M. Blanz et al., POSITIVE-NEGATIVE ASYMMETRY IN SOCIAL DISCRIMINATION - THE IMPACT OF STIMULUS VALENCE AND SIZE AND STATUS DIFFERENTIALS ON INTERGROUP EVALUATIONS, British journal of social psychology, 34, 1995, pp. 409-419
This article deals with a positive-negative asymmetry in social discri
mination. While social psychological research investigating in-group f
avouritism has primarily focused on positive evaluations of in- and ou
t-group, a study is presented which examines intergroup differentiatio
n in the positive and in the negative domain. In this study, we examin
e the influence of stimulus valence (positive vs. negative) and size a
nd status differentials on intergroup differentiation. The dependent m
easures included evaluative attributes which referred either to a stat
us-related or to a status-unrelated dimension. As expected, generally
there was in-group favouritism in the positive domain in which inferio
r minorities showed highest biases. In-group favouring evaluations in
the negative domain appeared only under 'aggravating' condition, i.e.
when the in-group had inferior and minority status. However, while thi
s pattern of findings was true with respect to status-unrelated measur
es, there was a mere reproduction of the status manipulations on measu
res which were related to the status differential.