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Abstract

Status incongruence in groups is thought to produce tension and to give rise to attempts at equilibration of the incongruence by one means or another. Status incongruence is inevitably confounded with its constituent status differences, however, and it is possible that they by themselves produce part or all of both the tension and the equilibration. Attitudes toward status and toward incongruence are here employed to disentangle these main and interactive effects. Results suggest that anxiety concerning status per se has more to do with both the tension and the equilibration of status incongruent encounters than does either sensitivity to the imbalance of incongruence or frustration engendered by its injustice.

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Status Equilibration: Fueled by Uncertainty,Frustration,or Anxiety?

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