The Role of Status in the Emergence of Pro-White Bias in Rural Uganda

Research investigating the early emergence of racial prejudice has been largely limited to contexts in which racial prejudice is most likely to emerge—multiracial societies that have pronounced racial inequality (e.g., United States, South Africa). The present study assessed whether pro-White racial bias is also early emerging in a homogenous Black community that has little exposure to modern media and where children presumably experience less overt discrimination than in past samples (e.g., South Africa). Black African children (N = 214) between 5- and 12-years-old living in rural Uganda exhibited substantial pro-White racial bias, preferring White over Black children 78% of the time. Ugandan children also judged White children as higher status than Black children, and these status judgments predicted their degree of pro-White bias. Our results indicate that pro-White racial biases can emerge even in a homogenous Black community and that, in some contexts, minimal status cues are sufficient for the early development of racial prejudice.

Formal Hierarchy As a Source of Upward Status Disagreement? A Theoretical Perspective

Formal hierarchies may be presumed to reduce uncertainty about the status ordering of employees as they imply a consistent global ranking. However, formal hierarchies in organizations are not merely linear, but are characterized by branching and nesting (i.e., they comprise subunits within the organization and subunits within other subunits), which creates a local ranking of individuals within each subunit. This can create tension between global and local formal ranks as status cues. Moreover, individuals may also draw on informal status cues that are inconsistent with formal ranks. Consequently, organizational members may experience upward status disagreement (USD), whereby each assumes they have higher status than the other. We offer a theoretical model that identifies important conditions under which cues arising from the structure of the formal hierarchy—either on their own or in conjunction with informal status cues—can be a source of USD. We also explore when USD can result in status conflict and identify moderators of this relationship. Our research has implications for how the frequency of USD can be mitigated as organizational structures become more complex and the workforce becomes increasingly diverse.

Location-specific inhibition of Akt reveals regulation of mTORC1 activity in the nucleus

The mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) integrates growth, nutrient and energy status cues to control cell growth and metabolism. While mTORC1 activation at the lysosome is well characterized, it is not clear how this complex is regulated at other subcellular locations. Here, we combine location-selective kinase inhibition, live-cell imaging and biochemical assays to probe the regulation of growth factor-induced mTORC1 activity in the nucleus. Using a nuclear targeted Akt Substrate-based Tandem Occupancy Peptide Sponge (Akt-STOPS) that we developed for specific inhibition of Akt, a critical upstream kinase, we show that growth factor-stimulated nuclear mTORC1 activity requires nuclear Akt activity. Further mechanistic dissection suggests that nuclear Akt activity mediates growth factor-induced nuclear translocation of Raptor, a regulatory scaffolding component in mTORC1, and localization of Raptor to the nucleus results in nuclear mTORC1 activity in the absence of growth factor stimulation. Taken together, these results reveal a mode of regulation of mTORC1 that is distinct from its lysosomal activation, which controls mTORC1 activity in the nuclear compartment.

Infants choose those who defer in conflicts

For humans and other social species, social status matters: it determines who wins access to contested resources, territory and mates [1–11]. Human infants are sensitive to dominance status cues [12,13]. They expect conflicts to be won by larger individuals [14], those with more allies [15], and those with a history of winning [16–18]. But being sensitive to status cues is not enough; individuals must also use status information when deciding whom to approach and whom to avoid [19]. In many non-human species, low-status individuals avoid high-status individuals, and in so doing avoid the threat of aggression [20–23]. In these species, high-status individuals commit random acts of aggression toward subordinates [23] and even commit infanticide [24–26]. However, for less reactively aggressive species [27,28], high-status individuals may be good coalition partners. This is especially true for humans, where high-status individuals can provide guidance, protection and knowledge to subordinates [2,29,30]. Indeed, human adults [31–33], human toddlers [34], and adult bonobos [35] prefer high-status individuals to low-status ones. Here we present 6 experiments testing whether 10- to 16-month-old human infants choose high-or low-status individuals—specifically, winners or yielders in zero-sum conflicts—and find that infants choose puppets who yield. Intriguingly, toddlers just six months older choose the winners of such conflicts [34]. This suggests that although humans start out like many other species, avoiding high-status others, we shift in toddlerhood to approaching high-status individuals, consistent with the idea that for humans, high-status individuals can provide benefits to low-status ones.

Those who differentiate by skin tones are at the top: status attributions and skin pigmentation in Chile

A growing body of research has shown that skin pigmentation plays a fundamental role in stratification dynamics in Latin American countries. However, the relevance of skin color on status attribution for different status groups has been poorly studied in the region. This article seeks to broaden the research on phenotypic status cues using Chile as a context for analysis – a Latin American country with a narrow although continuous spectrum of skin tones, marked status differences, and a mostly white elite. We draw on status construction theory to hypothesize that skin pigmentation in Chile has become a status cue, although its heuristic relevance could differ across status groups. Using visual stimuli and a repeated measure design, we studied this relationship and tested whether the use of skin pigmentation as a status cue is conditional upon the status of those categorizing others. The results reveal that, although skin pigmentation has a negligible direct effect on status attribution, it does have a conditional effect on the social status of the rater: whereas skin pigmentation does not work as a status cue for lower status participants, it is an important status marker for the categorizations that high-status participants perform. The phenotypic composition of reference groups of low and high-status individuals and system justification are discussed as potential explanations for these results.

Economic status cues from clothes affect perceived competence from faces

Impressions of competence from faces predict important real-world outcomes, including electoral success and CEO selection. Presumed competence is associated with social status. Here, we show that subtle economic status cues in clothes affect perceived competence from faces. In nine studies, people rated the competence of faces presented in frontal headshots. Faces were shown with different upper-body clothing rated by independent judges as looking “richer” or “poorer”, although not notably perceived as such when explicitly described. The same face when seen with “richer” clothes was judged significantly more competent than with “poorer” clothes. The effect persists even when perceivers are exposed to the stimuli briefly (129 ms), warned that clothing cues are non-informative, and instructed to ignore the clothes (in one study, with considerable incentives). These findings demonstrate the uncontrollable effect of economic status cues on person perception. They add yet another hurdle to the challenges faced by low-status individuals.