INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF GROUP STATUS ON IN-GROUP IDENTIFICATION

Abstract

The main goal of the present research was to investigate the effect that group status had on different types of identification with social groups. In addition, the study aimed to provide further support for the distinction between centrality, social, communal, and interdependent types of in-group identity. It experimentally manipulated the status of laboratory-based groups in order to examine whether membership in a low status group would be associated with an increase only in social identification and whether this effect would be moderated by culture. Consistent with predictions, the results from a series of 2x2 between-subjects ANOVAs (N=108) revealed that a significant main effect of study condition (group status) occurred in relation to social identification but not in relation to centrality, communal, and interdependent identification. Participants in the moderately positive status group scored significantly higher on social identification than participants in the extremely positive status group. As expected, this main effect was qualified by culture with only collectivistic individuals’ in-group identification differing significantly between the two conditions. The present work adds to the findings of previous research that has examined the link between group status and in-group identification and could be used to address new issues in the group identification research.