PERCEIVED INTRAGROUP VARIABILITY AS A FUNCTION OF GROUP STATUS AND IDENTIFICATION

Judgments of intragroup variability were examined as a function of rel ative group status and identification with the group. In the first stu dy (n = 131), psychology students received false feedback that their g roup was more or less intelligent than a comparable outgroup (business students) in order to manipulate relative ingroup status. Subjects we re divided into high and low identifiers on the basis of their scores on an ingroup identification measure. As well as rating both groups on a series of comparative dimensions, subjects rated the similarities w ithin their group. Although there was no difference in similarity rati ngs between high and low identifiers when ingroup status was high, low status subjects who identified weakly with their group rated within-g roup similarity as significantly less than high identifiers. In the se cond study (n = 101) both status and group identification were manipul ated experimentally. Subjects were categorized as belonging to one of two groups, ostensibly on the basis of their problem solving style, an d they received false feedback on a subsequent task indicating that th eir group had performed better or worse than the other group on a seri es of personnel decision problems. Group identification was manipulate d by means of false feedback reinforced by a ''bogus pipeline'' proced ure. Ratings of ingroup (and outgroup) variablility as measured by the perceived range of group scores on various positive dimensions, repli cated the interaction obtained the first study. In the high status con dition, ingroup identification did not affect the perceived range of g roup scores whereas under low group status, subjects in the low identi fication condition perceived greater intragroup variation than did sub jects in the high identification condition. The differential perceptio n and use of variability judgments by high and low group identifiers i n the face of a threatened group image is discussed in terms of social identity principles. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.