Psychology
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2270
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Item The Interaction of Race and Social Status in Determining Discrimination(2012) O'Brien, Julia Diane; Stangor, Charles; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This research examines the interaction of race and social status in determining stereotypes and discrimination. Through six experiments, I demonstrate that because High Status Blacks are stereotyped positively and similarly to High Status Whites in domains related to economic resources (Pilot Study), they are perceived as competitors when economic resources are scarce. As such, they face increased discrimination (relative to Low Status Blacks) in economic-resource relevant domains (Study 1b), particularly when these resources are scarce (Study 1a). I demonstrate that this discrimination is driven by Zero-Sum Beliefs about the social status hierarchy and competition for resources (Study 2 and Study 3b). I also present novel evidence of the ironic effect of having strong Zero-Sum Beliefs for those who are internally motivated to control prejudice (IMS; Plant & Devine, 1998; Study 3b). I discuss these findings in the context of the Instrumental Model of Group Conflict (Esses, Jackson, and Armstrong, 1998) and research on racial prejudice and discrimination, and also apply these findings to broader issues regarding the social mobility of Black Americans.Item Diversity in Small Groups(2010) O'Brien, Julia Diane; Stangor, Charles; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Research on the benefits of diversity in groups is mixed, finding both positive and negative outcomes for group productivity and satisfaction. The present research examines how the physical arrangement of members within diverse groups influences perceptions of diverse groups. Findings from 4 studies demonstrate that when one's ethnic ingroup is represented as the minority of a diverse group, there is a tendency to prefer groups that are physically clustered by such that members are spatially close to other members of their ethnicity. When one's ethnic ingroup is represented as the majority of a diverse group, there is a tendency to prefer groups that are physically dispersed such that members are not grouped by their ethnicity. These findings are discussed in terms of the relative amounts of power inherent in majority and minority status within diverse groups, as well as multicultural and colorblind approaches to appreciating diversity.