) versus system justification theory about the role of social status. In particular, it examines whether system justification belief and effects are stronger among people with low socioeconomic status, and in less socially developed and unequal nations than among better-off people and countries. A cross-national survey was carried out in 19 nations from the Americas, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Oceania using representative online samples ( N = 14,936, 50.15% women, Mage = 41.61 years). At the individual level, system justification beliefs, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, national identification, sociopolitical conservatism, sex, age, and social status were measured. At the national level, the human development index and the Gini index were used. Multilevel analyses performed indicated that results fit better with the social dominance/RCT approach, as system justification was higher in high-status and developed nations; further, associations between legitimizing ideologies and system justification were stronger among high-status people.

Download Full-text

Social status gates social attention in humans

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2011.0881 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 450-452 ◽

Cited By ~ 74

Author(s):

Mario Dalmaso ◽

Giulia Pavan ◽

Luigi Castelli ◽

Giovanni Galfano

Keyword(s):

Social Status ◽

Social Factors ◽

Social Attention ◽

High Status ◽

The Social ◽

The Face ◽

Curriculum Vitae ◽

Gaze Cuing ◽

Specific Identity

Humans tend to shift attention in response to the averted gaze of a face they are fixating, a phenomenon known as gaze cuing. In the present paper, we aimed to address whether the social status of the cuing face modulates this phenomenon. Participants were asked to look at the faces of 16 individuals and read fictive curriculum vitae associated with each of them that could describe the person as having a high or low social status. The association between each specific face and either high or low social status was counterbalanced between participants. The same faces were then used as stimuli in a gaze-cuing task. The results showed a greater gaze-cuing effect for high-status faces than for low-status faces, independently of the specific identity of the face. These findings confirm previous evidence regarding the important role of social factors in shaping social attention and show that a modulation of gaze cuing can be observed even when knowledge about social status is acquired through episodic learning.

Download Full-text

A Tale of Two Hierarchies: Interactive Effects of Power Differentiation and Status Differentiation on Team Performance

Organization Science ◽

10.1287/orsc.2021.1540 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nicholas A. Hays ◽

Huisi (Jessica) Li ◽

Xue Yang ◽

Jo K. Oh ◽

Andrew Yu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Field Study ◽

Team Performance ◽

Interactive Effects ◽

High Status ◽

Status Differentiation ◽

Increasing Knowledge ◽

Knowledge Hiding

Scholars have long wrestled with whether hierarchical differentiation is functional or dysfunctional for teams. Building on emerging research that emphasizes the distinction between power (i.e., control over resources) and status (i.e., respect from others), we aim to help reconcile the functional and dysfunctional accounts of hierarchy by examining the effects of power differentiation on team performance, contingent on status differentiation. We theorize that power differentiation is dysfunctional for teams with high status differentiation by increasing knowledge hiding, which undermines team performance. In contrast, we predict that power differentiation is functional for teams with low status differentiation by decreasing knowledge hiding, which improves team performance. In a field study, we found that power differentiation harmed team performance via knowledge hiding in teams with high status differentiation, but power differentiation had no effect on knowledge hiding or performance in teams with low status differentiation. In an experiment, we again found that power differentiation harmed team performance by increasing knowledge hiding in teams with high status differentiation. However, power differentiation improved team performance by decreasing knowledge hiding in teams with status equality. Finally, in a third study, we confirm the role of status differentiation in making team climates more competitive and examine the effect of power-status alignment within teams, finding that misalignment exacerbates the dysfunctional effects of power differentiation in teams with high status differentiation. By examining how power and status hierarchies operate in tandem, this work underscores the need to take a more nuanced approach to studying hierarchy in teams.

