scholarly journals When Do Low Status Groups Help High Status Groups? The Moderating Effects of Ingroup Identification, Audience Group Membership, and Perceived Reputational Benefit

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuma Kevin Owuamalam ◽  
Mark Rubin

Previous research has demonstrated that, when negative metastereotypes are made salient, members of low status groups help members of high status groups in order to improve the reputation of their low status group and its associated social identity. The present research investigated three potential moderators of low status groups’ outgroup helping: ingroup identification, audience group membership, and perceived reputational benefit. In Study 1 (N = 112) we found that members of a low status group (Keele University students) were most likely to offer to help raise funds for a high status group (University of Birmingham students) when they were high identifiers who had considered a negative metastereotype and believed that their responses would be viewed by an outgroup member. In Study 2 (N = 100) we found a similar effect in an intergroup context that referred to psychology students (low status ingroup) and junior doctors (high status outgroup), showing that the effect was limited to people who perceived reputational benefit in helping the outgroup. The practical and social implications of these findings are discussed in relation to intergroup contact and international relations.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rubin

Previous research has demonstrated that, when negative metastereotypes are made salient, members of low status groupshelp members of high status groups in order to improve the reputation of their low status group and its associated socialidentity. The present research investigated three potential moderators of low status groups’ outgroup helping: ingroupidentification, audience group membership, and perceived reputational benefit. In Study 1 (N = 112) we found that membersof a low status group (Keele University students) were most likely to offer to help raise funds for a high status group (Universityof Birmingham students) when they were high identifiers who had considered a negative metastereotype and believed thattheir responses would be viewed by an outgroup member. In Study 2 (N = 100) we found a similar effect in an intergroupcontext that referred to psychology students (low status ingroup) and junior doctors (high status outgroup), showing that theeffect was limited to people who perceived reputational benefit in helping the outgroup. The practical and social implicationsof these findings are discussed in relation to intergroup contact and international relations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loris Vezzali ◽  
Luca Andrighetto ◽  
Elena Trifiletti ◽  
Emilio Paolo Visintin

We examined whether perceptions of status (in)stability moderate the effects of ingroup identification on explicit and implicit intergroup attitudes. We expected that identification with Italians (low-status group) would enhance ingroup bias toward (US) Americans (high-status group) more when status was unstable rather than stable. We also predicted that the effects of identification on bias would be driven by ingroup enhancement for explicit attitudes and by both ingroup enhancement and outgroup derogation for implicit attitudes. The results revealed that identification increased explicit ingroup evaluation and ingroup bias independently from status (in)stability. However, identification increased implicit outgroup derogation only with unstable status. The results are discussed with reference to social identity theory and to the importance of considering both explicit and implicit attitudes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catarina L. Carvalho ◽  
Isabel R. Pinto ◽  
Rui Costa-Lopes ◽  
Darío Paéz ◽  
José M. Marques

We discuss the idea that competition-based motives boost low-status group members’ support for group-based hierarchy and inequality. Specifically, the more low-status group members feel motivated to compete with a relevant high-status outgroup, based on the belief that existing status positions may be reversed, the more they will defend status differentials (i.e., high social dominance orientation; SDO). Using minimal groups (N = 113), we manipulated ingroup (low vs. high) status, and primed unstable status positions to all participants. As expected, we found that SDO positively mediates the relation between ingroup identification and collective action, when ingroup’s status is perceived to be low and status positions are perceived as highly unstable. We discuss the implications of considering situational and contextual factors to better understand individuals’ support for group-based hierarchies and inequality, and the advantages of considering ideological processes in predicting collective action.


