Status Equity,Sex Composition of Group,and Intergroup Bias

Abstract

From a cognitive differentiation hypothesis, it was predicted that the presence of status inequities among group members would curtail the usual phenomenon of ingroup-outgroup bias. Consistent with this view, groups characterized by marked status inequities among their members failed to show any evidence of ingroup favoritism. In contrast, members of groups lacking status distinctions evaluated their ingroup more favorably than an outgroup, whether individuals or groups served as the object of evaluation. Second, groups composed of men versus women exhibited alternative patterns of ingroup-outgroup bias. Groups of males primarily showed overevaluation of own group product; whereas groups of females were prone to ingroup favoritism in interpersonal evaluations. These sex differences in intergroup bias were interpreted in terms of differential orientations toward task vs. interpersonal evaluations.