Less pain and more to gain: why high-status group members blame their failure on discrimination. |
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Authors: | K M Ruggiero D M Marx |
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Affiliation: | Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. kmr@wjh.harvard.edu |
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Abstract: | Members of high-status groups are more likely than members of low-status groups to blame their failure on discrimination and are less likely to blame it on themselves. This tendency was demonstrated in 3 experiments comparing men and women, White and Black students, and members of experimentally created high- and low-status groups. Results also showed that when making an attribution to discrimination, high-status group members were less likely to experience a threat to their social state self-esteem, performance perceived control, and social perceived control and were more likely to protect their performance state self-esteem. These findings help to explain why high-status group members are more willing to blame their failure on discrimination by showing that it is less harmful for them than for low-status group members. |
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