Download Full-text

The perception of instability and legitimacy of status differences enhances the infrahumanization bias Among high status groups

Europe’s Journal of Psychology ◽

10.5964/ejop.v15i2.1585 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 358-366

Author(s):

Cristina Mosso ◽

Silvia Russo

Keyword(s):

Social Identity ◽

Intergroup Relations ◽

High Status ◽

Behavioural Responses ◽

The Social ◽

The Status ◽

Psychology Courses ◽

Group Members ◽

Status Differences

Previous research within the social identity framework has shown that perceptions of legitimacy and stability of status differences interactively determine cognitive, emotional, and behavioural responses to intergroup contexts. Whether such perceptions affect subtle forms of prejudice, namely infrahumanisation, is unknown. We examined if the perceptions regarding high status stability and legitimacy are associated to the infrahumanisation bias. We hypothesized that participants perceiving status differences as unstable and legitimate would report higher levels of infrahumanization than those who perceive status differences as stable and/or illegitimate. Participants (N = 439 Italian students enrolled in psychology courses) completed a structured paper-and-pencil questionnaire. We found that participants tended to attribute more negative secondary emotions to their ingroup (Italians) than to the outgroup (immigrants from Africa), indicating the presence of an infrahumanization bias. The results of a moderated regression aimed at predicting infrahumanization showed that high-status group members who perceived status differences as legitimate and unstable reported higher levels of infrahumanization than their counterparts did. The results attest the important and independent role of the perceptions related to the status for the debate on intergroup relations.

Download Full-text

Understanding Intergroup Relations in Childhood and Adolescence

Review of General Psychology ◽

10.1177/10892680211050016 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 108926802110500

Author(s):

Maykel Verkuyten

Keyword(s):

Social Identity ◽

Intergroup Relations ◽

Group Identification ◽

Childhood And Adolescence ◽

Theoretical Approaches ◽

The Social ◽

Intergroup Biases ◽

Shared Understandings ◽

Social Identity Approach

There are various theoretical approaches for understanding intergroup biases among children and adolescents. This article focuses on the social identity approach and argues that existing research will benefit by more fully considering the implications of this approach for examining intergroup relations among youngsters. These implications include (a) the importance of self-categorization, (b) the role of self-stereotyping and group identification, (c) the relevance of shared understandings and developing ingroup consensus, and (d) the importance of coordinated action for positive and negative intergroup relations. These implications of the social identity approach suggest several avenues for investigating children’s and adolescents’ intergroup relations that have not been fully appreciated in the existing literature. However, there are also limitations to the social identity approach for the developmental understanding and some of these are discussed.

Download Full-text

Parenting Behaviors and Anxiety in Young Adults

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001/a000169 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 170-176 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Erin N. Stevens ◽

Joseph R. Bardeen ◽

Kyle W. Murdock

Keyword(s):

Effortful Control ◽

Parenting Behaviors ◽

Protective Role ◽

Anxiety Symptoms ◽

Interactive Effects ◽

Parental Overprotection ◽

High Control ◽

Development Of Anxiety ◽

The Relationship

Parenting behaviors – specifically behaviors characterized by high control, intrusiveness, rejection, and overprotection – and effortful control have each been implicated in the development of anxiety pathology. However, little research has examined the protective role of effortful control in the relation between parenting and anxiety symptoms, specifically among adults. Thus, we sought to explore the unique and interactive effects of parenting and effortful control on anxiety among adults (N = 162). Results suggest that effortful control uniquely contributes to anxiety symptoms above and beyond that of any parenting behavior. Furthermore, effortful control acted as a moderator of the relationship between parental overprotection and anxiety, such that overprotection is associated with anxiety only in individuals with lower levels of effortful control. Implications for potential prevention and intervention efforts which specifically target effortful control are discussed. These findings underscore the importance of considering individual differences in self-regulatory abilities when examining associations between putative early-life risk factors, such as parenting, and anxiety symptoms.

Download Full-text

Reducing Prejudice Through Narratives

Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications ◽

10.1027/1864-1105/a000249 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 185-195 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Emily Moyer-Gusé ◽

Katherine R. Dale ◽

Michelle Ortiz

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Relations ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Intergroup Contact ◽

Contact Hypothesis ◽

Muslim Americans ◽

Intergroup Anxiety ◽

Intergroup Interactions

Abstract. Recent extensions to the contact hypothesis reveal that different forms of contact, such as mediated intergroup contact, can reduce intergroup anxiety and improve attitudes toward the outgroup. This study draws on existing research to further consider the role of identification with an ingroup character within a narrative depicting intergroup contact between Muslim and non-Muslim Americans. Results reveal that identification with the non-Muslim (ingroup) model facilitated liking the Muslim (outgroup) model, which reduced prejudice toward Muslims more generally. Identification with the ingroup model also increased conversational self-efficacy and reduced anxiety about future intergroup interactions – both important aspects of improving intergroup relations.

Download Full-text