2001 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Klein ◽  
Assaad Azzi

A number of studies have found that high status groups tend to discriminate more than low status groups. This tendency can be interpreted as reflecting either a desire to maintain a positive social identity or an application of equity. An experiment was conducted in order to examine the roles of these two factors. The independent variables were status (high vs. low), and the nature of the relation between the dimension on which status was defined and the dimension on which in-group bias was measured (relation, no relation). When the two dimensions were related, equity was expected to be relevant. Therefore it was predicted that the status differential would be reproduced through the allocations. Contrary to this hypothesis, neither the high nor the low status group displayed in-group favoritism in this condition. The authors suggest that the use of two related dimensions rather than only one, as in previous studies, is responsible for such a discrepancy. It was further predicted that when the two dimensions were unrelated, equity would be irrelevant and therefore members of both groups would display in-group bias on the new dimension-either as a means of preserving a positive social identity or in order to achieve one. This second hypothesis was confirmed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Iacoviello ◽  
Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi

Abstract. Research suggests that members of low-status groups are more likely than members of high-status groups to show self-depersonalization and to favor ingroup members over outgroup members. The present research tests two alternative explanations of this status asymmetry: One explanation is based on the motive for achieving a positive social identity, and the other explanation is based on the willingness to cope with a social identity threat. Three minimal group experiments examine these two explanations. Supporting the identity motive explanation, the findings show that self-depersonalization (Studies 1–3) and ingroup favoritism (Study 3) are less prominent in the high-status group than in the low-status and the status-unspecified groups. Moreover, the results do not support the identity threat explanation because self-depersonalization and ingroup favoritism were not weaker in the low-status group than in the status-unspecified group.


1970 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huseyin Cakal ◽  
Nebojša Petrović

Intergroup contact reduces prejudice and improves outgroup attitudes, while a salient social identity might have the opposite effects. Recent research has shown that exposure to positive information about the outgroup could influence such effects of the contact and social identity on the outgroup attitudes. Here we investigate the effects of the contact and social identity on the outgroup attitudes, and forgiveness toward the outgroup of Bosniak Muslims among Serbs (N = 400), by randomly allocating them into control and experimental groups. In the experimental condition, the students were presented with brief biographies of three eminent Bosniak Muslims, in the positive context, after which they collected the survey. In the control group, students were only presented with the survey without the biographies. Subsequent independent samples t-tests showed that the mean values for ingroup identification and intergroup trust were significantly different in the two groups. Specifically, participants who were in the experimental condition, being exposed to the positive information about Bosniak Muslims, reported a higher level of intergroup trust and a lower level of ingroup identification as Serbian. We then performed a multi-group structural equation modeling through which we tested a predictive role of the past contact and in-the group identification on trust and collective guilt in both control and experimental conditions. Across both groups, past contact positively and ingroup identification negatively predicted both intergroup attitudes and forgiveness via trust and collective guilt. Exposure to the positive information about the outgroup moderated the indirect effects of the ingroup identification on the intergroup attitudes via collective guilt.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Pagliaro ◽  
Francesca Romana Alparone ◽  
Maria Giuseppina Pacilli ◽  
Angelica Mucchi-Faina

We examined how members of a low status group react to a social identity threat. We propose that expressing an ambivalent evaluation toward the ingroup may represent a way to manage such a threatening situation. For this study, 131 undergraduates’ identification with Italians was assessed. Participants were divided into groups, according to a situational identity threat (high vs. low). In line with hypotheses, low identifiers expressed more ambivalence toward the ingroup in the high (vs. low) threat condition. The reversed pattern emerged for high identifiers. This effect was mediated by the perception of intragroup variability, a well-known social creativity strategy. Results confirmed our interpretation of ambivalence as a form of social creativity, and are discussed in terms of social identity concerns.


2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Munhall ◽  
Mark Alicke ◽  
G. Daniel Lassiter ◽  
Amy Rosenblatt ◽  
Leah Collins ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Stahlberg ◽  
Marc-Andre Reinhard ◽  
Matthias Messner
Keyword(s):  

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayoub Bouguettaya

In this paper, the interaction between relevant group membership (i.e. gender) and context on leader perceptions was analysed within the paradigm of social identity theory. It was hypothesised that sharing group membership with a leader would result in to more positive ratings of a leader, while context would change how leaders were viewed depending on how much they embodied group values in relation to other leaders. The issue of contention to be contrasted between leaders was gender inequality. This context effect pattern was predicted to be different for males than females; males were believed to rate a leader more positively when the leader expressed a contextually more dismissive view, while females were predicted to rate a leader better when the leader expressed a contextually more proactive view. The hypotheses about the main effects of gender and context were supported; however, the results for the interaction were mixed in support. Gender and context did significantly interact, but it was not always in the directions predicted. Further research into this interaction is needed.


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